Setting up Player 2.1.1: Asus eeePC and iCreate Robot Lisa Miller Aysun Bascetincelik Odest Chadwicke Jenkins

Table of Contents

1. Getting Player onto the eeePC
   1. Install Standard OS
   2. Install Player 2.1.1
2. Running eeePC/Player on iCreate
1. Hardware Setup
2. Running and Testing Player

Getting Player onto the eeePC

Change OS to more standard one

• See separate page for the installation of Ubuntu Eee
• The eeePC comes with a version of Xandros Linux which has Asus-modified libraries that are incompatible with Player.
• After much struggling, we decided it would be simpler just to install a more standard OS.
• Ubuntu Eee was chosen because it is one of the more supported custom Eee Linux Distros available and it is one of the few that fits on our 2G Surfs.
• Other distros are available and outlined here but the rest of these instructions are assuming an Ubuntu Eee installation.

Install Player 2.1.1

1. Install g++ on your eeePC using apt-get.


2. Download Player 2.1.1 source tarball from Player Sourceforge Site


3. Uncompress and expand the downloaded file: $ tar xzvf player-2.1.1.tgz


4. Install these additional libraries using apt-get:


• libgdk-pixbuf2
• libgtk2.0-dev
• libjpeg62-dev
• libraw1394-dev
• libavc1394
• libdc1394-13
• libdc1394-13-dev

apt-get should have all of these if you have enabled all of the repositories in the /etc/apt/sources.list file.


5. Change to the new player-2.1.1 directory.


6. run ./configure (this takes a few minutes and many messages will flash past.)
   Note:Player will install without throwing any errors no matter what libraries are missing, so if you didn't install those above it will still install, it just won't work!


7. If you are going to need Player to have more functionality than just the iCreate and its sensor drivers, usb and firewire cameras, blobfinder, playercam and playerjoy you might need to install more libraries.
   The libraries needed are located in the file created by configure: config.log, which will be in your player-2.1.1 directory.
• This is a huge file that contains all the messages created by configure, including missing package and library dependencies
  The listing of missing dependencies starts about on line 995.
  The list of what parts of Player will or won't be installed and the reason starts on about line 7540.
• If you decide you need some of the larger components such as OpenCV, be careful you don't overfill your tiny harddrive!


8. Run make. This will take about 25 minutes on a standard eeePC, more on the Surf model.


9. Run sudo make install. This only takes about 2 minutes.


10. Restart the eeePC.


11. Reopen the terminal and type player
• You should get an output that looks like this:
  


• If you get this message:
  
  player: error while loading shared libraries: libplayerdrivers.so.2.2:
  cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
  
  Don't panic! Player sometimes doesn't link its libraries completely when installing.
  All you need to do is run ldconfig and all should be working!


• Once you're getting the "Registering driver" message from Player, you are ready to hook up to your robot!

Running Player on your iCreate

Hardware Setup

1. You will need:
• An iCreate robot with a charged battery and the serial cable that comes with it
  
• A GOOD serial to USB adapter cord
• Ours are FTDI US232R-10 "evaluation cables."
• They can be ordered from DigiKey for about $20
• Cheaper adapters will overheat and cause problems!

• A USB webcam, preferrably a newer, V4L2 version
  
• Your eeePC with newly installed and working Player
• A Player configuration file for the Player server to connect to the iCreate and the camera.
  • Some sample cfg files and color files for the blobfinder are linked below in section 2.2.3
• Ideally (but not necessary to test) a wireless network and another computer with Player installed
• Optionally, some Velcro tape to secure the eee to the top of the iCreate and the camera to the eee.


2. Connect the iCreate's cord to the USB to serial adapter and connect them to the iCreate and the eeePC
   


3. Connect the webcam to the eee


4. Tuck as much of the cords into the iCreate as possible and set the eeePC on top
   

Running and Testing Player

1. Connect the eeePC to your wireless network and determine its IP address
• This can be done type typing ifconfig in the terminal
• The wireless IP will be listed next to "inet addr" under the "ath0" heading of the output
  


2. Turn on the iCreate


3. Open a terminal and cd to the directory where your configuration file is and type: player config_file_name.cfg.


• Sample configuration files:


• snappy.cfg - config file for iCreate with position and bumper proxies and camera/blobfinder drivers.
• snappy_colors.txt - calibrated color file for the blobfinder in snappy.cfg. Put in same directory as cfg file.


• create.cfg - a more generic cfg file with no bumper proxy.
• colors.txt - an uncalibrated, generic colorfile for create.cfg's blobfinder. Put it in the same directory.


• Note: if your eeePC has a built-in webcam, you'll have to specify the external camera in the cfg file.
  • Under the line:   provides ["camera:0"]   add the line:   port "/dev/video0".
  • You should check whether your external cam is video0 or video1 by listing the /dev directory with it plugged in and unplugged to see which listing disappears.


• If all is successful you should get a message like this displayed:
  
• The Player server is now running on your iCreate!


4. On the second "client" computer with Player installed, connect to the wireless network.


5. Now start Playercam on your client computer by typing: playercam -h [iCreate's IP] -p 6665 (or other port if you've changed from the default.)
   
• You should have a small window popup on the screen with the webcam's output
  
• Notice the pink and green rectangles, that is the BlobFinder working!


6. In another terminal window on the client computer start Playerjoy by typing: playerjoy [iCreate's IP]:6665.
• If successful your screen should now look like this:
  


7. If you don't have another computer with Player installed, you can run all three programs on the eeePC connected to the iCreate, just run PlayerCam and/or PlayerJoy without ip or port numbers.
• Video of PlayerCam running on eeePC attached to iCreate robot
  


8. You should now be able to drive your iCreate around from the client computer by using the keys shown in the PlayerJoy terminal, (u,i,o,j,k,l,m,,,.)
• If it doesn't move, make sure the iCreate hasn't turned off and that the terminal with PlayerJoy running is selected/on top.
• If the iCreate does turn off, you have to restart everything: Player, PlayerJoy, and PlayerCam
• Video demonstration of controlling the eeePC/Create from another eeePC running PlayerJoy and PlayerCam:
  
• Another video using a V4l1 webcam on the eee, notice the horrible lag time with the older style camera!
  


9. Use ctl-c when you want to quit Player, Playercam, and Playerjoy


10. Success!!
• You are now ready to move on to programming your robot, like the one doing path planning in this video: