CS81 Lab7: Controlling physical robots

You do not need to turn in anything for this lab

In this lab you will get a chance to try out the various robots that are available for projects: Aibos, Kheperas, and Rovios.

Aibos
  1. When you are done using the Aibo be sure to put it back on the recharging station. Unfortunately we only have one recharging station that must be shared by both Aibos. It typically takes several hours for the Aibo to recharge fully.
  2. The Aibos can either run the software provided by Sony or can be controlled wirelessly via pyrobot.
  3. Today we will run the Sony software. When you turn the robot on, it will stretch and then sit. At this point it is ready to interact with you. Try playing with its toys (the pink ball and bone). Try touching its head or back.
  4. Read about the various sensors and affectors that are available on the Aibo here.
Kheperas
  1. Before you begin make sure that the power cable is plugged into the Khepera interface box.
  2. Log on to either tarragon or wasabi to control one of the Khepera robots. In the terminal window type pyrobot. Then press the robot button and select Khepera.py.
  3. The Khepera has 7 infrared sensors (to measure distance to obstacles) and 7 light sensors (to measure light intensity). Read about range sensing, sensor units, sensor topology, and named sensor groups here.
  4. Then at the command line in pyrobot, query the range sensors under a variety of different conditions to get a sense of how they could be used for navigation control. For example: 
    [s.value for s in robot.range["front"]] # a list of the front ir values
[s.value for s in robot.range["left"]]  # a list of the left ir values
  5. A flashlight is available on the desk. Use this to view how the light sensors respond as well. For example: 
    [l.value for l in robot.light[0]["front"]]
  6. Load the Avoid.py brain and run it. How close does the Khepera get to the walls. Does it consistently turn away at about the same distance each time?
  7. Try writing your own brain for the Khepera.
Rovios
  1. To connect to one of the Rovio robots, you will first need to login on to the machine saffron (where USERNAME is replaced by your userid): 
    ssh USERNAME@saffron
  2. From the saffron terminal start firefox.
  3. In the browser, type either 10.0.0.9 for Beetle or 10.0.0.10 for Firefly. This should bring up an interface for you to control the Rovio robots.
  4. Return the Rovios to their recharging station when you are done. The Rovios must be on to recharge.