import os
indir = 'c:\\datafilepath\\'
for filename in os.listdir(indir):
if filename.startswith("xyz_"):
newname = filename.replace("xyz_","abc_")
try:
os.rename(indir + filename, indir + newname)
print "[NEW]", filename, "-->", newname
except:
print "[OLD]", filename, "-->", newname
Not much progress to report. My compass module seems to have died, probably due to the fact I was feeding it 5V instead of the required 3.3V… Never mind, new module ordered.
I’ve added a new level to the robot and now looks neater. Here are a couple of photos:
With a camera (placeholder – not really attached):

Without camera:

My RPi is the brain of my ARK-AV-01 robot. As I currently am in the programming phase, I found myself programming it from the command line. I wanted something easier, with no login/password, so I activated samba with the following samba.conf file:
[global] workgroup = mygroup interfaces = wlan bind interfaces only = yes server string = Arkadian's ARK-AV-01 security = share guest account = nobody log file = /var/log/samba.%m [Robot] comment = Robot Control Center path = /robot/ available = yes browseable = yes public = yes writable = yes read only = no guest ok = yes
The above configuration allows you to connect to the /robot/ folder from any windows or linux machine.
I had to also run the following commands
sudo chown nobody /robot
and
sudo chmod 777 /robot -R
to ensure the folder is owned by user nobody and is writable.
then, just restart the samba service:
sudo service samba restart
And now you can mount the folder /robot to your windows or linux machine!
if everything works ok, make sure to add samba to the startup script:
sudo update-rc.d samba defaults
Arduino, Gadgets, Projects, Python, Videos, robotics / Comments Off
As promised, here is a video I’ve put together of the RC mode.
Robot Challenge 008 from Arkadian.Eu on Vimeo.
Also as promised, here is the Python code which, when run on a Raspberry Pi, it receives OSC signals from my iPad, interprets them and gets the Arduino board to perform the required action.
This is very rough, and doesn’t not include the code for clockwise and anticlockwise rotation (as I made the addition directly on the raspberry and it’s now out of battery). Clearly, this requires the simpleOSC and pyFirmata libraries to be installed. Most of the code you see here is just a quick mashup, based on examples from the SimpleOSC and pyFirmata libraries. For me the key is that it works!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 | import OSC, time, threading, os, serial import pyfirmata from pyfirmata import * from boards import BOARDS class ArduinoMega(Board): """ A board that will set itself up as an Arduino Mega. """ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): args = list(args) args.append(BOARDS['arduino_mega']) super(ArduinoMega, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs) def __str__(self): return 'Arduino Mega %s on %s' % (self.name, self.sp.port) # Adjust that the port match your system: PORT = '\\.\COM4' #On Windows #PORT = '/dev/ttyACM0' #On RPi # Creates a new board board = ArduinoMega(PORT) # ################################################################## def engine(path, tags, args, source): print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source file = "Car_Start_2.mp3" print "starting engine" #os.startfile(file) # # ################################################################## def rcMode(path, tags, args, source): print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source print "Switching to RC mode" #os.startfile(file) # ################################################################## def autoMode(path, tags, args, source): print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source print "Switching to AUTO mode" #os.startfile(file) # ################################################################## def questMode(path, tags, args, source): print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source print "Switching to QUEST mode" #os.startfile(file) # LIGHTS SECTION # ################################################################## PIN2 = board.get_pin('d:2:p') def lightR(path, tags, args, source): PIN2.write(1 - args[0]) print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source # ################################################################## # ################################################################## PIN3 = board.get_pin('d:3:p') def lightG(path, tags, args, source): PIN3.write(1- args[0]) print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source # ################################################################## # ################################################################## PIN4 = board.get_pin('d:4:p') def lightB(path, tags, args, source): PIN4.write(1-args[0]) print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source # ################################################################## # ################################################################## PIN13 = board.get_pin('d:13:p') def lightFloor(path, tags, args, source): PIN13.write(1 - args[0]) print path, "@TAGS", tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source # ################################################################## # MOTOR SECTION # ################################################################## PINA = board.get_pin('d:8:s') PINB = board.get_pin('d:9:s') PINC = board.get_pin('d:10:s') PIND = board.get_pin('d:11:s') def motor(aa,bb,cc,dd): print aa, bb, cc, dd if aa==1: PINA.write(20) if aa==-1: PINA.write(138) if aa==0: PINA.write(91) if bb==1: PINB.write(20) if bb==-1: PINB.write(138) if bb==0: PINB.write(91) if cc==1: PINC.write(20) if cc==-1: PINC.write(138) if cc==0: PINC.write(91) if dd==1: PIND.write(20) if dd==-1: PIND.write(138) if dd==0: PIND.write(91) def xmotor(path, tags, args, source): direction = path.split("/")[2] print "PIN", path.split("/")[2], "@TAGS", print tags, "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source if args[0]==0: motor(0,0,0,0) else: if direction == "nn" : motor(1,0,-1,0) if direction == "ne" : motor(1,1,-1,-1) if direction == "ee" : motor(0,1,0,-1) if direction == "se" : motor(-1,1,1,-1) if direction == "ss" : motor(-1,0,1,0) if direction == "sw" : motor(-1,-1,1,1) if direction == "ww" : motor(0,-1,0,1) if direction == "nw" : motor(1,-1,-1,1) if direction == "freeze": motor(0,0,0,0) # ################################################################## # ################################################################## def user_callback(path, tags, args, source): user = ''.join(path.split("/")) print "cb-->", path, "@TAGS", tags, print "@ARGS", args, "@SOURCE", source def quit_callback(path, tags, args, source): #pass # don't do this at home (or it'll quit blender) global run run = False # tupple with ip, port receive_address = "192.168.0.47", 7110 # OSC Server. there are three different types of server. #s = OSC.OSCServer(receive_address) # basic s = OSC.ThreadingOSCServer(receive_address) # threading ##s = OSC.ForkingOSCServer(receive_address) # forking s.addDefaultHandlers() s.addMsgHandler( "/1/start", engine) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/rc", rcMode) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/auto", autoMode) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/quest", questMode) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/nn", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/ne", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/ee", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/se", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/ss", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/sw", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/ww", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/nw", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/1/freeze", xmotor) s.addMsgHandler( "/2/red", lightR) s.addMsgHandler( "/2/green", lightG) s.addMsgHandler( "/2/blue", lightB) s.addMsgHandler( "/2/grey", lightFloor) s.addMsgHandler( "/ping", user_callback ) s.addMsgHandler( "/quit", quit_callback ) # define a message-handler function for the server to call. def printing_handler(addr, tags, stuff, source): print "---" print "received new osc msg from %s" % OSC.getUrlStr(source) print "with addr : %s" % addr print "typetags %s" % tags print "data %s" % stuff print "---" s.addMsgHandler("/print", printing_handler) # adding our function # just checking which handlers we have added print "Registered Callback-functions are :" for addr in s.getOSCAddressSpace(): print addr # Start OSCServer print "\nStarting OSCServer. Use ctrl-C to quit." st = threading.Thread( target = s.serve_forever ) st.start() try : while 1 : pass except KeyboardInterrupt : print "\nClosing OSCServer." s.close() print "Waiting for Server-thread to finish" st.join() ##!!! print "Done" |
Lines 150-173 are linked to my touchOSC template. For instance “nn” stands for North, “ne” for North East etc…
The TouchOSC editor allows you to give your buttons friendly names. The created template itself, while suffixed with a “.touchosc”, is simply a zipped xml file (in case you want to really fine-tune it!). The editor does a great job – pity it doesn’t work with Android…
Lines 116-124 control the wheels. Basically, 1 is clockwise, -1 is acti-clockwise and 0 is break. The list in motor(1,0,-1,0) includes a value for each one of my four motors. The two rotation functions missing here, simply have motor(1,1,1,1) and motor(-1,-1,-1,-1).
The engine function (line 28) will be playing an mp3 with the sound of a car engine starting, when the virtual engine key is turned. It works fine on Windows and it should be quite easy to get it to work on RPi too.
Arduino, Linux, Projects, Python, examples, robotics / Comments Off
I had a productive couple of days. Arkadian AV-1 is now operational as a remote control vehicle.
Arduino
I’m using the StandardFirmata library on the Arduino Mega 2560, with no modifications whatsoever. It was by far the easiest way to get RaspberryPi to control the 4 motors, receive feedback from the 4 sensors (on order from Sparkfun, should be here soon) and have the ability to switch on and off the lights on the robot.
RaspberryPi
The RaspberryPi is loaded with Ladyada’s RPi distro, as it had the latest python library and a few other things that I’m planning on using later on. I have added the PyFirmata library (to control the Arduino) and the OSC library (as described previously) to receive instructions from the OSC pad.
TouchOSC
I have been using TouchOSC to create the remote control interface. My original plan was to use the Nexus tablet to control the robot. The problem is that TouchOSC is a bit behind when it comes to Android. The app is available to buy, but you cannot upload your own templates, which makes it pretty useless. I’ll be using an iPad for now, but I hope they get the android version sorted soon.
Here is my latest layout (first page):

The two buttons under the “Quest”, are for clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation.
Vehicle is very responsive and drives really well. Orientation gets a bit tricky for the human brain if the rotation buttons are not used, but for the “Quest Mode” this will really be ideal.
I’ll post the code, photos and a video tomorrow.
Next week, I’ll finish off the sensors (proximity and compass), tidy up the cables and put everything in a more permanent position. My code needs a bit of tidying up too; it’s really a mess right now (but, hey, it works!).
Not as productive as I hoped this weekend. I managed to complete the cable harness of the motors and blue leds (which was rather boring but important for the project) and tried out a new look (as I’m moving away from the use of reel cans as my chassis).
Here is the cable harness, before the insulation tape got applied:
.
The advantage of this harness is that all the motor cables are neatly hidden away and only 4 cables appear on the top surface (one for each motor), plus one for the blue LEDs and the ground cable.
Regarding the new look – I got a few patterns printed on photographic paper and converted them to the side motor panels with a bit of cutting and scoring:

Here is how Arkadian-AV1 looks like at the moment (this is still a temporary look):

The image shows an old Freeduino I have for testing. The final robot will be using an Arduino Mega for controlling the motors, reading the sensors and lighting the lights, but all the “thinking” will be done by the Raspberry Pi. 
Here is a little video, where each motor goes forward for a sec, backwards for a sec, then all the leds are turned on and then the same sequence is repeated on another motor.
Robot Challenge 006 from Arkadian.Eu on Vimeo.