irm_tele_arm

Embedded system development @ Illini RoboMaster

Setup (GNU/Linux with systemd)

Have the following on your system:

• python3 (Tested on 3.10+)
• udevadm
• systemd [Recommended]
• tmux [Recommended]
• make
• arduino-cli

Get under your cloned directory.

1. Make sure you have correct serial port access permissions (by group membership or otherwise). For Debian-based systems, this would be the dialout group.

• Check your current memberships.

  groups $USER

  • Debian/Ubuntu

  sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER

  • Arch

  sudo usermod -aG uucp $USER

2. Modify the *_ID_SERIAL(_SHORT)? variable(s) in config.py based on your the serial id(s) of your device(s). To find the id of a device on /path/to/serial, run

   udevadm info -q property '/path/to/serial' | awk -F= '/^ID_SERIAL_SHORT/ { print $2 }'

3. Create a python venv (in this case named venv) and install the requirements.

   python3 -m venv venv
   pip3 install -r requirements.txt

4. [Recommended] If you want minipc.py to be able to run in the background for easier debugging/testing, see minipc-tmux-daemon-helper.sh. Run it without arguments for help and details. If you don't want to read run

   ./minipc-tmux-daemon-helper.sh -i install

   for an interactive installation.

5. To set up Arduino compilation/upload via the Makefile, run make configure#{,-{,re}setup}.

Usage

Python

For options, run

python3 python/main.py -h

Assuming you have set up the tmux daemon in the previous section (read the help first!),

# Start the service.
# You can omit `.service'.
# You may want to alias `systemd --user' to something shorter.
systemd --user start minipctd.service

After starting the service,

# Connect to the tmux section.
# You definitely want to alias this to something shorter.
tmux -L mtd attach -t mtd

More keybinds are detailed in minipc-tmux-daemon-helper.sh. Alt+f d to detach, Alt+f z to kill.

systemctl --user {restart,stop} minipctd.service

do what you expect, and

systemctl --user reload minipctd.service

sends Ctrl+c (C-c) to the tmux session, which the job control handles by restarting main.py (after a one second delay). This means in the tmux session you can restart main.py manually with C-c. The one second delay is to wait for possible user input, in which case the user is dropped into a control menu.

Arduino

Make sure set-up-arduino.sh has been run (either manually or with make configure) before continuing.

# Arduino configurtion options
# See `make configure--h' or `./set-up-arduino.sh -h'.
make configure#{,-{setup,clean,resetup,update,-h}}
# Compile every sketch under Arduino/tele_arm/
make
# Compile `arm_only'.
# In general: `make <sketch name>'.
make arm_only
# Upload `arm_only' without recompiling.
# In general: `make upload-<sketch name>'.
make upload-arm_only
# Compile and upload `arm_only'.
# In general: `make compile-upload-<sketch name>'.
make compile-upload-arm_only

Reminders

1. Init

• If you do not use systemd, you may have to find a replacement for udevadm and modify Communication/communicator.py accordingly.
• If you do not use systemd, the service is trivial (starts, stops and sends C-c to a tmux session). Rewriting should be simple. Starting the tmux session manually is also an option. The service file can be found inside the install function of minipc-tmux-daemon-helper.sh.

2. Examples for the Dynamixel2Arduino library are at arduino/libraries/Dynamixel2Arduino/UNZIP_ME_FOR_EXAMPLES.zip. How to retrieve them is currently unkown and requires further study.