Omron Adept Mobile Robots
Development Platforms for Research and Education
Pioneer 3
Operations Manual
P3DX-SH , P3AT-SH with ARCOS
Revision 6.5 ● April 7, 2017
P3X0001, P3T0001
© Copyright 2017 Omron Adept MobileRobots LLC. All rights reserved.
This document, as well as the software described in it, is provided under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with
the terms of the respective license.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Omron Adept
MobileRobots, Omron Adept Technologies, or Omron.
The software on disk, CD-ROM, firmware, and any other media which accompany the robot and are available for network download
by Omron Adept Technologies customers are solely owned and copyrighted or licensed for use and distribution by Omron Adept
MobileRobots and/or Omron Adept Technologies.
Developers and users are authorized by revocable license to develop and operate custom software for personal research and
educational use only. Duplication, distribution, reverse-engineering or commercial application of Omron Adept MobileRobots, Omron
Adept Technologies or Omron Corporation software and hardware without license or the express written consent is explicitly
forbidden.
Performance PeopleBot™, GuiaBot™, AmigoBot™, PowerBot™, PatrolBot®, Seekur®, Seekur® Jr, Mapper3™, MobileSim™ and
MobileEyes™ are trademarks and registered trademarks of Omron Adept Technologies. Other names and logos for companies and
products mentioned or featured in this document are often registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.
Mention of any third-party hardware or software constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation by Omron Adept
MobileRobots, Omron Adept Technologies or Omron Corporation.
About Omron Adept MobileRobots
In 1995, ActivMedia, Inc. ventured with Real World Interface, Inc. to launch the Pioneer Mobile Robot. In
1999, ActivMedia Robotics began evolving the Pioneer line of mobile robot platforms for research,
development, commercial and industrial use. In 2006, ActivMedia Robotics, LLC, became MobileRobots
Inc. In 2010, MobileRobots Inc. was acquired and merged with Omron Adept Technology, Inc. In 2015,
Adept was acquired by Omron, a global electronics and industrial automation company.
As part of Omron Adept Technologies and Omron, we continue to develop and support the Pioneer robots
for research, education and custom R&D. Even though the names have changed, our devotion to provide
customizable, high quality, durable platforms for custom robotics development applications has not.
Pioneer 1 (1995)
Omron Adept MobileRobots
10 Columbia Dr.
Amherst, NH, 03031
USA
1 (603) 881-7960
http://www.mobilerobots.com
ii
Important Safety Instructions
Read the installation and operations instructions before using the equipment.
Avoid using power extension cords.
To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not expose the equipment to rain or moisture.
Refrain from opening the unit or any of its accessories.
Keep wheels away from long hair or fur.
Never access the interior of the robot with charger attached or batteries inserted.
Inappropriate Operation
Inappropriate operation voids your warranty! Inappropriate operation includes, but is not
limited to:
Dropping the robot, running it off a ledge, or otherwise operating it in an irresponsible manner
Overloading the robot above its payload capacity
Getting the robot wet
Continuing to run the robot after hair, yarn, string, or any other items have become wound around the robot’s
axles or wheels
Opening the robot with charger attached and/or batteries inserted
All other forms of inappropriate operation or care
Use authorized parts ONLY;
warranty void otherwise.
iii
iv
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 1
Robot Packages ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Software and Pioneer SDK ....................................................................................................................................................... 2
Additional Resources ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 2 Specifications & Controls ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Physical Characteristics and Components ............................................................................................................................... 5
Deck ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
E-Stop Button ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6
User Control Panel ................................................................................................................................................................... 6
About Omron Adept MobileRobots ..................................................................................................................................... ii
Included Components (all robots) ....................................................................................................................................... 1
Optional Components, Parts and Attachments (partial list)................................................................................................ 1
IO and Power Connections .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Support Website .................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Newsgroups ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Support ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Power and Status Indicators ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Buzzer .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Serial Port ............................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Power Switches .................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Reset and Motors ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Body, Nose and Accessory Panels ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Nose ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Access Panels ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SONAR ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Multiplexed Operation ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Sensitivity Adjustment ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Motors, Wheels, and Position Encoders .................................................................................................................................. 9
Batteries and Power ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Battery Indicators and Low Voltage Conditions .................................................................................................................. 9
Recharging ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Safety ARCOS Watchdogs ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 3 Accessories ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Joystick and Joydrive Mode ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Bumpers ................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Automated Recharging Accessory ......................................................................................................................................... 12
Manual Operation (Robot Power OFF) .............................................................................................................................. 12
Manual Operation (Robot Power and Systems ON) .......................................................................................................... 12
Radio Controls and Accessories ............................................................................................................................................. 12
v
Integrated PC ......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Computer Control Panel .................................................................................................................................................... 13
Operating the Onboard PC ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Onboard PC Networking .................................................................................................................................................... 14
Gyroscope .............................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Chapter 4 Quick Start ......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Preparative Hardware Assembly ........................................................................................................................................... 16
Install Batteries .................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Client-Server Communications .......................................................................................................................................... 16
ARIA Demo ............................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Demo Startup Options ....................................................................................................................................................... 17
A Successful Connection .................................................................................................................................................... 18
Operating the ARIA Demonstration Client ............................................................................................................................. 18
Disconnecting ........................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Networking with MobileEyes ................................................................................................................................................. 19
Start serverDemo ............................................................................................................................................................... 19
Start MobileEyes and Connect with serverDemo .............................................................................................................. 19
Operating MobileEyes ....................................................................................................................................................... 19
Quickstart Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................................................... 20
Parameter Files .................................................................................................................................................................. 20
Proper Connections ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 5 Software and Robot Control .............................................................................................................................. 21
Robot Connection .................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Robots in Motion ................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Requesting Robot Motion.................................................................................................................................................. 21
PID Controls ....................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Position Integration ........................................................................................................................................................... 23
Client-Server Communication Packet Protocols ..................................................................................................................... 23
Packet Checksum ............................................................................................................................................................... 24
Packet Errors ...................................................................................................................................................................... 24
The Client-Server Connection ................................................................................................................................................. 25
Autoconfiguration (SYNC2) ................................................................................................................................................ 25
Opening the Servers—OPEN.............................................................................................................................................. 25
Server Information Packets ............................................................................................................................................... 25
Keeping the Beat—PULSE .................................................................................................................................................. 27
Closing the Connection—CLOSE ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Client Commands ................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Argument Types ................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Command Listing ............................................................................................................................................................... 28
Motion Commands and Parameters ...................................................................................................................................... 31
Client Motion Commands .................................................................................................................................................. 31
DriftFactor, RevCount, and TicksMM Parameters ............................................................................................................. 32
SONAR .................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Enable/Disabling SONAR.................................................................................................................................................... 32
Polling Sequence ................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Polling Rate ........................................................................................................................................................................ 32
vi
SONAR Range Readings ..................................................................................................................................................... 33
Stalls and emergencies .......................................................................................................................................................... 33
Accessory Commands and Packets ........................................................................................................................................ 33
Packet Processing .............................................................................................................................................................. 34
CONFIGpac and CONFIG Command ................................................................................................................................... 34
Serial ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
HOST-to-AUX Serial Transfers ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Encoders ................................................................................................................................................................................ 36
Buzzer Sounds ........................................................................................................................................................................ 36
TCM2 Compass ...................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Calibration ......................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Reset Mode ........................................................................................................................................................................ 38
Input Output (I/O) .................................................................................................................................................................. 39
User I/O ............................................................................................................................................................................. 39
IO Packets .......................................................................................................................................................................... 39
Bumper and IR I/O ............................................................................................................................................................. 40
Joystick ................................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Gripper ................................................................................................................................................................................... 41
Heading Correction Gyro ....................................................................................................................................................... 41
Client-Side Gyro ................................................................................................................................................................. 42
Server-Side Gyro ................................................................................................................................................................ 42
Chapter 6 Updating & Reconfiguring ARCOS ...................................................................................................................... 43
Where to Get ARCOS Software .............................................................................................................................................. 43
ARCOS Maintenance Mode .................................................................................................................................................... 43
Enabling Maintenance Mode ............................................................................................................................................. 43
ARCOScf ................................................................................................................................................................................. 44
Starting ARCOScf ................................................................................................................................................................... 44
Start Up Arguments ........................................................................................................................................................... 44
Configuring ARCOS Parameters ............................................................................................................................................. 45
Interactive Commands ....................................................................................................................................................... 45
Changing Parameters ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Save Your Work ...................................................................................................................................................................... 45
PID Parameters ...................................................................................................................................................................... 48
DriftFactor, Ticksmm and RevCount ...................................................................................................................................... 48
StallVal and StallCount .......................................................................................................................................................... 49
Bumpers ................................................................................................................................................................................. 49
IRs .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
README ................................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Chapter 7 Calibration & Maintenance ................................................................................................................................ 51
Tire Inflation .......................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Calibrating Your Robot........................................................................................................................................................... 51
Standard Calibrations ........................................................................................................................................................ 51
vii
Gyroscope Calibrations ...................................................................................................................................................... 51
Drive Lubrication .................................................................................................................................................................... 52
Batteries................................................................................................................................................................................. 52
Changing Batteries ............................................................................................................................................................. 52
Hot-Swapping the Batteries ............................................................................................................................................... 52
Charging the Batteries ....................................................................................................................................................... 52
Automated Docking/Charging System ............................................................................................................................... 53
Alternative Battery Chargers ............................................................................................................................................. 53
Tightening the AT Drive Belt ................................................................................................................................................. 53
Getting Inside ......................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Removing the Nose ............................................................................................................................................................ 54
Opening the Deck .............................................................................................................................................................. 54
Factory Repairs ...................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Chapter 8 Appendix A ........................................................................................................................................................ 56
Robot Microcontroller Ports & Connectors ............................................................................................................................ 56
Main Power Input .............................................................................................................................................................. 57
Auxilliary Serial Ports ......................................................................................................................................................... 57
User I/O, Gripper and Automated Recharger Connector .................................................................................................. 58
AN4, AN5 Analog Inputs (“TILT/ROLL”) ............................................................................................................................. 59
Motors, Encoders and IRs .................................................................................................................................................. 60
Joystick ............................................................................................................................................................................... 60
Bumpers ............................................................................................................................................................................. 60
SONAR................................................................................................................................................................................ 61
User Control Board ............................................................................................................................................................ 61
Gyro ................................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Chapter 9 Appendix B ........................................................................................................................................................ 63
Motor-Power Distribution Board ........................................................................................................................................... 63
Microcontroller Connection .............................................................................................................................................. 63
Auxiliary and User Power Connectors ............................................................................................................................... 63
IR Signal and Power ........................................................................................................................................................... 65
Chapter 10 Appendix C ...................................................................................................................................................... 66
Specifications ......................................................................................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 11 Appendix D ...................................................................................................................................................... 68
System Interconnection/Wiring Diagram .............................................................................................................................. 68
Chapter 12 Warranty & Liabilities ...................................................................................................................................... 69
Index.................................................................................................................................................................................. 70
viii
Chapter 1
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the rapidly growing community of developers and enthusiasts of
Pioneer intelligent mobile platforms.
This manual provides both the general and technical details you need to operate your robot and to begin developing
your own robotics software.
Note: For operation of previous versions of robots which use the Siemens C166- or Hitachi H8S-based robot
microcontrollers, original motor-power boards and support systems, please contact sales@MobileRobots.com or access
our support website:
R
OBOT PACKAGES
Our experienced manufacturing staff put your mobile robot and accessories through a “burn in” period and carefully
tested them before shipping the products to you. In addition to the companion resources listed above, we warrant your
Pioneer 3 platform and our manufactured accessories against mechanical, electronic, and labor defects for one year.
Third-party accessories are warranted by their manufacturers, typically for 90 days.
Even though we’ve made every effort to make your robot package complete, please check the components carefully
after you unpack them from the shipping crate.
Included Components (all robots)
One fully assembled mobile robot, battery or batteries, and charger
Introduction
http://robots.MobileRobots.com
o Differential drive system
for their related documentation.
o Wheel encoders
o Dedicated robot motion controller (microcontroller)
o Motor/Power distribution board
o Power and battery level indicators
o AUX Power switches on side control panel
o RESET and MOTORS pushbutton controls on side panel
o Piezo buzzer
o Optional onboard computer IO connections and power button
CD, DVD or USB device containing licensed copies of Pioneer SDK software and documentation
Any necessary wrenches, mounting screws, fuses and other replacement parts
Manual(s)
Supplementary documentation for accessories and options
Registration and Account Sheet
Optional Components, Parts and Attachments (partial list)
Contact sales@mobilerobots.com or visit http://www.mobilerobots.com for more information on ordering replacement
or additional optional accessory parts. Refer to additional documentation included with your shipment and available at
http://robots.mobilerobots.com for more information on accessories and options ordered with your robot.
Some options are only available on certain robot platforms.
Onboard internal onboard single-board computer
Additional batteries
Optional sonar
1
Laser range finder (with navigation software development kits for autonomous navigation of the robot)
Gripper
Manipulator Arm with gripper
Stereo Vision Systems
Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera
Global Positioning System
Heading-correction accelerometer gyro (installed inside robot)
Front and/or rear bumper switch assemblies, or replacement switches.
USB-Serial communications/configuration adapter cable
Mounting brackets and plates
E-Stop button
Replacement or additional top plate(s)
Replacement wheels
Indoor-use wheels (Pioneer 3-AT)
Optional 2-axis, 2-button joystick for direct manual control of robot
IO and Power Connections
Your Pioneer 3 robot has a variety of expansion power and I/O ports for integration of a client PC, sensors, and other
accessories.
3 RS-232 auxilliary serial ports (AUX serial) configurable from 9.6 to 115.2 kilobaud, accessible through robot
microcontroller
1 “HOST” (or “SERIAL”) client software communications connection (internal and external serial ports)
Maximum 4 optional ultrasonic “SONAR” sensor arrays of 8 ultrasonic transducers each
inputs for optional bumper switches
16 digital I/O lines for accessories or customer use
Analog input
5 and 12 V DC power
Optional heading correction gyro
Optional 2-axis, 2-button joystick for direct manual control of robot
S
OFTWARE AND PIONEER
The Pioneer SDK is a collection of libraries and applications that come with every Pioneer mobile robot and with
selected accessories. The standard Pioneer SDK bundled with every robot at no extra charge includes the open-source
ARIA and ArNetworking, the MobileEyes and Mapper3-Basic network GUI applications, SONARNL and MobileSim.
provides an interface and framework for controlling and receiving data from all Pioneers, as well as most
ARIA
accessories (some devices also have separate interface libraries). ARIA also has utilities useful for writing robot control
software as well as tools for writing cross-platform (Windows and Linux) code and support for network sockets and
threads. ArNetworking provides a simple, extensible framework for client-server network programming.
SDK
MobileSim
and extended to best simulate all Pioneer platforms and many accessories.
MobileEyes
your Pioneer platform over the network.
is an open-source application based on Stage that Omron Adept MobileRobots engineers have customized
, enabled through ARIA and ArNetworking, is a GUI application for configuration, operation and monitoring of
2
The
SONARNL
libraries enable your SONAR-based Pioneer platforms to localize and autonomously navigate indoor
spaces. Make your working maps for SONARNL with the free GUI Mapper 3-Basic application.
Optional, typically accessory-bundled Pioneer SDK libraries include
ARNL
and
. ARNL enables a much more
MOGS
robust, laser-based autonomous localization and navigation. ARNL is the best-in-class software foundation for Omron
Adept MobileRobots' Motivity commercial- and industrial-ready mobile localization and navigation systems. Use MOGS
to fuse laser and DGPS sensor data to guide your Pioneer robots outdoors.
Several other robotics applications development environments also have emerged to support Pioneer mobile robots,
including Ayllu, Player/Stage, Carmen, Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and Robot Operating System (ROS). See
documentation provided with the development environment for more information, including documentation on using
Pioneer robots.
A
DDITIONAL RESOURCES
New customers get three additional and valuable resources:
A private account on our support Internet website for downloading software, updates, and manuals
Access to private newsgroups
Direct access to the Pioneer technical support team
Support Website
For software updates, manuals, and a knowledge base of information, or to contact technical support staff, visit:
http://support.mobilerobots.com
Some areas of the website are restricted to licensed customers. To gain access, enter the username and password
written on the Registration & Account Sheet that accompanied your robot.
Newsgroups
We maintain several email-based newsgroups through which robot owners share ideas, software, and questions about
the robot. Visit the support
users, for example, send an e-mail message to the
http://support.mobilerobots.com
–requests
automated newsgroup server:
website for more details. To sign up for pioneer-
To: pioneer-users-requests@MobileRobots.com
From: <your return e-mail address goes here>
Subject: <choose one command:>
(returns instructions)
help
(returns list of newsgroups)
lists
subscribe
unsubscribe
Our e-mail list server will respond automatically. After you subscribe, e-mail your comments, suggestions, and
questions intended for the worldwide community of Pioneer users:1
To: pioneer-users@MobileRobots.com
From: <your return e-mail address goes here>
Subject: <something of interest to pioneer users>
1
Note: Leave out the –requests part of the email address when sending messages to the newsgroup.
3
Access to the
pioneer-users
e-mail newslist is limited to subscribers, so your address is safe from spam. However,
the list currently is unmoderated, so please confine your comments and inquiries to issues concerning the operation
and programming of Pioneer platforms.
Support
Have a problem? Can’t find the answer in this or any of the accompanying manuals? Or do you know a way that we
might improve our robots? Share your thoughts and questions with us from the online form at the support website:
http://robots.MobileRobots.com/techsupport
or by email:
support@MobileRobots.com
Please include your robot's
serial number
(look for it beside the
Main Power
switch)we often need to understand
your robot's configuration to best answer your question.
Tell us your robot’s SERIAL NUMBER.
Your message goes directly to the technical support team. There a staff member will help you or point you to a place
where you can find help.
Because this is a support option, not a general-interest newsgroup like
pioneer-users
, we reserve the option to reply
only to questions about problems with your robot or software.
Use authorized parts ONLY;
warranty void otherwise.
4
Chapter 2
Specifications & Controls
Figure 1. Pioneer 3-DX features
Figure 2. Pioneer 3-DX’s physical dimensions and swing radius.
P
HYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND COMPONENTS
Pioneer robots are composed of several main parts:
Deck
Motor Stop Button (optional on DX)
User Control Panel
Body, Nose, and Accessory Panels
Optional SONAR Array(s)
Motors, Wheels, and Encoders
Batteries and Power
5
D
ECK
Pioneer 3 has a hinged top-plate or deck which gives you access to
internal components of the robot, and provides a surface for
mounting accessory devices and other equipment . Slots on each
side of the deck plate let you conveniently route cables to the
accessory connectors on the side panels of the robot. A
removable plug in the middle of the deck plate allows cables to
enter the interior of the robot.
Equipment may be attached to the deck or body using the
predrilled mounting holes, or by removing the top plate and cutting,
drilling or customizing as needed.
Figure 3. Pioneer 3-AT’s console and hinged
deck
Warning
robot. Always remove the plate from the robot before modifying.
Important
the robot's payload over the drive wheels. A full complement of
batteries helps balance the robot, too.
: Do not drill or cut the top plate while mounted on the
: When mounting accessories, you should try to center
Warning: always remove the deck (top plate) from the robot before drilling or cutting!
E-S
TOP BUTTON
A
STOP
button is included standard with Pioneer 3-AT and optionally with Pioneer 3-DX. Press to immediately disengage
the robot’s motor power. It will also cause a stall state, indicated in flags available to user software and by beeping
sound from the onboard piezo speaker (unless sounds have been disabled).
Press the
U
SER CONTROL PANEL
The User Control Panel is where you have access to controls for the ARCOS-based onboard robot microcontroller. This
panel is on the top deck of the Pioneer 3 AT, and is on the left sidepanel of the Pioneer 3 DX.
Power and Status Indicators
The red
operating mode and other conditions. It flashes slowly when the microcontroller is awaiting a connection with a client
and flashes quickly when in joystick drive mode or when connected with a client and the motors are engaged. It also
flashes moderately fast when the microcontroller is in maintenance mode.
The
green when fully charged (>12.5 volts) through orange, and finally red when
the voltage drops below 11.5. When in maintenance mode, the BATTERY LED
glows bright red only, regardless of battery charge.
PWR
BATTERY
STOP
button again to re-enable motor power.
LED is lit whenever main power is applied to the robot. The green
LED’s apparent color depends on your robot’s battery voltage:
STAT
LED state depends on the
Buzzer
A built-in piezo buzzer provides audible clues to the robot’s state, such as upon
successful startup of the microcontroller and a client connection. The SAY
command lets you program the buzzer, too, to play your own MIDI sounds (see
Client Commands
on page 27 for details).
Figure 4. P3-DX User Control
Panel
6
Serial Port
Figure 5. P3-AT computer and user controls
The host
SERIAL
connector, with incoming and outgoing data indicator LEDs (RX and TX, respectively), is through where
you may interact with the ARCOS microcontroller from an offboard computer for tethered client-server control and for
microcontroller software maintenance. The port is shared internally by the
onboard computer or an Ethernet-to-serial device. Either the
SERIAL
or
HOST
serial port, to which we connect the
HOST
connector may be used for client-server
and maintenance mode communication with the microcontroller.
To avoid communication conflicts, digital switching circuitry disables the internal
device hasn’t opened the port. However, serial port interference will be a problem if the
ports are both occupied and engaged. Accordingly, remove the cable from the User Control
HOST
serial port if the attached serial
HOST
and User Control
SERIAL
port if you plan to
SERIAL
connect with the microcontroller through the HOST port.
In particular, if you have a serial cable connected to the User Control Panel SERIAL port, with the attached PC has that
serial port opened for communications, and you then reset or power up the robot and microcontroller, ARCOS
automatically goes into maintenance mode.
Power Switches
The AUX1 and AUX2
switches on the User Control Panel are pushbuttons which engage or disengage power to 5 and
12 VDC connectors on the Motor-Power board to which we or you attach power for various accessories. For example,
12 VDC power for the PTZ camera typically gets switched via the AUX1 pushbutton. See Appendix B for power
connections. Respective red LEDs indicate when power is ON.
Reset and Motors
The red
RESET
pushbutton acts to unconditionally reset the microcontroller, disabling any active connections or
attached devices, including the motors.
The white
MOTORS
pushbutton’s actions depend on the state of the microcontroller. When connected with a client,
push it to enable and disable the motors manually, as its label implies.2
To manually engage ARCOS maintenance mode, press and hold the white
RESET
button, then release
MOTORS
mode with previous robot microcontrollers, it is no longer necessary with ARCOS.
B
ODY, NOSE AND ACCESSORY PANELS
Your Pioneer 3’s sturdy, but lightweight aluminum body houses the batteries, drive motors, electronics and other
common components, including the front and rear SONAR arrays. The body also has sufficient room, with power and
signal connectors, to support a variety of robotics accessories inside, including an A/V wireless surveillance system,
radio Ethernet, onboard computer, laser range finder and more.
2
A client command lets you engage/disengage the motors programmatically. See chapter 6.
MOTORS
button, press and release the red
. Note that while this manual operation was required to engage maintenance
7
On all models except those outfitted with the docking-charging system, a hinged rear door gives you easy access to the
batteries, which you may quickly hot-swap to refresh any of up to three batteries.
Nose
The nose is where we put the optional onboard PC. The nose is readily removable for access: Simply remove two
screws from underneath the front SONAR array. A third screw holds the nose to the bottom of the AT’s body. The DX
nose is hinged at the bottom.
Once the mounting screws are removed, simply pull the nose away from the body.3 This provides a quick and easy way
to get to the accessory boards and disk drive of the onboard PC, as well as to the SONAR gain adjustment for the front
SONAR array. The nose also is an ideal place for you to attach your own custom accessories and sensors.
Access Panels
All DX’s come with a removable right-side panel through which you may install accessory connectors and controls. A
special side panel comes with the onboard PC option, for example, which provides connectors for a monitor, keyboard,
mouse and 10Base-T Ethernet, as well as the means to reset and switch power for the onboard computer.
AT’s come with a single access panel in the deck. Fastened down with finger-tight screws, the User Control Panel and
onboard computer controls are accessible beneath the hinged door.
All models come with an access port near the center of the deck through which to run cables to the internal
components.
SONAR
Pioneer 3 supports up to four SONAR arrays, each with up to eight transducers that provide object detection and range
information for collision avoidance, features recognition, localization, and navigation. The SONAR positions in all
Pioneer 3 SONAR arrays are fixed: one on each side, and six facing outward at 20-degree intervals.
Multiplexed Operation
Each SONAR array’s transducers are multiplexed: Only one disc per array is active at a time, but all four arrays fire one
transducer simultaneously. The SONAR ranging acquisition rate is adjustable, normally set to 25 Hz (40 milliseconds
per transducer per array). Sensitivity ranges from 10 centimeters (six inches) to five meters, depending on the ranging
rate. You may control the SONAR’s firing pattern through software, too; the default is left-to-right in sequence for each
array. See the ARCOS Chapters 6 and 7 for details.
Sensitivity Adjustment
The driver electronics for each array is calibrated at the factory. However, you may adjust the array’s sensitivity and
range to accommodate differing operating environments. The SONAR gain control is on the underside of the SONAR
driver board, which is attached to the floor of each SONAR module.
SONAR sensitivity adjustment controls are accessible directly, although
you may need to remove the Gripper to access the front SONAR, if you
have that accessory attached. For the front SONAR, for instance, locate
a hole near the front underside of the array through which you can see
the cap of the SONAR-gain adjustment potentiometer. Using a small flatbladed screwdriver, turn the gain control counterclockwise to make the
SONAR less sensitive to external noise and false echoes.
Low SONAR-gain settings reduce the robot’s ability to see small objects.
Under some circumstances, that is desirable. For instance, attenuate
the SONAR if you are operating in a noisy environment or on uneven or
highly reflective floora heavy shag carpet, for example. If the SONAR
3
With older Pioneer 2 models, you also needed to remove the Gripper before removing the nose. With P3 models, the robot’s nose and Gripper come
off together, so you only need to remove the nose mounting screws.
Figure 6. Pioneer 3 SONAR array
8
are too sensitive, they will “see” the carpet immediately ahead of the robot as an obstacle.
Increase the sensitivity of the SONAR by turning the gain-adjustment screw clockwise, making them more likely to see
small objects or objects at a greater distance. For instance, increase the gain if you are operating in a relatively quiet
and open environment with a smooth floor surface.
M
OTORS, WHEELS, AND POSITION ENCODERS
Pioneer 3 drive systems use high-speed, high-torque, reversible-DC motors, each equipped with a high-resolution
optical quadrature shaft encoder for precise position and speed sensing and advanced dead-reckoning. Motor
gearhead ratios, encoder ticks-per-revolution and tire sizes vary by robot model. However, ARCOS can correct for tire
mismatches and convert most client commands and reported server information from platform-independent distance
and heading units into platform-dependent encoder ticks, as expressed in the
FLASH parameters. Please read Chapter 6 for more details.
All Pioneer 3-DX robots come with foam-filled solid tires with knobby treads.4 Pioneer 3-AT tires are pneumatic so that
you may configure your robot for differing terrains. In any configuration, be careful to inflate the 3-AT tires evenly and
adjust the respective
3-AT’s with the tires inflated to 23 psi each.
B
ATTERIES AND POWER
Pioneer 3 robots contain up to three hot-swappable 12V sealed lead-acid batteries, accessible through a hinged and
latched rear door. We provide a suction cup tool to help grab and slide each battery out of its bay. Spring contacts
inside the robot make contact with the battery terminal tabs when inserted.
DriftFactor, TicksMM
and
RevCount
DriftFactor, TicksMM
FLASH parameters for proper operation. We ship Pioneer
and
RevCount
Warning
reduced, and the other batteries in the robot are at risk of being over-charged during recharging.
Note:
recommend operating with three batteries. Otherwise, a single battery should be mounted in the center, or two
batteries inserted on each side of the battery container.
Battery Indicators and Low Voltage Conditions
The User Control Panel contains a LED labeled
volts and above, the LED glows bright green. As the available battery voltage drops as it is used, the LED turns
progressively orange and then red at approximately 11.5 volts, the lowest recommended level of discharge.
User Control Panel’s buzzer, if active (see the ARCOS
repetitive alarm if the battery voltage drops consistently below the
the battery voltage drops below the
shuts down any active client connection. Low available battery voltage may also also cause accessory devices
including the optional onboard PC to shut down.
Recharging
Typical battery recharge time using the recommended accessory charger varies according to the discharge state; it is
roughly equal to three hours per volt per battery. The Power Cube accessory allows simultaneous recharge of three
swappable batteries outside the robot.
With the high-speed (4A maximum current) charger, recharge time is greatly reduced. It also supplies sufficient current
to continuously operate the robot and onboard accessories, such as the onboard PC and radios. But with the highercurrent charger, care must be taken to charge at least two batteries at once. A single battery may overcharge and
thereby damage both itself and the robot.
: if any spring contacts do not make full contact with the battery terminal tabs, then robot runtime will be
Batteries have a significant impact on the balance and operation of your robot. Under most conditions, we
Balance the batteries in your robot.
BATTERY
ShutdownVolts parameter
that indicates current battery voltage. Approximately 12.5
SoundTog
client command and FLASH parameter), will sound a
LowBattery
(default 11 V DC) the microcontroller automatically
parameter (default 11.5 V DC) level. If
4
A ribbed-tread tire is available optionally. Contact MobileRobots sales for details.
9
All our recommended chargers are specifically designed for safe lead-acid battery recharging. Indicators on the
module’s face show fast-charge mode (typically an orange LED) in which the discharged batteries are given the maximal
current, and trickle mode (green LED indicator), which the batteries are given only enough current to remain at full
charge.
S
AFETY
ARCOS W
ATCHDOGS
ARCOS contains a communications
WatchDog
that will halt the robot’s motion if communications between a PC client
and the robot server are disrupted for a set time interval. The robot will automatically resume activity, including motion,
as soon as communications are restored.
ARCOS also contains a stall monitor. If the drive exerts a PWM drive signal that equals or exceeds a configurable level
(
StallVal
also notifies the client which motor is stalled. When the
) and the wheels fail to turn, motor power is cut off for a configurable amount of time (
StallWait
time elapses, motor power automatically switches
StallWait
). ARCOS
back on and motion continues under client control.
You may reconfigure the various FLASH-based parameter values to suit your application. See Chapter 7, Updating &
Reconfiguring ARCOS, for details.
10
Chapter 3
Pioneer 3 robots have many accessory options. For convenience, we include a description of the more commonly
integrated accessories in this document. Please also refer to the detailed documents that come with the accessory.
J
OYSTICK AND JOYDRIVE MODE
Although not all models come standard with an external joystick connector, your Pioneer 3 robot’s microcontroller has a
joystick port and ARCOS contains a
Start driving your robot with a joystick any time when it is not connected with a client software program. Simply plug it
into the joystick port and press the “fire” button to engage the motors.
To drive your robot with a joystick while it is connected with an ARIA client (overrides client-based drive commands for
manual operation), you must have the client software send the ARCOS command #47 with an integer argument of one
to enable the ARCOS joystick servers. Have your client send the ARCOS
argument of zero to disable the joystick drive override.
The joystick’s fire button acts as the “deadman”—press it to start driving; release it to stop the robot’s motors. The
robot should drive forward and reverse, and turn left or right in response and at speeds relative to the joystick’s
position.
Accessories
JoyDrive
server for manual operation.
JOYDRIVE
command #47 with an integer
While driving forward, pull back on the joystick into full-reverse to decelerate faster than
normal.
When not connected with a client control program, releasing the joystick fire button stops the robot. However when
connected with a client, the client program resumes automatic operation of your robot’s drive system. So, for example,
your robot may speed up or slow down and turn, depending on the actions of your client program.
You may adjust the maximum translation and rotation speeds and even disable JoyDrive mode, through special ARCOS
FLASH configuration parameters. See Chapter 7, Updating & Reconfiguring ARCOS, for details.
B
UMPERS
Bump rings fore and aft provide contact sensing for when other sensing has failed to detect an obstacle. The accessory
rings also are segmented for contact positioning.
Electronically and programmatically, the bumpers trigger digital events which are reflected in the
standard server-information packet that ARCOS automatically sends to a connected client. Your client also may request
a special
information.
STALL
IOpac
server information packet that contains additional, more-detailed bumper, stall, and other I/O related
values of the
Your robot may not move if you unplug one or both
bumpers.
ARCOS itself monitors and responds to protection triggers. For
example, ARCOS’
whenever one or more bumper segments get triggered while the robot
is moving in the same direction (front forward or rear reverse). Please
consult the Appendix A for interface details and the chapters on
ARCOS, particularly the section which describes the contents of the
IOpac
server information packet, later in this manual for configuration
and programming details.
bumpStall
server triggers a stall in the robot
Figure 7. Pioneer 3 bumpers and
associated STALL bits
11
A
UTOMATED RECHARGING ACCESSORY
The Pioneer 3-DX automated recharging accessory5 is both a manual and an automated mechanism. Onboard
controls, triggered either by the
DEPLOY CHARGER
button near the manual
CHARGE
port or by ARCOS-mediated client
commands, deploy actuated contacts on the bottom of the robot, which in turn seat onto the power platform. Then,
when activated by an IR-based, unique frequency-modulated signal from the robot, the power platform delivers up to 17
VDC @ 11.5 A to its plates.
Manual Operation (Robot Power OFF)
With
MAIN POWER
off, place the robot over the power platform so that its charging contacts are perpendicular to and,
when deployed, contact the charger plates. Note that no charging power is applied to the plates on the platform; only
low signal (5VDC @ <300mA) power for the IR detectors.
Press and hold the
DEPLOY CHARGER
button to manually deploy the power-contact mechanism on the bottom of the
robot. Hold for a few seconds, but not more than 10 seconds. Charging is activated by positive contact with the power
platform. In that case, the charge lamp on the power unit will light and the robot's contacts will remain deployed when
you release the
DEPLOY CHARGER
button. Otherwise, the mechanism will retract. In that case, re-position the robot
and try again.
The robot's power-contact mechanism automatically retracts if you press the
DEPLOY CHARGER
button while charging, if
you move the robot on the power platform and lose positive charging contact, or if you remove power from the power
unit. In all cases, charging power is removed immediately from the power platform when not actively engaged by the
robot.
Manual Operation (Robot Power and Systems ON)
Because the automated recharging system’s integrated circuitry actively adjusts to system loads, it can run your robot's
onboard systems while properly and optimally recharging its batteries. And because the charging mechanism may be
operated independently of your robot's systems power, you may start up and shut down your robot and its onboard
systems without disturbing the battery charging cycle, if engaged.
For example, with
deploy the power-contact mechanism as described in the section above. Thereafter, switch
MAIN POWER
on, use JoyDrive mode to position the robot onto the power platform. Then manually
MAIN POWER
off, or
conversely, start up and shut down other onboard systems, including the PC, camera, laser and other accessories, to
proceed with development work without disturbing battery recharging.
The same conditions apply to remove power and retract the robot's power-contact mechanism with the robot’s
POWER
on as well as off. Since the ARCOS microcontroller always is active while the robot’s power is on, you also may
MAIN
connect and disconnect a client program, run in maintenance mode, or engage JoyDrive mode. However, engaging the
motors, such as when you press the “fire” button on the joystick, immediately and automatically removes charging
power and retracts the power-contact mechanism. And the mechanism will not activate manually via the
CHARGER
button until you disengage the motors.
DEPLOY
R
ADIO CONTROLS AND ACCESSORIES
All Pioneer platforms are servers in a client-server architecture. You supply the client software to run your intelligent
mobile-robot applications. The client can run on either an onboard piggy-back laptop or embedded PC, or an off-board
PC connected through radio modems or wireless serial Ethernet. In all cases, that client PC must connect to the
internal
HOST
or User Control Panel
5
The power-contact mechanism and onboard power conditioning circuitry can be retrofitted to all Pioneer 3 and some
Pioneer 2 and Performance PeopleBot robots. All require return to the factory.
SERIAL
port in order for the robot and your software to work.
12
Figure 8. Client-server connection options.
For a piggyback laptop or the embedded PC, the serial connection is via a common “pass-through” RS-232 serial cable.
We also offer a wireless Ethernet-to-serial bridge accessory which connects directly to your robot’s microcontroller. It
works by automatically translating network-based Ethernet packet communications into streaming serial for the robot
microcontroller and back again.
Running your robot through wireless Ethernet to an onboard computer is different than with the Ethernet-to-serial
bridge device. In the first case, you run your robot client software on the onboard PC and use wireless Ethernet to
monitor and control that PC’s operation. In the latter case, you run the client software on a remote PC.
Accordingly, a major disadvantage of the wireless Ethernet-to-serial device is that it requires a consistent wireless
connection with the robot. Disruption of the radio signal—a common occurrence in even the most modern
installations—leads to poor robot performance and very short ranges of operation.
This is why we recommend onboard client PCs for wider, much more robust areas of autonomous operation, particularly
when equipped with their own wireless Ethernet. In this configuration, you run the client software and its interactions
with the robot microcontroller locally and simply rely on the wireless connection to export and operate the client
controls. Moreover, the onboard PC is often needed for local processing, such as to support a laser range finder or to
capture and process live video.
I
NTEGRATED
PC
Mounted just behind the nose of the robot, the Pioneer 3 integrated PC is a common EBX form-factor board that comes
with up to four serial ports, 10/100Base-T Ethernet, monitor, keyboard and mouse ports, USB ports and a hard-disk.
For additional functionality, such as video framegrabber, Firewire or wireless Ethernet interfaces, the onboard PC
accepts PC104 and PC104-plus PCI interface cards that stack on the motherboard.
Computer power comes from a dedicated DC:DC converter, mounted nearby. The hard-disk drive is mounted to the
robot’s nose, in between a cooling fan and computer speaker.
The onboard PC communicates with the robot’s microcontroller through the
COM1
serial port under Windows or
/dev/ttyS0
on Linux systems. The
microcontroller automatically switches to this connection when software
opens the serial port. Therefore, the
SERIAL
port on the external User
Control Panel can be used for robot control if no software is running on the
onboard computer.
The serial port is also used to indicate some aspects of robot microcontroller
state: DSR (pin 4) is RS-232 high when the microcontroller operates
normally; otherwise it is low when reset or in maintenance mode. Similarly,
RING (pin 9) normally is low and goes RS-232 high when the robot’s
batteries drop below the value of the
ShutdownVolts
parameter in ARCOS
configuration.
Computer Control Panel
User-accessible communication and control port connectors, switches and
indicators for the onboard PC are on the Computer Control Panel, found on
the right side panel of the DX or in the hinged control well next to the user
Figure 9. DX computer control side
13
controls of the AT. The controls and ports use common connectors: standard monitor DSUB and PS/2 (older
computers) or USB (newer computers) connectors on the mouse and keyboard. The Ethernet is a 10/100Base-T
standard RJ-45 socket.
The
The
ON/OFF
HDD
slide switch controls power to the onboard PC. The
PWR
LED lights when the onboard hard-disk drive is active. The
LED lights when the computer has power.
RESET
button restarts the PC.
Operating the Onboard PC
MobileRobots software is installed in
/usr/local
on Linux systems or in
C:\Program Files\MobileRobots
under
Windows. In addition, we install the appropriate drivers for all computer devices included such as image framegrabber,
wireless ethernet, sound and video.
Switch Main Power and Computer Power on. After boot up, log in to the system.
On Linux, two user accounts have been created: a normal user named ‘guest’ and the administrative account, which is
named ‘root’. The default passwords for both accounts is mobilerobots. We recommend changing these passwords
using the passwd command.
On Windows, the administrative account is named ‘Administrator’. The default password is ‘mobilerobots’.
To log in remotely to a Linux system over a wireless network, use ssh (from Windows, use the free Putty application,
available online). To log in remotely to a Windows system, use Remote Desktop.
To transfer files to a Linux system, use scp (from Windows, use the free WinSCP application, available online).
As a security measure, Linux normally prevents remote login as
root
; you must log in as a normal user and use the su
and sudo commands to perform tasks that require root permissions.
Linux has been configured to normally boot into a non-graphical mode for improved performance. To access the
graphical environment instead, choose the graphical UI mode at boot or use the ‘
startx
’ command to start X-Windows
and the GUI.
Please consult the computer manual and additional resources available at http://robots.mobilerobots.com for
additional information on the onboard computer.
Onboard PC Networking
The RJ-45 connector on the Computer Control Panel provides wired 10/100Base-T Ethernet networking directly with
the onboard PC. With the purchased option, we also install a wireless ethernet interface on the PC. The wireless
Ethernet antenna sits atop the robot’s deck.
Computer networking has been preconfigured by default with a static IP address with Class-C network configuration.
The default network settings are:
wired ethernet: Static IP address
10.0.125.32
(older robots had 192.168.100.32 instead).
wireless network: Managed (not ad-hoc) mode with access point ESSID "Wireless Network", Static IP address
10.0.126.32
(192.168.1.32 on older robots).
If you also purchased a wireless access point from MobileRobots, then these default settings will work with that access
point.
If instead, you are planning on using the robot on an existing wireless network, you will need to change these settings.
In particular, you may need to use dhcp instead of a static IP address, or change the static IP address subnet, and
change the wireless network ESSID and set the WEP key if used.
On Debian Linux, network settings are changed by editing the /etc/network/interfaces file or by using the Network
settings control panel in the X-Windows GUI environment (System->Preferences). Additional information is available at
http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Debian_Linux_Network_Configuration.
On Windows, network settings are changed in the network settings control panel. See
http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Windows_Network_Configuration
Some robot devices use the ethernet network for communication, such as the SICK LMS-100 laser rangefinder, or an
ethernet camera. These will either be connected to the second ethernet interface on the onboard computer, or to a
small ethernet switch in the robot. These devices are on different logical networks and so virtual interfaces are used in
14
the computer OS to communicate with them. Unless you change internal settings on these devices, you can leave them
as configured by MobileRobots.
G
YROSCOPE
The accessory gyroscope provides maximum 300 degrees-per-second rotational rate data to the AN6 analog port on
your robot’s microcontroller. With all versions, ARCOS and ARIA-based client software provide client-side support for the
gyro. With the FLASH parameter
GyroRequest
(#58 with argument 1), will acquire, average, and relay rate data (GYROpac 0x98) to ARIA, which applies
HasGyro
set to 1, the microcontroller, upon receiving the client command
the data to correct and compute the robot’s actual x,y, th position, relieving errors due to wheel slippage, for instance.
The gyro’s calibration setting for this mode of operation is found as the
ARIA parameters (“.p”) file;
p3dx-sh.p
, for example.
GyroScaler
value in your robot’s respective
In ARCOS version 2.0 and later, there is server-side support for the gyro with finer heading resolution and more reliable
calibration. The new
GyroCW
and
GyroCCW
FLASH parameters, with companion
CYROCALCW
(#38) and
GYROCALCCW
(#39) client commands, let you set the clockwise and counterclockwise configuration values separately (they tend to be
different) for computing heading. The FLASH-based values are more permanently associated with the platform and
much less likely to be changed or moved, as often happens with the mostly platform independent ARIA client software.
Set
HasGyro
to 2 in order to have ARCOS automatically use the gyro rate data to compute the
ThPos
heading and
XPos, YPos position values in the standard SIP, as well as automatically correct for platform misalignment due to
encoder-based rotations, such as if you manually rotate the robot without moving its wheels.
In all cases, the translation component for wheel velocities and position integration, and the rotational velocity, are
encoder-based. And, of course, you may choose to ignore the gyro and rely on entirely on the encoders for your
platform odometry. Consult the ARCOS Chapters 6 and 7 for more details.
15
Chapter 4
P
REPARATIVE HARDWARE ASSEMBLY
Your Pioneer 3 robot comes fully assembled and ready for out-of-the-box operation. However, you may need to attach
some accessories that were shipped separately for safety. The procedures we describe herein are for control of the
basic robot.
The first time you operate and test the robot, we recommend that you put the robot up on blocks so that it cannot
inadvertently.
If you have the onboard PC option, attach a keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the Computer Control Panel. Switch the
computer power switch to ON.
Quick Start
CAREFUL
Slide the batteries into the robot TERMINALS LAST.
Otherwise, you will damage the robot.
Install Batteries
Out of the box, your Pioneer 3 robot comes with its batteries fully charged. The batteries are shipped separately.. Slide
at least one and up to three batteries into the robot’s battery box through the back door. : If using a single battery,
place it in the center. If using two batteries, place one at either side. If using three batteries, use all three locations.
Make sure that all battery terminals are making contact with the spring contacts in the robot. If any batteries fail to
make full contact, then damage may result to the batteries or robot.
CAREFUL
Always ensure that battery terminals are making full contact with the robot’s spring contacts.
Client-Server Communications
Your robot requires a serial communication link with a client PC for operation. The serial link may be:
A tether cable from the robot’s 9-pin serial connector on the User Control Panel to a computer
A piggyback laptop cabled to the User Control Panel serial port
Serial Ethernet
Radio Modem
An integrated onboard PC wired internally for direct onboard control
ARIA D
ARIA’s examples are simple text-based programs that show how to make a connection to the robot controller and any
required accessory devices, and then demonstrate how various ARIA, robot and accessory features can be used in your
own software.
EMO
16
Communication between the PC running client software and the robot microcontroller is RS-232 serial at 9600 baud.
If using the optional onboard computer, this connection is
COM1
(Windows) or
/dev/ttyS0
(Linux) at 9600 baud.
To connect a laptop or other user computer through the HOST or SERIAL port on the side of the robot, use a serial cable
or RS-232 compatible USB-serial adapter. If your computer uses a different device name for this connection, make
sure to connect using this device name. (For example, a higher COM port on Windows or /dev/ttyUSB0 on Linux when
using a USB adapter.) The connection port can be specified on the command line when using the ARIA library (see
below and ARIA documentation.)
If your robot has a “WiBox” wireless Ethernet-to-serial device, you can run software on a remote computer, and
configure it via ARIA command-line options to communicate with the WiBox. See the additional documentation
provided with the WiBox for details.
Windows users may select the ARIA
demo
from the
Start
menu, in the
MobileRobots
program group, or open a
Windows Command Prompt, enter the ARIA directory, and run the program:
cd “C:\Program Files\MobileRobots\ARIA”
If using the 32-bit version of ARIA:
cd bin
.\demo.exe
If using the 64-bit version of ARIA:
cd bin64
.\demo.exe
Linux users will find ARIA in
cd /usr/local/Aria/bin
./demo
/usr/local/Aria/
:
Demo Startup Options
By default, the ARIA
if on Windows or
demo
program attempts to connect with the Pioneer 3 robot controller through the serial port
/dev/ttyS0
COM1
if on Linux. To change connection options, command-line arguments may be used to set
options (see Table 1.)
For example, from the Windows
Files\MobileRobots\ARIA\bin\demo.exe.
Start:Run
dialog, choose
Browse…
and select the ARIA demo program:
C:\Program
Then, type a command line argument at the end of the text in the Run
dialog. To connect through the Ethernet-to-serial radio device over the wireless network, for example, try the command:
C:\Program Files\MobileRobots\ARIA\bin\demo.exe -remoteHost 10.0.126.11
(Replace 10.0.126.11 with the correct IP address for your wireless ethernet-serial bridge device if different. E.g. some
older devices use 192.168.1.32 instead by default.)
You can add additional options. Run
.\demo.exe -help
or see
CommandLineOptions.txt.
See ARIA reference
documentation for more information on command line options.
17
est and
furthest readings from the laser
Displays the coordinates of the
robot’s position relative to its
Controls, exercises and displays
Sends the robot to move around
at its own whim while avoiding
Drive and steer the robot via
the keyboard or a joystick;
Same as teleop, except no
Table 1. ARIA demo’s robot connection start-up options
-remoteHost <Host Name or IP>
(abbreviated -rh)
-robotPort <Serial Port>
(abbreviated -rp)
-robotBaud <baudrate>
(abbreviated -rb)
-remoteRobotTcpPort <Number>
(abbreviated -rrtp)
Connect with robot through a remote host over
the network instead of a serial port;
requires special serial Ethernet hardware or
IPTHRU software mediation.
Connect with robot through specified serial
port name; COM3, for example. COM1 or
/dev/ttyS0 is the default.
Connect with robot using the specified
baudrate; 19200 or 38400, for example.
Default is 9600.
Remote TCP host-to-robot connection port
number; default is 8101.
A Successful Connection
ARIA prints out lots of diagnostic log messages as it negotiates a connection with the robot. If successful, the client
requests various ARCOS services to start their activities, including SONAR polling, position integration and so on. The
microcontroller sounds an audible connection cue and you should hear the robot’s SONAR ping with a distinctive and
repetitive clicking. In addition, the motors-associated
STATUS
LED on the User Control Panel should flash very fast (was
flashing slowly while awaiting connection). Note that the ARIA
demo automatically engages your robot’s motors though a
Table 2. Keyboard teleoperation
special client command. Normally, the motors are disengaged
when first connecting.
The amber
SERIAL
port indicator LEDs on the robot’s User
KEY ACTION
↑
forward
Control Panel should blink to indicate ARIA-client to ARCOSserver communications, too.
↓
reverse
Table 3. ARIA demo operation modes
MODE
laser l Displays the clos
io i Displays the digital and analog-
position p
bumps b Displays bumpers status
SONAR s Displays the SONAR readings
camera c Controls and exercises the pan-
gripper g
In
wander w
teleop t
HOT
KEY
DESCRIPTION
range finder
to-digital I/O ports
starting location
tilt-zoom robotic camera
status of the Gripper accessory
obstacles
avoids collisions
←
→
space
O
PERATING THE
turn left
turn right
all stop
ARIA D
EMONSTRATION CLIENT
When connected with the ARIA demo client, your
robot becomes responsive and intelligent. For
example, it moves cautiously. Although it may
drive toward an obstacle, your robot will not crash
because the ARIA demo includes obstacleavoidance behaviors which enable the robot to
detect and actively avoid collisions.
The ARIA demo displays a menu of robot operation
options. The default mode of operation is
teleop
mode, you drive the robot manually, using
teleop
the arrow keys on your keyboard or a joystick
connected to the client PC’s joystick port (as
opposed to a joystick port on the robot).
While driving from the keyboard, hold down the
respective keys to simultaneously drive the robot
forward or backward and turn right or left. For
.
unguarded u
collision avoidance
direct d Direct command mode
18
instance, hold down the up-arrow key to have the robot accelerate forward to its cruising speed of around 400
millimeters per second (defined in the source code). Release the arrow key to have the robot slow down and stop.
Press and hold the right- or left-arrow key to have the robot rotate or turn in an arc if you also hold down the up- or
down-arrow key.
The other modes of ARIA demo operation give you access to your robot’s various sensors and accessories, including
encoders, SONAR, laser, Gripper, a pan-tilt-zoom robotic camera, I/O port states, bumpers and more. Accor-dingly, use
the ARIA demo not only as a demonstration tool, but as a diagnostic one, as well, if you suspect a sensor or effector has
failed or is working poorly. The demo also is useful for calibrating your robot’s drive system.
Access each ARIA demo mode by pressing its related hot-key: ‘t’, for instance, to select
teleoperation
. Each mode
includes onscreen instructions and may have sub-menus for operating of the respective device.
D
ISCONNECTING
When you finish, press the
Esc
key to disconnect the ARIA client from your robot server and exit the ARIA demonstration
program. Your robot should disengage its drive motors and stop moving, and its SONAR should stop firing. You may
now slide the robot’s
N
ETWORKING WITH MOBILEEYES
Main Power
switch to
OFF
.
To use the MobileEyes GUI client for much more
advanced, network-based robotics control, you need to
do things a bit differently. You need the Ethernet-toserial device or a PC on the robot. But instead of ARIA
demo
, use ArNetworking’s
serverDemo
to mediate
communications between MobileEyes and your robot
over the network.
Start serverDemo
The ArNetworking client,
serverDemo
, works to
mediate communications between your Pioneer 3
robot over the network and remote clients, such as the
GUI MobileEyes. To examine its inner workings, look at
serverDemo.cpp
ArNetworking/examples
Start
serverDemo
remoteHost
(and others) sources in the
subdirectory.
just like
demo
, with the
–
argument if you aren’t running the
Figure 10. MobileEyes connected to the basic
ArNetworking serverDemo
software onboard. ServerDemo also accepts the
special command-line argument –connectLaser if you have a SICK LMS rangefinder attached to the serverDemo-based
PC. ServerDemo can be run anywhere on the network from which your MobileEyes and your robot have access, such as
on the same PC as you run MobileEyes.
Connect MobileEyes with serverDemo, not the robot’s microcontroller.
Start MobileEyes and Connect with serverDemo
From Windows, simply double-click the MobileEyes.exe program normally located in the
Files\MobileRobots\MobileEyes\bin
session, navigate to the
./MobileEyes &
In the MobileEyes startup dialog, enter the hostname or IP address of the PC on which you are running
Operating MobileEyes
Simply click the robot icon on the menu bar to engage manual drive and teleoperate the robot. Your robot with
MobileEyes really comes to life when used with SONARNL or ARNL for map-based path-planning and navigation.
MobileEyes/bin
C:\Program
directory. With Linux, you need to have started X and, from a terminal
directory in
/usr/local
and execute it:
serverDemo
.
19
Q
UICKSTART TROUBLESHOOTING
Most problems occur when attempting to connect the ARIA or ArNetworking demo program with a robot for the first
time. The process can be daunting if you don’t make the right connections and installations.
Parameter Files
The most common mistake is not having your robot’s “parameter” file located in the
Pioneer 3’s, the ARIA-parameter filenames are
either come with the latest version of. Note that the ARIA library itself contains internal parameter defaults in case the
parameter file is missing. And you can make up your own custom robot parameter files, too, using the value of the
robot’s
Proper Connections
Make sure you have the software properly installed and that your robot and connections are correct. A common
mistake with Linux is not having the proper permissions on the connecting serial port.
Make sure your robot’s batteries are fully charged (battery LED green). The robot servers shut down and won’t allow a
connection at under
NAME
parameter.
ShutdownVolts
.
p3dx-sh.p or p3at-sh.p
. These and all other ARIA parameter files
Aria/params
directory. For
ATTENTION!
The demo/serverDemo-to-robot connection is
SERIAL
only. Accordingly, run them on the
onboard or piggyback computer, over radio modems or over the network with a wireless
Ethernet-to-serial device.
If you are using the onboard PC or radios, the serial connection is internal and established at the factory; you should not
have problems with those cables. Simply make sure the
LED lit), for example. And remove any serial cable that is plugged into the User Control Panel as it may interfere with
internal serial communication.
With other serial connections, make sure to use the proper cable: a “pass-through” one, minimally connecting pins 2, 3,
and 5 of your PC’s serial port to their respective contacts of the robot’s serial port on the User Control Panel.
AUX1
switch on the User Control Panel is engaged (associated
If you access the wrong serial port, the demonstration program will display an error message. If the robot server isn't
listening or if the serial link is severed somewhere between the client and server (cable loose or the radio is off, for
instance), the client will attempt "Syncing 0" several times and fail. In that case,
connections.
If for some reason communications get severed between the client and ARCOS server, but both the client and server
remain active, you may revive the connection with little effort. If you are using wireless communications, first check and
see if the robot is out of range.
Communications also will fail if the client and/or server is somehow disabled during a session. For instance, if you
inadvertently switch off the robot’s
the
Main Power
state, ready to accept client connections again. If the demo or other client application is still active, simply press
and restart.
switch
OFF
and then back ON, or pressing the
Main Power
or press the
RESET
button, you must restart the connection. Turning
RESET
button puts the robot servers back to their wait
RESET
the robot and check your serial
esc
20
Chapter 5
R
OBOT CONNECTION
All Pioneer platforms use a two-tier client-server mobile robot-control architecture. In the model, firmware on the
robot’s embedded controller works to manage all the low-level details of the mobile robot’s systems. These include
operating the motors, firing the SONAR, collecting and reporting SONAR and wheel encoder data and so onall on
command from and reporting to a separate client application, such as the ARIA demo.
Communication between the optional onboard PC and the robot microcontroller is RS-232 serial through
(Windows) or
SERIAL port on the side of the robot, use a serial cable or RS-232 compatible USB-serial adapter. If your computer
uses a different device name for this connection, make sure to connect using this device name. (For example, a higher
COM port on Windows or /dev/ttyUSB0 on Linux when using a USB adapter.) The connection port can be specified on
the command line when using the ARIA library (see Chapter 5, Quick Start, above, and ARIA documentation.)
With this client/server architecture, robotics applications developers do not need to know many details about a
particular robot server, because the client insulates them from this lowest level of control. Some of you, however, may
want to write your own robotics control and reactive planning programs, or just would like to have a closer programming
relationship with your robot. This chapter explains how to communicate with and control your robot via the Advanced
Robot Control and Operations Software (ARCOS) client-server interface. The same ARCOS functions and commands are
supported in the various client-programming environments that accompany your robot or are available for separate
license.
ARCOS is compatible with all MobileRobots platforms, implementing the same commands and information packets that
first appeared in the Pioneer 1-based PSOS, in the original Pioneer 2-based P2OS, and more recent AROS-based
Pioneer 2s and 3s, as well as PeopleBot and PowerBot. ARCOS, of course, extends the servers to add new
functionality, improve performance, and provide additional information about the robot's state and sensing.
Software and Robot Control
/dev/ttyS0
(Linux) at 9600 baud. To connect a laptop or other user computer through the HOST or
COM1
R
OBOTS IN MOTION
Robot motion is possible on two axes: translation (forward or backward on the local X axis, specified as mm/second)
and rotation (clockwise or counter clockwise specified as degrees/second). Your client software can send requests for
desired speed on each of these axes independently. ARCOS will control the robot drive wheels accordingly, resulting in
your desired trajectory of the platform.
Alternatively, client software can request a discrete movement on either axis: movement along a specific distance
forward or backward, or a rotation by a specified number of degrees, or to a specified target heading in the robot
coordinate system (see below).
Requesting Robot Motion
Translational velocity can be requested via ARIA (ArRobot::setVel() or via an ArAction object), or using the VEL
command. Rotational velocity can be requested via ARIA (ArRobot::setRotVel()) or via an ArAction object), or using the
RVEL command.
When ARCOS receives a motion command, it accelerates or decelerates the robot to achieve the requested translation
or rotation speed, or to a default speed used to achieve a distance movement. Translation acceleration or deceleration
can be set via ARIA (ArRobot::setAccel(), ArRobot::setDecel()) or via SETA command #5. Rotational acceleration or
deceleration can be set via ARIA (ArRobot::setRotAccel(), ArRobot::setRotDecel()) or via SETRA command #23.
Default speeds for distance movement can be set via SETV and SETRV commands.
21
v e l o c i t y
d e c e l
m
,
a c c e l
m a x
v e l o c i t y
s h o r t
m a x
n o t
o v e
v e l o c i t y
r e a c h e d
s t a r t
p o s i t i o n
Figure 11. Trapezoidal velocity profile
Discrete distance movements can be requested via ARIA (ArRobot::move()) or the MOVE command. The MOVE
command sends the platform forward the specified distance in millimeters if a positive argument, or backward if a
negative distance. Each move is limited to +5000 millimeters and -4999 millimeters.
Discrete changes in orientation can be requested via ARIA (ArRobot::setHeading()) or the HEAD or DHEAD commands.
HEAD rotates the robot to the specified heading in the global robot coordinate system. DHEAD changes it relative to its
current heading. In general, positive relative heading command arguments turn the robot in a counterclockwise
direction. However, the robot always turns in the direction that will achieve its heading most efficiently. Accordingly,
relative-heading arguments greater than 180 degrees automatically get reduced to 180 or less degrees with a
concomitant change in direction of rotation.6
The E_STOP command #55 or the
and abruptly stop the robot in the shortest distance and time possible. Accordingly, the robot brakes to zero translation
and rotation velocities with very high deceleration and remains stopped until it receives a subsequent translation or
rotation velocity command from the client or until the STOP button is reset. (See E_STOP and E_STALL later in this
chapter.)
PID Controls
The ARCOS drive servers use a common Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) system with wheel-encoder feedback to
adjust a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) signal at the motor drivers to control the power to the motors. The motor-duty
cycle is 50 microseconds (20 KHz); pulse-width is proportional 0-500 for 0-100% of the duty cycle. The ARCOS drive
servers recalculate and adjust your robot’s trajectory and speed every five milliseconds.
STOP
t i m e
button that is found on some Pioneer robot platforms override deceleration
p o s i t i o n
a c h i e v e d
p o s i t i o n
a c h i e v e d
The PID values for translation and rotation and maximum PWM are reconfigurable FLASH parameters in your robot’s
microcontroller. You also may temporarily update the PID values with the ARCOS client commands #84 through #87.
On-the-fly changes persist until the client disconnects. Translation PID values apply to independent wheel-velocity
mode, as well.
The P-term value Kp increases the overall gain of the system by amplifying the position error. Large gains will have a
tendency to overshoot the velocity goal; small gains will limit the overshoot but cause the system to become sluggish.
We’ve found that a fully loaded robot works best with a Kp setting of around 15 to 30, whereas a lightly loaded robot
may work best with Kp in the range of 20 to 50.
The D-term Kv provides a PID gain factor that is proportional to the output velocity. It has the greatest effect on system
damping and minimizing oscillations within the drive system. The term usually is the first to be adjusted if you
encounter unsatisfactory drive response. Typically, we find Kv to work best in the range of 10 to 30 for lightly to heavily
loaded robots, respectively. If your robot starts to vibrate or shutter, reduce Kv.
The I-Term Ki moderates any steady state errors thereby limiting velocity fluctuations during the course of a move. At
rest, your robot will seek to “zero out” any command position error. Too large of a Ki factor will cause an excessive
windup of the motor when the load changes, such as when climbing over a bump or accelerating to a new speed.
6
Also when operating the robot with the server-side gyroscope (
platform reaches its intended heading.
.
hasGyro 2
), the HEAD command gets repeated internally to ensure that the
22
range of 0 to 10 for lightly to heavily loaded robots respectively.
Position Integration
Pioneer robots track their position and orientation based on
dead-reckoning from wheel motion derived from encoder
readings and from the integrated gyroscope accessory when
attached and enabled. The ARCOS-based robot maintains its
internal coordinate position in platform-dependent units, but
reports the values in platform-independent millimeters and
angular units (2π/4096 radians) in the standard SIP (Xpos, Ypos,
and Thpos).
Be aware that registration between external and internal
coordinates deteriorates rapidly with movement due to gearbox
Consequently, we typically use a minimum value for Ki in the
play, wheel imbalance and slippage, and many other real-world
Figure 12. Internal coordinate system
factors. You can rely on the dead-reckoning ability of the robot
for just a short range—on the order of a few meters and one or
two revolutions, depending on the surface. Carpets tend to be
worse than hard floors.
Also, moving either too fast or too slow tends to exacerbate the absolute position errors. Accordingly, consider the
robot’s dead-reckoning capability as a means of tying together sensor readings taken over a short period of time, not as
a method of keeping the robot on course with respect to a global map.
On start-up, the robot is at the origin (0, 0, 0), pointing along the positive X-axis at 0 degrees. Absolute angles vary
between 0 and ±4096 angular units (+180 to -179 degrees).
You may reset the internal coordinates back to 0,0,0 with the
C
LIENT-SERVER COMMUNICATION PACKET PROTOCOLS
SETO
command #7.
The Pioneer 3 communicates with a client using a client-server communication packet protocols, one for command
packets from client to server and another for Server Information Packets (SIPs) from the server to client. Both protocols
are byte streams consisting of five main elements: a two-byte header, a one-byte count of the number of subsequent
packet bytes, the client command or SIP packet type, command data types and argument values or SIP data bytes, and,
finally, a two-byte checksum. Packets are limited to a maximum of 207 bytes each.
The two-byte header which signals the start of a packet is the same for both client command packets and SIPs: 0xFA
(250) followed by 0xFB (251). The subsequent count byte is the number of all subsequent bytes in the packet including
the checksum, but not including the byte count value itself or the header bytes.
Data types are simple and depend on the command or specific packet (see descriptions below): client commands, SIP
types, and so on, are single 8-bit bytes, for example. Command arguments and SIP values may be 2-byte integers,
ordered as least-significant byte first. Some data are strings of up to a maximum 200 bytes, prefaced by a length byte.
The two bytes c1 and c2 of a 2-byte integer can be combined into an integer i like this:
i = (c1 & 0xff) | (c2 << 8);
Note that unlike data integers, however, the two-byte checksum at the end of each packet appears with its mostsignificant byte first (see below for example code).
23
Table 4. Client command packet protocol
positive integer, negative or absolute
C
OMPONENT
header 2 0xFA, 0xFB Packet header; same for client and server
B
YTES
V
ALUE
D
ESCRIPTION
byte count 1 N Number of command/argument bytes plus
command
number
argument
type
argument n data Command argument; always 2-byte integer or
checksum 2 computed Packet integrity checksum
1 0 - 255
1 0x3B or
0x1B or
0x2B
Checksum’s two bytes, but not including Byte
Count itself or the header bytes. Maximum
of 249.
Client command number; see
Required data type of command argument:
integer, or string
string containing length prefix
Table 7
.
Packet Checksum
Calculate the client-server packet checksum by successively adding data byte pairs (high byte first) to a running
checksum (initially zero), disregarding sign and overflow. If there are an odd number of data bytes, the last byte is
XORed to the low-order byte of the checksum.
AREXPORT ArTypes::Byte2 ArRobotPacket::calcCheckSum(void)
{
int i;
unsigned char n;
int c = 0;
i = 3;
n = myBuf[2] - 2;
while (n > 1) {
c += ((unsigned char)myBuf[i]<<8) | (unsigned char)myBuf[i+1];
c = c & 0xffff;
n -= 2;
i += 2;
}
if (n > 0)
c = c ^ (int)((unsigned char) myBuf[i]);
return c;
}
(from MobileRobots ARIA ArRobotPacket.cpp)
The checksum integer is placed at the end of the packet, with its bytes in the reverse order of that used for data;
NOTE:
that is, b0 is the high byte and b1 is the low byte.
Packet Errors
ARCOS ignores a client command packet whose byte count exceeds 204 (total packet size of 207 bytes) or has an
erroneous checksum. The client should similarly ignore erroneous SIPs.
Because of the real-time nature of client-server mobile-robotics interactions, we made a conscious decision to provide
an unacknowledged communication packet interface. Retransmitting server information or command packets typically
serves no useful purpose because old data is useless in maintaining responsive robot behaviors.
24
Nonetheless, the client-server interface provides a simple means for dealing with ignored command packets: Most of
the client commands alter state variables in the server. By examining those values in respective SIPs, client software
may detect ignored commands and re-issue them until achieving the correct state.
T
HE CLIENT-SERVER CONNECTION
Before exerting any control, a client application must first establish a connection with the robot server via a serial link
through the robot microcontroller’s
HOST
serial port either via the internal
HOST
or the User Control Panel
SERIAL
connector. After establishing the communication link, the client then sends commands to and receives operating
information from the server.
When first started or reset, ARCOS is in a special wait state listening for communication packets to establish a clientserver connection.7 To establish a connection, the client application must send a series of three synchronization
packets containing the
SYNC0, SYNC1
and
SYNC2
commands in succession, and retrieve the server responses.
Specifically, and as examples of the client command protocol described below, the sequence of synchronization bytes
is:
SYNC0: 250, 251, 3, 0, 0, 0
SYNC1: 250, 251, 3, 1, 0, 1
SYNC2: 250, 251, 3, 2, 0, 2
When in wait mode, ARCOS echoes the packets verbatim back to the client. The client should listen for the returned
packets and only issue the next synchronization packet after it has received the appropriate echo.
Autoconfiguration (SYNC2)
ARCOS automatically sends robot identifying information back to the client following the last synchronization packet
(SYNC2). The configuration values are three NULL-terminated strings that comprise the robot’s FLASH-stored name,
type, and subtype. You may uniquely
name
your robot with the FLASH configuration tool we provide. The
type
and
subtype are constants set at the factory and normally not changed thereafter. (See next chapter for details.)
The
type
string typically is
Pioneer
. The
subtype
depends on your robot model; P3
DX-SH
or P3AT-SH, for example.
Clients may use these identifying strings to self-configure their own operating parameters. ARIA, for instance, loads and
uses the robot’s related parameter files found in the special
Aria/params
directory.
Opening the Servers—OPEN
Once you’ve established a connection with ARCOS, your client should send the
OPEN
command #1 (250, 251, 3, 1, 0,
1) to the server, which causes the microcontroller to perform a few housekeeping functions, start its various servers,
such as for the SONAR and motors, and begin transmitting server information to the client.
Note that when at first connected, your robot's motors are disabled regardless of their state when last connected. To
enable the motors after starting a connection, you must either do it manually (press the white
User Control Panel), from the LCD accessory’s interactive mode, or have your client send an
MOTORS
ENABLE
button on the
client command
#4 with an integer argument of 1. See Client Commands below.
Once connected, send the
or press the white
MOTORS
button on the User Control Panel
ENABLE
command
to enable your robot’s motors.
Server Information Packets
Once
OPEN
ed, ARCOS automatically and repeatedly sends a packet of information over the
connected client. The standard ARCOS SIP informs the client about a number of operating states and readings, using
the order and data types described in the nearby Table. ARCOS also supports several additional SIP types. See
following sections for details.
7
There also is maintenance mode for ARCOS downloads and parameter updates; see next chapter for details.
HOST
serial port back to the
25
Table 5. ARCOS standard SIP contents
L
ABEL
D
HEADER
2 bytes Exactly in order 0xFA (250), 0xFB (251)
ATA
D
ESCRIPTION
BYTE COUNT
byte Number of data bytes + 2 (checksum), not including
header or byte-count bytes
TYPE
0x3s Motors status; s = 2 when motors stopped or 3 when robot
moving.
XPOS
int Wheel-encoder and optional gyro integrated coordinates
in millimeters (DistConvFactor‡ = 1.0).
YPOS
int
THPOS
int Orientation in angular units (AngleConvFactor‡ =
0.001534 radians per angular unit = 2π/4096).
L VEL
int Wheel velocities in millimeters per second
(VelConvFactor‡ = 1.0)
R VEL
int
BATTERY
byte Battery charge in tenths of volts (101 = 10.1 volts, for
example)
STALL AND
BUMPERS
uint╪ Motor stall and bumper indicators. Bit 0 is the left
wheel stall indicator, set to 1 if stalled. Bits 1-7
correspond to the first bumper I/O digital input states
(accessory dependent). Bit 8 is the right wheel stall,
and bits 9-15 correspond with the second bumper I/O,
also accessory and application dependent.
CONTROL
int Setpoint of the server’s angular position servo in
degrees
FLAGS
uint Bit 0 motors status; bits 1-4 SONAR array status; bits
5,6 STOP; bits 7,8 ledge-sense IRs; bit 9 joystick fire
button; bit 10 auto—charger power-good.
COMPASS
byte Electronic compass accessory heading in 2-degree units
SONAR
COUNT
byte Number of new SONAR readings included in SIP
NUMBER
byte If SONAR Count>0, is SONAR disc number 0-31; readings
follow
RANGE
uint Corrected SONAR range value in millimeters
(RangeConvFactor‡ = 1.0)
…
REST OF THE
GRIP_STATE
ANPORT
ANALOG
SONAR
READINGS
…
byte Gripper state byte.*
byte Selected analog port number 1-5
byte User Analog input (0-255=0-5 VDC) reading on selected
port
DIGIN
byte Byte-encoded User I/O digital input
DIGOUT
byte Byte-encoded User I/O digital output
BATTERY
X10 int Actual battery voltage in 0.1 V (especially useful for
battery voltages > 25.5)
CHARGESTATE
byte Version 1.5 and later. Automated recharging state byte;
-1 = unknown; 0=not charging; 1=bulk; 2=overcharge;
3=float.
26
ROTVEL
int Current rotational velocity in degrees X 10 per sec
F
AULTFLAGS
LATVEL int Not used on Pioneer.
T
EMPERATURE
S
TATEOFCHARGE
int Not used on Pioneer.
byte Not used on Pioneer.
byte Not used on Pioneer.
CHECKSUM
‡ Client-side data-conversion factor. Consult the ARIA parameter file for your robot.
╪ Explicitly, an unsigned integer; all others sign-extended
int Packet-integrity checksum
Keeping the Beat—PULSE
An ARCOS safety watchdog expects that, once connected, your robot receives at least one command packet from the
client every
watchDog
cycle, as defined in your robot’s FLASH (default is two seconds). Otherwise, it assumes the
client-server connection is broken and stops the robot.
Some clients—ARIA-based ones, for instance—use the good practice of sending a PULSE client command #0 (250, 251,
3, 0, 0, 0) just after
the
PULSE
command to let your robot server know that your client is indeed alive and well. It has no other effect.
OPEN
. And if your client application will be otherwise distracted for some time, periodically issue
If the robot shuts down due to lack of communication with the client, it will revive upon receipt of a client command and
automatically accelerate to the last-specified speed and heading setpoints.
Closing the Connection—CLOSE
To close the client-server connection, which automatically disables the motors and other functions like SONAR, simply
issue the client
CLOSE
command #2 (250, 251, 3, 2, 0, 2).
Most of ARCOS’ operating parameters return to their FLASH-based default values upon disconnection with the client.8
C
LIENT COMMANDS
ARCOS has a structured command format for receiving and responding to directions from a client for control and
operation of your robot. Client commands are comprised of a one-byte command number optionally followed, if
required by the command, by a one-byte description of the argument type and then the argument value.
The number of client commands you may send per second depends on the
HOST
serial baud rate, average number of
data bytes per command, synchronicity of the communication link, and so on. ARCOS’ command processor runs on a
one millisecond interrupt cycle, but the server response speed depends on the command. Typically, limit client
commands to a maximum of one every 3-5 milliseconds or be prepared to recover from lost commands.
Argument Types
Table 6. Command Argument Types
int One 16-bit signed integer value (LSB-first)
uint One 16-bit unsigned integer value (LSB-first)
str Variable-size buffer. If not otherwise specified, it is length-prefixed (first byte indicates number of
2-byte Two signed 8-bit bytes.
none No argument data follows.
bytes of data that follow). Some strings intended to hold printable text are NULL-terminated
however. Read command description for details. Maximum, if not otherwise specified, is 200
bytes.
8
With earlier OSes, the changes persisted between sessions and reverted to the FLASH defaults only after the controller was reset.
27
Turn at SETRV speed to absolute heading; ±degrees (+
Command Listing
C
OMMAND
# A
Before Client Connection:
SYNC
0 0 none Start connection. Send in sequence. ARCOS echoes 1.0
SYNC
1 1 none synchronization commands back to client, and
SYNC
2 2 none robot-specific auto-synchronization after SYNC2.
After Established Connection:
PULSE
OPEN
1 none Start up servers. 1.0
CLOSE
2 none Close servers and client connection. 1.0
Table 7. ARCOS client-side command set
RGS
D
ESCRIPTION
0 none Reset server watchdog. 1.0
VERSION
POLLING
3 str
Change sonar polling sequence. See SONAR on page 32,
below.
ENABLE
4 int 1=enable; 0=disable the motors. 1.0
SETA
5 int Set translation acceleration, if positive, or
deceleration, if negative; in mm/sec2.
SETV
6 int Set maximum/move translation velocity; mm/sec. 1.0
SETO
7 none Reset local position to 0,0,0 origin. 1.0
MOVE
8 int Translate (+) forward or (-) back mm distance at SETV
speed
ROTATE
9 int Rotate (+) counter- or (-) clockwise degrees/sec at
SETRV limited speed.
SETRV
10 int Sets maximum/turn rotation velocity; degrees/sec. 1.0
VEL
11 int Translate at mm/sec forward (+) or backward (-) (SETV
limited speed).
HEAD
12 int
= counterclockwise).
DHEAD
13 int Turn at SETRV speed relative to current heading; (+)
counter- or (–) clockwise degrees.
SAY
15 str Play up to 20 tones duration, tone sound pairs
through User Control Panel piezo speaker (buzzer).
Provide length-prefixed buffer of (duration, tone)
byte pairs. Duration in 20ms increments. Tone is MIDI
note value. See
http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/SAY_Command for
more information.
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
JOYREQUEST
17 int Request one or continuous stream (>1) or stop (0)
joystick SIPs
CONFIG
18 none
Request a configuration SIP. See CONFIGpac and CONFIG
Command on page 34 below.
ENCODER
19 int Request one, a continuous stream (>1), or stop (0)
encoder SIPs. See Encoders on 36, below.
RVEL
21 int Rotate robot at (+) counter- or (–) clockwise; 1.0
1.3
1.0
1.0
28
degrees/sec (SETRV limit).
DCHEAD
22 int Adjust heading relative to last setpoint; ± degrees
(+ = ccw)
SETRA
23 int Change rotation de(-) or (+)acceleration, in
degrees/sec2
1.0
1.0
SONAR 28 int 1=enable, 0=disable all the SONAR; otherwise, use
bits 1-3 to specify an individual array number 1-4.
See SONAR on page 32, below for more information.
STOP
29 none Stop robot motion; cancel currently active motion
commands. Motors remain enabled
DIGOUT
30 2
byte
Set (1) or reset (0) User Output ports. Bits 8-15 is
a byte mask that selects, if set (1), the output
port(s) for change; Bits 0-7 set (1) or reset (0) the
selected port(s).
VEL
2 32 2
byte
Set independent velocities for each side of the robot
differential drive; First byte bits 0-7 for right
wheel, second byte bits 8-15 for left wheel; in
20mm/sec increments. Note: accurate velocity control
is not performed in this mode, the motors are simply
commanded according to the requested linear
velocities for each side. VEL and ROTVEL are
suggested for more accurate automatic velocity
control instead.
GRIPPER
33 int Gripper server commands. See the Gripper or PeopleBot
Manual for details.
ADSEL
35 int Selects the A/D port number for reporting ANPORT
value in standard SIP.
GRIPPERVAL
36 int Gripper server values. See Gripper or PeopleBot
Manual for details.
GRIPREQUEST
37 int Request one, a continuous stream (>1), or stop (0)
Gripper SIPs.
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.1
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
GYROCALCW
38 uint Set the clockwise rotation calibration value for the
gyro, used if HasGyro=2. (See Heading Correction Gyro
on page 41 and Updating & Reconfiguring ARCOS on page
43 for details.)
GYROCALCCW
39 uint Set the counterclockwise rotation calibration value
for the gyro, used if HasGyro=2. (See Heading
Correction Gyro on page 41 and Updating &
Reconfiguring ARCOS on page 43 for details.)
IOREQUEST
40 int Request one (1), a continuous stream (>1), or stop
(0) IO SIPs.
TTY
2 42 str Send length-prefixed string argument to serial device
connected to AUX1 serial port.
GETAUX
43 uint Request to retrieve 1-200 bytes from the AUX1 serial
port; 0 flushes the buffer.
BUMPSTALL
44 int Stall robot if no (0), only front (1) while moving
forward, only rear (2) while moving backward, or
either (3) bumpers contacted when robot moving in
related direction.
TCM
2 45 int TCM2 module commands; 0=module off, no readings;
1=compass only, readings in standard SIP; 2=send one
TCM2 packet; 3=send continuous (each cycle) TCM2
packets; 4=user calibration; 5=auto calibration;
6=stop auto-calibration, send one packet, revert to
mode 1; 7=soft reset
2.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
29
JOYDRIVE
47 int 1=allow joystick drive from port while connected with
a client; 0 (default) disallows.
SONAR
CYCLE
48 uint Change the sonar cycle time; in milliseconds. See
SONAR on page 32, below.
HOSTBAUD
50 int Change the HOST serial port baud rate to 0=9600,
1=19200, 2=38400, 3=57600, or 4=115200.
AUX1BAUD
AUX2BAUD
AUX3BAUD
E_STOP
51 int Change the AUX1 serial port baud rate (see HOSTBAUD). 1.0
52 int Change the AUX2 serial port baud rate (see HOSTBAUD). 1.0
53 int Change the AUX3 serial port baud rate (see HOSTBAUD). 1.0
55 none Emergency stop; very abrupt by overriding
deceleration.
M_STALL
56 int Argument 1=MOTORS button off causes a stall 1.0
GYROREQUEST
58 int If client-side (HasGyro 1), request one, a continuous
stream (>1), or stop (0) Gyro SIPs. If server-side
(HasGyro 2), 0 disable or 1 to enable the gyro. (See
Heading Correction Gyro on page 41 and Updating &
Reconfiguring ARCOS on page 43.)
LCDWRITE
59 str Display a message on the LCD accessory: byte
0=starting column (1-19); byte 1=starting row (1-4);
byte 2=1 if clear line contents first, otherwise 0;
bytes 3- = up to 20 chars, NULL-terminated.
TTY
4 60 str Send length-prefixed string argument out to device
connected at AUX3 serial port.
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.3
1.0
GETAUX
3 61 int Request to retrieve 1-200 bytes from the device
connected at the AUX3 serial port; 0 flushes the
buffer.
TTY
3 66 str Send length-prefixed string argument out to device
connected at AUX2 serial port.
GETAUX
2 67 int Request to retrieve 1-200 bytes from the device
connected at the AUX2 serial port; 0 flushes the
buffer.
CHARGE
68 int 0=release; 1=deploy autocharge-docking mechanism. 1.0
ARM
70-
80
ROTKP
82 int Change working rotation Proportional PID value. 1.0
ROTKV
83 int Change working rotation Derivative PID value. 1.0
ROTKI
84 int Change working rotation Integral PID value. 1.0
TRANSKP
85 int Change working translation Proportional PID value. 1.0
TRANSKV
86 int Change working translation Derivative PID value. 1.0
TRANSKI
87 int Change working translation Integral PID value. 1.0
REVCOUNT
DRIFTFACTOR
88 int Change working differential encoder count. 1.1
89 int Change working drift factor. 1.0
int Pioneer Arm-related commands. See Arm manual for
details.
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.1
SOUNDTOG
TICKSMM
BATTEST
92 int 0=mute User Control piezo; 1 = enable. 1.0
93 int Change working encoder ticks per millimeter tire
250 int Artificially set the battery voltage; argument in 1.0
travel.
1.1
30
tens volts (100=10V); 0 to revert to real voltage
RESET
253 none Force a power on-like reset of the microcontroller. 1.0
MAINTENANCE
255 none Engage microcontroller maintenance (ARSHstub) mode. 1.0
M
OTION COMMANDS AND PARAMETERS
R
OTATION
HEAD (#12) Turn to absolute heading at SETRV max rotational velocity
DHEAD (#13),
DCHEAD (#22)
ROTATE (#9) Rotate at SETRV velocity
RVEL (#21) Rotate at + (counter) or – (clockwise) deg/sec up to SETRV max
T
RANSLATION
VEL (#11) Translate forward/reverse at SETV prescribed velocity
MOVE (#8) Translate forward (+5000 maximum) or backward (-4999mm maximum)
I
NDEPENDENT WHEEL
Turn to heading relative to control point at SETRV max velocity
distance at SETV velocity
Table 8. Client motion-related commands
VEL2 (#32) Set velocity for each side of robot
Note that motion must be enabled using
ENABLE
client command #4 with the argument value of 1. Motion can be
disabled with argument value 0.
Client Motion Commands
ARCOS automatically limits
SETRV
, flash parameters, and internal platform constants (
VEL2-, VEL-
, and
RVEL
-specified velocities to the parameter values set via
TOP
values). Similarly, acceleration and deceleration
SETVEL
and
parameters are limited by internal constants.
The MOVE command (#8) sends the platform forward the specified distance in millimeters if a positive argument, or
backward if a negative distance. Each move is limited to +5000 millimeters and -4999 millimeters.
Send an orientation command
HEAD (#12), DHEAD (#13), or DCHEAD (#22)
with argument value in degrees to turn the
robot with respect to its internal dead-reckoned angle to an absolute heading (±0-180 degrees), relative to its
immediate heading, or relative to its current heading setpoint (achieved or last commanded heading), respectively. In
general, positive relative heading command arguments turn the robot in a counterclockwise direction. However, the
robot always turns in the direction that will achieve its heading most efficiently. Accordingly, relative-heading
arguments greater than 180 degrees automatically get reduced to 180 or less degrees with a concomitant change in
direction of rotation.9
The E_STOP command #55 or the
STOP
button that is found on some Pioneer robot platforms override deceleration
and abruptly stop the robot in the shortest distance and time possible. Accordingly, the robot brakes to zero translation
and rotation velocities with very high deceleration and remains stopped until it receives a subsequent translation or
9
Also when operating the robot with the server-side gyroscope (
platform reaches its intended heading.
.
hasGyro 2
), the HEAD command gets repeated internally to ensure that the
31
rotation velocity command from the client or until the STOP button is reset. (See E_STOP and E_STALL later in this
chapter.)
DriftFactor, RevCount, and TicksMM Parameters
Three client commands let you change, albeit momentarily for the current client-server connection, those values that
affect translation, rotation and drift in your robot.
TicksMM
is the number of encoder ticks per millimeter tire rotation
for translation speed and distance computations. The default FLASH value can be changed on-the-fly during a client
connection session with the
TICKSMM
client command #93 and unsigned integer value.
DriftFactor
ticks to correct for tire circumference differences and consequent translation and rotation drift.
to its FLASH value on start up or reset, and can be changed on-the-fly with the
is a signed value in 1/8192 increments that gets added to or subtracted from the left wheel encoder’s
DRIFTFACTOR
DriftFactor
client command #89 with
defaults
signed integer argument.
The
RevCount
to compute and execute headings. Like
or reset, and can be changed on-the-fly with the
parameter is the differential number of encoder ticks for a 180-degree rotation of the robot and is used
DriftFactor
and
REVCOUNT
TicksMM, RevCount
defaults to its FLASH value on startup
client command #88 and unsigned integer argument.
SONAR
When connected with and opened by the client, ARCOS automatically begins firing your robot’s SONAR, one disc each
simultaneously for each of up to four arrays, as initially sequenced and enabled in your robot’s FLASH parameters. The
SONAR servers also begin sending the SONAR-ranging results to the client via the standard SIP.
Enable/Disabling SONAR
Use the
argument to one to enable or zero to disable the array(s) SONAR. Set argument bits one through three to an individual
array number one through four to enable or disable only that array 1-4. Array zero, the form of the original P2OS
command, affects all the arrays at once.
For example, an argument value of one enables all the SONAR arrays, whereas an argument value of six silences array
number three. Monitor the status of the SONAR arrays in the
respective bit is set if the array is engaged.
SONAR
client command #28 to enable or disable all or individual SONAR arrays. Set bit zero of the SONAR
FLAGS
integer bits 1-4 of the standard SIP. The
Polling Sequence
Each array’s SONAR fire at a rate and in the sequence defined in your robot microcontroller’s FLASH parameters.
(Consult the next chapter on how to change the FLASH settings.) Use the SONAR
client change the firing sequence, and the
SONAR_CYCLE
command #48 to change the rate. The changes persist until
POLLING
command #3 to have your
you restart the client-server connection.
The
POLLING
command string argument consists of a sequence of SONAR numbers one through 32. SONAR numbers
one through eight get added to the polling sequence for SONAR array number one; numbers nine through 16 get added
to the sequence for SONAR array number two; 17-24 specify the sequence for array three; and 25-32 are for array four.
You may include up to 16 SONAR numbers in the sequence for any single array. Only those arrays whose SONAR
numbers appear in the argument get re-sequenced.
You may repeat a SONAR number two or more times in a sequence. If a SONAR number does not appear in an
otherwise altered sequence, the disc will not fire. If you do repeat a SONAR in the sequence, know that ARIA and
related clients ignore the first reading if two SONAR ranging data appear in the same SIP.
For compatibility with earlier robot operating systems, if the string is empty, all the SONAR in the array get disabled, but
their polling sequences remain unaltered, just as if you had sent the
SONAR
command with an argument value of zero.
Polling Rate
For earlier Pioneer microcontroller versions, the SONAR polling rate was fixed for each array: one SONAR disc per array
got polled every 40 milliseconds. So, for an eight-disc array with a sequential polling sequence (12345678 by default),
any one SONAR transducer would be read every 320 milliseconds. That common cycle timing accommodates ranging
out to the maximum of the SONAR of some five meters for general applications, including features recognition and
32
localization. For other applications, such as close-in obstacle avoidance, a shorter range but faster rate of update is
better.
Use the
SONAR_CYCLE
client command #48 to change the cycle timing on the fly to the command integer's argument
value in milliseconds. Minimum and maximum values are two and 120 milliseconds, respectively. The default value is
set in FLASH, normally to the legacy 40 milliseconds.
SONAR Range Readings
Only the SONAR readings taken since the last standard SIP get included in the next one. They do not persist beyond
that. Readings appear in the standard SIP in three bytes: The first SONAR byte is the SONAR reference, numbered
SONAR #0 through #31 (one less than when referenced in client commands). The next two bytes are the little-endian
integer representing the range reading in millimeters. ARCOS reports a maximum reading of 5000 when there is no
return echo or if the obstacle is closer than about 120 millimeters (~six inches).
S
TALLS AND EMERGENCIES
With a robot equipped with forward and/or rear bumpers, ARCOS may immediately stop the robot and notify the client
of a stall if any one or more of the contact sensors get triggered and the robot is going in the direction of the bump
(forward/front or backward/rear). Send the
bump-stall behavior. Give the argument value of one to re-enable
triggered; two for rear-only
BUMPSTALLs
BUMPSTALL
command #44 with an integer argument of zero to disable that
BUMPSTALL
only when a forward bump sensor gets
; or three for both rear and forward bump contact-activated stalls.
In an emergency, your client may want the robot to stop quickly, not subject to normal deceleration. In that case, send
the
E_STOP
Like
command (#55).
BUMPSTALL
, use ARCOS’ built-in
E_STALL
feature to simulate a stall when someone presses the robot’s STOP
button.10 An integrated switch in the STOP button toggles a dedicated digital I/O port on the microcontroller, thereby
notifying ARCOS of the condition. ARCOS stops the robot’s motors, puts on the brakes and throws continuous stalls.
Table 9. The FLAGS bits
BIT
0 Motors enabled
1 SONAR array #1 enabled
2 SONAR array #2 enabled
3 SONAR array #3 enabled
4 SONAR array #4 enabled
5 STOP button pressed
6 E_stall engaged
7 Far ledge detected (IR)
8 Near ledge detected (IR)
9 Joystick button 1 pressed
10 Recharging “power-good”
11-15 Reserved
C
ONDITION IF SET
Unlike other stalls, E_STALL also disables the motors. You must
either re-enable the motors manually (
programmatically (
The
E_STALL
bytes and in bit 5 of the
client may respond to a STOP
ENABLE
command #4).
server notifies your client software through the
FLAGS
byte in the standard so that your
E_STALL
MOTORS
button) or
stall
differently than a regular
stall.
Normally enabled (default was disabled in P2OS), change
E_STALL
by sending the ARCOS command #56. With argument of zero,
E_STALL
E_STALL
A
CCESSORY COMMANDS AND PACKETS
gets disabled. An argument value of one re-enables
.
Several types of additonal server information packets (SIPs) are
also available. On request from the client by a related ARCOS
command, the ARCOS server packages and sends one or a
continuous stream of information packets to the client over the
HOST serial communication line. Extended packets get sent
immediately before (such as
(such as
every
IOpac
SipCycle
) the standard SIP that ARCOS sends to your client
milliseconds.11
The standard SIP takes priority so you may have to adjust the
GYROpac and JOYSTICKpac
) or after
HOST
10
Available only on some robots.
11
You may have to adjust the
HOST
serial baud rate to accommodate the additional communications traffic.
33
serial baud rate to accommodate all data packets in the allotted cycle time, or some packets may never get sent.
Packet Processing
Identical with the standard SIP, all ARCOS server information packets get encapsulated with the header (0xFA, 0xFB;
250, 251), byte count, packet type byte and trailing checksum. It is up to the client to parse the packets, sorted by
type for content. Please consult the respective client application programming manuals for details.
CONFIGpac and CONFIG Command
Send the
(0x20) containing the robot’s operational parameters. Use the
CONFIG
command #18 without an argument to have ARCOS send back a
CONFIGpac
to examine many of your robot’s default
CONFIGpac
SIP packet type 32
FLASH_based settings and their working values, where appropriate, as changed by other client commands, such as
SETV
and
ROTKV
.
Note that the parameter list may be extended for other Pioneer platforms.
Table 10. CONFIGpac contents
L
ABEL
D
Header int Common packet header = 0xFAFB
Byte count byte Number of following data bytes
Packet type byte CONFIGpac = 0x20
Robot type str Typically “Pioneer”
Subtype str Identifies the MobileRobots model; e.g. “p3dx-sh”,
Sernum str Serial number for the robot.
4mots byte Antiquated (=1 if AT with P2OS)
Rotveltop int Maximum rotation velocity; deg/sec
Transveltop int Maximum translation speed; mm/sec
Rotacctop int Maximum rotation (de)acceleration; deg/sec2
ATA
D
ESCRIPTION
Transacctop int Maximum translation (de)acceleration; mm/sec2
PWMmax int Maximum motor PWM (limit is 500).
Name str Unique name given to your robot.
SIPcycle byte Server information packet cycle time; ms.
Hostbaud byte Baud rate for client-server HOST serial: 0=9.6k, 1=19.2k,
2=38.4k, 3=56.8k, 4=115.2k.
Auxbaud byte Baud rate for AUX1 serial port; see HostBaud.
Gripper int 0 if no Gripper; else 1.
Front SONAR int 1 if robot has front SONAR array enabled, else 0.
Rear SONAR byte 1 if robot has rear SONAR enabled, else 0.
Lowbattery int In 1/10 volts; alarm activated when battery charge falls below
this value.
Revcount int Working number of differential encoder ticks for a 180 degree
revolution of the robot.
Watchdog int Ms time before robot automatically stops if it has not received
a command from the client. Restarts on restoration of
connection.
34
P2mpacs byte 1 means alternative SIP enable; not used by ARCOS.
Stallval int Maximum PWM before stall. If > PWMMAX, never.
Stallcount int Ms time after a stall for recovery. Motors lax during this
Joyvel int Joystick translation velocity setting, mm/sec
Joyrvel int Joystick rotation velocity setting in deg/sec
Rotvelmax int Current max rotation speed; deg/sec.
Transvelmax int Current max translation speed; mm/sec.
Rotacc int Current rotation acceleration; deg/ sec2
Rotdecel int Current rotation deceleration; deg/ sec2
Rotkp int Current Proportional PID for rotation
Rotkv int Current Derivative PID for rotation
Rotki int Current Integral PID for rotation
Transacc int Current translation acceleration; mm/ sec2
Transdecel int Current translation deceleration; mm/ sec2
Transkp int Current Proportional PID for translation.
Transkv int Current Derivative PID for translation.
Transki int Current Integral PID for translation.
time.
Frontbumps byte Number of front bumper segments.
Rearbumps byte Number of rear bumper segments.
Charger byte 1 if P3/PeopleBot or 2 if PowerBot automated charger mechanism
SONARcycle byte SONAR duty cycle time in milliseconds.
Autobaud byte 1 if the client can change baud rates; 2 if auto-baud
HasGyro byte 1 or 2 if robot equipped with the gyro heading correction
Driftfactor int Working drift factor value.
Aux2baud byte Baud rate for AUX2 serial port; see HostBaud.
Aux3baud byte Baud rate for AUX3 serial port; see HostBaud.
Ticksmm int Encoder ticks per millimeter tire motion
Shutdownvolts int DC volts X10 at or below which the onboard PC will shut down
W
VersionMajor
VersionMinor
GyroCW int Gyro calibration factor clockwise
str
and circuitry installed in robot; otherwise 0.
implemented.
device; otherwise 0.
ITH VERSION
Null-terminated string for ARCOS version numbers (period char
“.” separator
1.5...
GyroCCW int Gyro calibration factor counterclockwise
KinematicsDelay byte Time delay (ms) between acquisition and reporting of rotation
35
NULL 23
S
ERIAL
bytes
Configuration values not used with Pioneer.
The baud rates for the HOST and AUX serial ports initially are set from their respective FLASH-based defaults and get
reset to those values whenever the microcontroller is reset or upon client disconnection. For advanced serial port
management from the client side, ARCOS provides four client commands which let your software reset the HOST
(
HOSTBAUD
#50), Aux1 (
AUX1BAUD
#51), Aux2 (
AUX2BAUD
#52) and Aux3 (
AUX3BAUD
#53) serial port baud rates,
respectively. Use the integer command argument values: 0=9600, 1=19.2K, 2=38.8K, 3=57.6K, or 4=115.2K baud,
respectively.
With auto-bauding, the HOST serial port automatically reverts to its FLASH default baud rate if, after being reset by the
HOSTBAUD client command, it does not receive a subsequent and valid client-command packet within 500
milliseconds.
HOST-to-AUX Serial Transfers
Use the client-side
attached serial device, such as a robotic camera. Similarly, use the
the Aux2 port or
TTY2
command #42 with a string argument to have that string sent out the Aux1 port to the
TTY3
command #66 to send a string argument out
TTY4
command #60 to send a HOST-mediated client string out the Aux3 port.
ARCOS also maintains three circular buffers for incoming serial data from the respective Aux ports. On request, ARCOS
sends successive portions of the buffer to your client via the HOST serial in the respective
0xB0),
GETAUX2
SERAUX2pac
(type = 184; 0xB8) and SERAUX3 (type = 200; 0xC8) SIPs. Use the
command #67 for Aux2 and GETAUX3 command #61 for Aux3.
SERAUXpac
GETAUX
#43 for Aux1,
(type = 176;
Use the integer argument value of zero to flush the contents of the respective buffer. Otherwise, use an argument
value of up to 253 bytes to have ARCOS wait to collect the requested number of incoming AUX-port serial bytes and
them send them in the respective
E
NCODERS
SERAUXpac, SERAUX2pac, or SERAUX3pac
SIP.
Table 11. ENCODERpac SIP contents
L
ABEL
D
Header integer Exactly 0xFA, 0xFB
Byte Count byte Number of data bytes + 2 (checksum)
Type byte 0x90
Left Encoder integer Least significant, most significant portion of the
integer current accumulated encoder counts from the left wheel
Right Encoder integer Least significant, most significant portion of the
integer current accumulated encoder counts from the right wheel
Checksum integer Checksum for packet integrity
Issue the
ENCODER
continuous stream of
ATA
D
ESCRIPTION
command #19 with an argument of one for a single or with an argument value of two or more for a
ENCODERpac
(type 144; 0x90) SIPs. Discontinue the packets with the
ENCODER
command #19
with an argument of zero.
B
UZZER SOUNDS
Pioneer 3 robots have a piezo buzzer on the User Control Panel that aurally notifies you of system conditions, such as
low batteries or stalls. For stealthy operation, issue the
SOUNTOG
command #92 with an argument of zero to mute the
36
microcontroller’s buzzer or argument of one to re-enable it. (See also the
SOUNDTOG
FLASH parameter in the next
chapter to set its default state.)
The SAY command #15 lets you play your own sounds through the buzzer. The argument consists of a length-specified
string of duration and tone pair bytes. The duration is measured in 20 millisecond increments.
A tone value of zero means silence (musical rest). The next 127 frequencies (1-127) are the corresponding MIDI notes.
The remaining tones are frequencies computed as:
Tone – 127 * 32
equivalent frequencies from 1 to 4096, in 32 Hz increments.
Except for the MIDI notes, you’ll just have to experiment with tones. Here is the sequence that generates the ARCOS
distress wail when the robot stalls or the batteries are low:
50,100,20,0,50,60,0
Table 12. System-related buzzer sounds
Condition Buzzer Sound
Start up one-time trill
Start client connection one-time trill
Close client connection one-time trill
Low battery repetitive beep
Motor stall repetitive beep
Joystick calibration† repetitive beep
Self-test mode† repetitive beep
Joystick calibrated† one-time trill
Watchdog timeout repetitive beep
EStop active† repetitive beep
† On some robot models
TCM2 C
OMPASS
The accessory is an integrated inclinometer, magnetometer, thermometer and compass that attaches to one of the Aux
serial ports of the ARCOS microcontroller. When attached and enabled (set the TCM2 FLASH parameter to the attached
auxiliary serial port number; see next Chapter), special TCM2 compass servers read and report the heading in ±2
degree increments as the
compass
byte in the standard SIP.
Table 13. TCM2 command #45 arguments
ARCOS Command Argument
(TCM2
Command)
Action
0 Module off (software only; not low-power standby)
1 Compass only (default); reading in standard SIP
2 Send single TCM2 SIP
45 3 Send TCM2 SIPs continuous
4 Enable user calibration
37
5 Enable auto calibration
6 Stop calibration and send one TCM2 SIP, then revert to default
7 Soft reset (cycle power to hard reset)
mode 1.
Table 14. TCM2 information packet
Label Data Value/Description
Header integer 0xFAFB
Byte count byte 23/Number data bytes+checksum
Packet type byte 0xC0
Pitch integer Degrees times ten; maximum pitch depends on TCM2 Module
Roll integer Degrees times ten; maximum roll depends on TCM2 Module
X integer Magnetic field x-component; ±µT times 100
Y integer Magnetic field y-component; ±µT times 100
Z integer Magnetic field z-component; ±µT times 100
Temperature integer Temperature degrees C times 10
type
type
Use the
TCM2pac
Error integer Bit-mapped error code (see TCM2 User’s Manual for
Calibration byte H score (0-9)
Scores byte V score (0-9)
integer M score times 100
Checksum integer SIP checksum
TCM2 client
command #45 to calibrate the device and to request additional information in the form of the
. ARIA supports the TCM2, as well. Please consult the ARIA documentation for additional information.
meanings)
Calibration
You should calibrate your TCM2 Module at least once after installing it on your robot. We also recommend that you
calibrate it whenever you change operating environments.
To calibrate just the heading, run Aria demo, enter compass mode, engage calibration (user) mode, go into
teleoperation mode, and use the left or right arrow key to turn the robot two full revolutions (720 degrees). Then go
back to compass mode and stop calibrating. Alternatively, use demo’s ‘d’irect command mode to send the TCM2 client
command and argument ’45 4’ to start and ’45 6’ to end user calibrations.
Also, to calibrate for pitch and roll, as well as heading, you need to hold the compass in your hand and turn it side to
side while rotating.
The ARCOS TCM2 command #45 mode 4 followed by mode 6 cause the TCM2 module to calibrate and save its
settings, then revert back to mode 1 after returning a single TCM2 SIP containing the updated calibration score to the
connected client. It and subsequent SIPs contain that latest calibration score on which you may evaluate the calibration
settings.
Reset Mode
The reset TCM2 command argument forces a soft Module reset. Cycle AUX power to force a hard reset. When started
or upon reset, the TCM2 module reverts to its default state. From the factory, the module is set up to communicate at
38
9600 baud, include compass, inclinometer, temperature (in degrees Farenheit) and magnetmometer data in its
standard output word, be in standby mode, and respond to the single "h" character to halt. Change the module
parameters manually with ARCOS-mediated TTY2 commands or through the Windows TCM2 software provided by the
manufacturer and included on the TCM2 Compass diskette.
I
NPUT OUTPUT
(I/O)
The robot microcontroller includes several digital and analog I/O ports. Some I/O ports are used by optional
accessories. Any ports not used by robot accessories may be used for your own custom I/O
See Appendix A for port locations and specifications.
User I/O
The User I/O connector on the Pioneer 3 microcontroller contains eight digital input (ID0-7) and eight digital output
(OD0-7) ports, as well as an analog-to-digital (AN0) port.12 Additional analog ports are present in the joystick connector
and “tilt/roll” connector, and IR and bumper switch input ports may also be used if necessary for custom I/O.
The bit-mapped states of the sixteen digital ports and one of the analog port are sampled, buffered and placed in the
standard SIP in the
DIGIN, DIGOUT
and
ANALOG
fields.
If not physically connected, the digital input and AN port values
may vary and change without warning. In addition, if IO Packets are requested, then all digital and analog I/O states as
well as IR and bumper states are provided in IO packets.
Send the
Electrically, the ports are digital high (1) at ~5 VDC (Vcc) and low (0) at ~0 VDC (
DIGOUT
command #30 to set one or more of the eight
DIGOUT
ports on the ARCOS microcontroller.
GND
).
DIGOUT
takes a two-byte
(unsigned integer) argument. The first byte is a mask whose bit pattern selects (1) or ignores (0) the state of the
corresponding bit in the second byte to set (1) or unset (0) the digital output port.
For example, here’s the ARCOS client command to set digital output ports zero and three (
(
OD4
), and leave all the rest alone:
250, 251, 6, 30, 27, 25, 9, 55, 36
OD0
and
OD3
), reset port four
See Appendix A for details on connecting devices to User IO including port locations and specifications.
IO Packets
Client software may request the IO Packet (“
IOpac”)
SIP. This packet has type 240 (0xF0). It provides the current state
of all robot I/O.
Send the IOREQUEST command number 40 with an argument value of 0, 1 or 2 to request IO packets. The argument
value 1 requests a single packet to be sent by the next client-server communications cycle. The request argument
value of 2 tells ARCOS to send
speed and other pending SIPs. Use the IOREQUEST argument value 0 to stop continuous
IOpac
packets continuously, at approximately one per cycle depending on serial port
IOpac
packets.
Table 15. IOpac packet contents
L
ABEL
D
Header 2 0xFA, 0xFB Common header
ATA
V
ALUE
D
ESCRIPTION
Byte count 1 22 Number of data bytes + 2
Type 1 0xF0 Packet type
N DIGIN 1 4 Number of digital input bytes
DIGIN 1
Frontbumps* 1
12
Many of these ports are used by the Gripper and other accessories. Alternative I/O is available.
varies 0-255
varies 0-255
ID0-8 bits mapped
Front bumper bits mapped
39
Rearbumps* 1
IRs 1
N DIGOUT 1 1 Number of digital output bytes
DIGOUT 1
N AN 1 9 Number of A/D values
varies 0-255
varies 0-255
varies 0-255
Rear bumper bits mapped
IR inputs
Digital output byte(s)
AN 10 5 integers varying
Battery 2 0-1023 Battery analog input (AN3 Pioneer 3)
Checksum 2 varies Computed checksum
* Actual, not affected by
InvertBumps
0-1023
since bumper bits may be used for other digital input besides bumpers.
Analog ports 0-7 input values at 10-bit
resolution: 0-1023 = 0-5 VDC
Bumper and IR I/O
Two 10-position microfit connectors on the ARCOS microcontroller provide 16 digital input ports that are normally used
for the bumper accessory, but also available for your own attachments. See Appendix A for connector details.
Similarly, the Motor-Power connector on the microcontroller contains eight digital inputs that we normally use for IR
sensors on the Performance PeopleBot and PowerBot, and whose states are digitally mapped. See Appendix B for
connector details.
Normally pulled high (5 VDC=digital port bit value 1), all the bumper and IR bit-mapped switches go low (digital 0) when
the respective port gets triggered. Bumper inputs also appear with the stall bits in the standard SIP, but unlike in the
IOpac
, are modified by the
InvertBumps
mask. All the bumper and IR data bits appear in the
IOpac
packet.
Additionally, the IR inputs may be mapped in the FLASH parameters to corresponding bumper inputs for reflexive-like
reactions, such as bump-related stalls. See Chapter 7, Updating and Reconfiguring ARCOS, for details.
J
OYSTICK
Use the ARCOS client JOYREQUEST command number 17 with an argument value of zero, one or two to request
information about the joystick, if it is enabled (see next Chapter). The argument value one requests a single packet
(type = 248; 0xF8) to be sent by the next client-server communications cycle. The request argument value of two tells
ARCOS to send
other pending SIPs. Use the JOYREQUEST argument value zero to stop continuous
JOYSTICKpac
packets continuously, at approximately one per cycle depending on serial port speed and
JOYSTICKpac
packets.
L
ABEL
D
header 2 0xFA, 0xFB Common header
Byte count 1 11 Varies
type 1 0xF8 Packet type
button0 1 0 or 1 1=button pressed
button1 1 0 or 1 1=button pressed
X-axis 2 varies 0-1023 Rotation analog
Y-axis 2 varies 0-1023 Translation analog
throttle 2 varies 0-1023 Throttle setting
checksum 2 varies Computed checksum
ATA
V
ALUE
D
ESCRIPTION
40
G
RIPPER
Please consult the respective Gripper manual for details.
ARCOS supports a
GRIPPERpac
(type=224; 0xE0) packet type and related
GRIPREQUEST
command #37 to retrieve
setup and status information from the servers.
Normally disabled, your client program may request one or a continuous stream (command argument greater than one)
of Gripper packets. Send
Table 16.
L
ABEL
D
header int
byte count byte Number of data bytes + 2 (checksum)
type byte Packet type = 0xE0
hasgripper byte Gripper type: 0=none; 1=Pioneer; 2=PeopleBot
grip_state byte
grasp_time byte Ms time controls grasping pressure.
checksum integer Computed checksum
GRIPREQUEST
ATA
D
with the argument value zero to stop continuous packets.
ESCRIPTION
Exactly 0xFA, 0xFB
Table 16
below.
See
GRIPPERpac GRIP_STATE byte
BIT M
G
R
I
P
L
I
F
T
0 Paddles open¹
1 Paddles close¹
2 Paddles moving
3 Gripper error
4 Lift up¹
5
6 Lift moving
7 Lift error
Note that the Gripper status information bits may also may be obtained from the respective
EANING WHEN SET
Lift down¹
(1)
DIGIN
and
DIGOUT
values
of the standard SIP as related to the User I/O port states. See Appendix A for connection details.
H
EADING CORRECTION GYRO
With the gyroscope accessory, your client software (ARIA 1.3 and later) or ARCOS itself (ARCOS 2.0 and later) may
detect and compensate for robot heading changes that aren't detected by the encoders, such as from slipping wheels.
The microcontroller supports the gyro via attachment to its AN6 and AN7 analog-to-digital input ports.
To enable the gyro, you must set the
management using the ARCOScf tool (see next chapter). Set it to zero if the gyro isn't attached or you want to disable
the gyro.
HasGyro
FLASH parameter to either value one for client- or two for server-side
41
ARCOS collects and averages 10-bit (0-1023) gyro rate and 8-bit (0-255) temperature data over a 25 millisecond time
period—the bandwidth of the gyro. When not moving, the gyro rate is centered around 512 or so, depending on the
gyro's temperature and other calibration factors which drift with use and should be corrected on the fly. Values below
that center point indicate counterclockwise rotation rates; values above the resting center measure clockwise rotation
rates. The gyro rate maximum is 300 degrees per second.
What happens next depends on the
HasGyro
setting.
Client-Side Gyro
With
HasGyro
set to one (legacy), ARCOS simply collects the gyro readings and will, upon request by the client with
command GYROREQUEST #58 and argument 1 (zero to cancel), send the collected data just before the standard SIP to
a connected client in a
GYROpac
(type=0x98) server information packet for processing. Analysis of the gyro data and
subsequent modifications to the robot's heading are done on the client side, as supported in the latest versions (1.3
and later) of ARIA. See
factor is found as the
Aria/src/ArAnalogGyro.cpp
GyroScaler
value in your robot’s Aria/params/*.p parameter file, and should be calibrated for
for details. Note that the client-side gyro calibration/correction
the particular robot and gyro. See Chapter 7, Calibration & Maintenance for details.
GYROpac
consists of a count byte of the rate and temperature data pairs accumulated since the last cycle (typically four
for a 100 millisecond cycle time), followed by that number of rate/temperature integer/byte pairs.
Table 17. GYROpac SIP contents
L
ABEL
D
Header 2 0xFA, 0xFB Common header
Byte count 1 xx Varies
Type 1 0x98 Packet type
N pairs 1 x Number of gyro data pairs
FOR N PAIRS:
ATA
V
…
ALUE
D
ESCRIPTION
Rate 2 varies 0-1023 Gyro rate
Temperature 1 varies 0-255 Gyro temperature
Checksum 2 varies Computed checksum
Server-Side Gyro
With the FLASH parameter
HasGyro
set to two, ARCOS manages the gyro internally. It, too, averages readings over the
25 millisecond time, but it does not send the GYROpac. Instead, ARCOS fuses the gyro and encoder readings to
compute the XPos, YPos, and ThPos in the standard SIP.13
Like ARIA’s treatment, the server-side gyro firmware automatically detects its center point and compensates for drift.
Unlike the client side, the server-integrated gyro has two FLASH-based calibration factors—
GyroCW
and
GyroCCW
--that
determine actual rates clockwise and counterclockwise and need to be set for each robot/gyro pair—something typically
done at the factory, but should be recalibrated periodically. Client commands #38 (GYROCALCW) and #39
(GYROCALCCW) let you temporarily change the clockwise and counterclockwise values, respectively, to help during
calibration. See Chapter 7, Calibration & Maintenance for details.
If the server-side gyro is malfunctioning, such as if it’s unable or has yet to determine its center point, the robot will
stall, complete with excessive beeping from the piezo buzzer. The GYROREQUEST command #58 with argument zero
disables the client-side gyro; an argument of one re-enables it.
13
With no gyro or with the client-side gyro, position integration is based on encoder readings exclusively.
42
Chapter 6
The ARCOS firmware and a set of operating parameters get stored in your Pioneer 3 microcontroller's FLASH memory.
With special upload and configuration software tools, you change and update ARCOS, too. No hardware modification is
required.
W
HERE TO GET
Your Pioneer 3 robot comes preinstalled with the latest version of ARCOS. And the various ARCOS configuration and
update tools come with the robot on CD-ROM. Thereafter, stay tuned to the
visit our support website to obtain the latest ARCOS software and related documentation:
http://robots.MobileRobots.com
The main utility,
your robot’s onboard FLASH-based parameters.
ARCOS M
To connect with and update your robot’s ARCOS servers and its FLASH-based operating parameters, you need to first
connect a serial port on the PC from which you will run ARCOScf to the HOST port of your robot’s microcontroller:
If you are running from an onboard PC, the computer-to-
If you have an onboard PC, but prefer to use an external computer for maintenance, simply power down the
Updating & Reconfiguring ARCOS
ARCOS S
ARCOScf
AINTENANCE MODE
onboard computer.
OFTWARE
, is a multi-functional application for both uploading new ARCOS versions as well as modifying
HOST
connection already is made.
pioneer-users
newsgroup or periodically
If you use radio or Ethernet wireless, switch its power OFF (typically AUX1).
When connecting from an external PC, directly tether (no radios) its serial port to the 9-pin DSUB SERIAL
connector on the User Control Panel.
Enabling Maintenance Mode
When in maintenance mode, the robot can only be configured or reflashed using ARCOScf. (When in normal server
mode, any software can connect and control all the features of the robot).
Use maintenance mode when there is a problem with the ARCOS firmware that prevents startup in normal mode.
To enter maintenance mode, hold down the white MOTORS button, then press the red RESET button and release.
Press and release the red RESET button to re-enter normal mode.
If for any reason your robot’s FLASH parameters get erased or your ARCOS firmware encounters a code fault, your
Pioneer 3 microcontroller automatically reverts to its ARSHstub-based maintenance mode.14 Or if you attach a PC to
the SERIAL port on the User Control Panel, open the port through software such as by running ARCOScf on that PC, and
then reset or otherwise restart the microcontroller, it will automatically revert into maintenance mode.
Like with previous Pioneer microcontrollers, you may manually engage maintenance code:
1. Press and hold the white
2. Press and release the adjacent red
3. Release the
Unlike previous microcontrollers and certainly with much more convenience since you don’t need to be fiddling with
buttons, ARCOScf automatically engages maintenance mode. Just start ARCOScf and it forces the microcontroller into
maintenance mode. It uses the ARCOS command #255 to do that.
MOTORS
MOTORS
button.
button on the User Control Panel
RESET
button
The
STATUS
BATTERY
14
ARSHstub is a resident GDB-like interface for FLASH updates and other debugging uses.
LED on the User Control Panel should flash twice the rate than when in server (“wait”) mode and the
LED should shine bright red.
43
ARCOSCF
The ARCOS update and configuration program,
ARCOScf
, is part of a collection of utilities and files for comprehensive
management of your Pioneer 3 robot’s onboard servers and FLASH-based operating parameters. The distribution
archive for the software is simply named
with a “.
tgz
” suffix for Linux-based PCs or “.
ARCOSV_v (V
exe
” for Windows computers.
and v are the version major and minor numbers, such as 1_0),
Install the utilities and files on the PC you plan to use for maintaining your robot’s operating system and parameters by
double-clicking the distribution software’s onscreen icon or otherwise executing the self-extracting, self-installing
package. For Linux,
% tar –zxvf ARCOS1_0.tgz
uncompress
and
untar
the files. For example,
The expanded archive creates an ARCOS/ directory in the selected Windows or current Linux path and stores the
ARCOS software within.
S
TARTING
ARCOScf
ARCOSCF
is a text-based console application which like
demo
is built with ARIA. To start it from a console terminal under
Linux, for example, navigate to the ARCOS directory and invoke the program:
% cd /usr/local/ARCOS
% ./ARCOScf <options>
With Windows PCs, you may double-click the
program without any options. To start up with command-line options,
Command
from the
Start
menu, then navigate to the ARCOS directory and start
ARCOScf
icon to automatically open a console window and start the
Run
the program from the
ARCOScf
with options.
Start menu
, or run
For example (after invoking the MSDOS-like command window):
C:\> cd Program Files\MobileRobots\ARCOS
C:\Program Files\MobileRobots\ARCOS\> ARCOScf <options>
Normally (without any command-line arguments),
COM1
or
/dev/ttyS0
serial port. If successfully connected, the program automatically retrieves your robot’s FLASH-
ARCOScf
starts up expecting to connect with ARCOS through the PC’s
stored operating parameters and enters interactive mode.
Start Up Arguments
ARCOScf
runs in two stages: startup followed by interactive mode. When invoked, you may start
ARCOScf
with various
ARIA and other command-line options. Preface each option with a dash (“-“), followed by the argument and argument
value, separated by spaces. For example
ARCOScf –n
starts up the program without connecting with the microcontroller, so that you may examine and maintain disk-based
copies of your robot’s operating parameters.
Table 18. ARCOS start-up options
A
RGUMENT
V
ALUE
D
-b batch commands Batch mode executes list of ARCOScf interactive-like
-u motfile Automatically upload an ARCOS (.mot) motfile after
-l paramsfile Load the disk-stored params (.rop) file instead of the
-n none Don’t connect with the microcontroller
ESCRIPTION
mode commands with arguments, then exits automatically.
connecting with the microcontroller.
robot’s copy
-rp serial-device Uses specified serial port for connection
-rb baudrate Specify the port connection baud rate
44
-s paramsfile On exit from ARCOScf, automatically save the current
parameter values to the named .rop paramsfile
To start up ARCOScf and make a connection with a serial port other than the default
C:\Program Files\MobileRobots\ARCOS> ARCOScf –rp COM3
COM1
or
ttyS0
:
Similarly, these startup arguments tells ARCOScf to upload a fresh copy of the firmware to your robot’s microcontroller
and then exits:
% ./ARCOScf –u ARCOS1_0.mot –n –b
C
ONFIGURING
ARCOS P
ARAMETERS
Your robot has several parameters stored in FLASH that ARCOS uses to configure its servers and auxiliary attachments
and to uniquely identify your robot. For instance, the default maximum translation velocity is stored in the
TransVelMax parameter. Its value takes effect when starting your robot or after resetting the microcontroller, and
may be changed temporarily by a client command. Use ARCOScf’s batch or interactive modes to modify these
operating parameters, and hence your robot’s default operating characteristics.
Start up ARCOScf as described in the previous section. As discussed earlier, ARCOScf normally downloads the set of
operating parameters from your robot’s FLASH for your review and modification. Or you may load a disk-stored version
of those parameters.
Interactive Commands
To operate ARCOScf in interactive mode, simply type a keyword at its command prompt. Some keywords affect the
operation of ARCOScf or the status of the parameters file as a whole. For instance, to review the list of current ARCOS
FLASH variables, type ‘v’ or ‘
variable keywords and current values. Similarly, type ‘?’ or
view
’ followed by a return (
Enter
‘help’
). Each successive return will display additional
to see a list of
ARCOScf
interactive commands.
Changing Parameters
Most keywords refer to the operating parameters themselves. Alone, a parameter’s keyword simply asks
ARCOScf
to
display the parameter’s value. Provide an value with the parameter keyword separated by a space to change it. That
value may be a string (no quotes or spaces) or a decimal or hexadecimal (“
watchdog
> watchdog 4000
timeout to four seconds, type:
0xN
”) number. For example, to change the
or
> watchdog 0xfa0
See the respective control command and parameter Tables nearby for a full description of
S
AVE YOUR WORK
ARCOScf
operation.
While changing parameter values in ARCOScf interactive mode, you are editing a temporary copy; your changes are not
put into effect in your robot’s FLASH until you explicitly “
Also use the ARCOScf
save
command to save a copy of the parameters to a disk file for later upload. We strongly
save
” them to the microcontroller.
recommend that you save each version of your robot’s parameter values to disk for later retrieval should your
microcontroller get damaged or its FLASH inadvertently erased. Default parameter files come with each ARCOS
distribution, but it is tedious to reconstruct an individual robot’s unique configuration.
Table 19. ARCOScf interactive commands
C
OMMAND
D
ESCRIPTION
45
keyword <value> Alone, a keyword displays current, edited value. Include a
r or restore
value to change it.
v or view Display FLASH parameters.
u or upload <motfile> Upload specified ARCOS image (.mot) file to the
<paramsfile>
save <paramsfile> Saves current edited values to FLASH or saves current
q or quit Exits ARCOScf.
? or help Displays these commands and descriptions.
microcontroller.
Restore parameters to values currently stored in FLASH or,
if given, from a paramsfile (.rop) on disk
edited values to paramsfile (.rop) on disk for later
reference.
Table 20. Sample ARCOS FLASH configuration parameters with values for Pioneer 3–DX
K
EYWORD
D
type str Pioneer Identifies the robot type.
subtype str P3DX-SH Identifies the robot model.
name str P3-DX Unique name for your robot.
sernum str Serial Serial number for the robot.
ATA
D
EFAULT
D
ESCRIPTION
Maximum of 20 characters, no spaces.
ticksmm int 128 Encoder ticks/mm: (4 x ticks per rev x gear-ratio)/
(wheel_diameter x Π)
revcount int 16570 The number of differential encoder ticks for a 180-
driftfactor int 0 Value in 1/8192 increments to be added or subtracted
battconv byte 0 0 if a 12V system; 1 if 24V
lowbattery int 115 In 1/10 volts; microcontroller alarm activated when
shutdownvolts int 108 In 1/10 volts; microcontroller disconnects client and
hostbaud byte 0 Baud rate for client-server HOST serial: 0=9.6k,
auxbaud1 byte 0 Baud rate for AUX serial port 1; see HostBaud
auxbaud2 byte 0 Baud rate for AUX serial port 2; see HostBaud
auxbaud3 byte 0 Baud rate for AUX serial port 3; see HostBaud
sipcycle byte 100 Server information packet cycle time in 1 ms
degree revolution of the robot.
from the left encoder ticks in order to compensate
for tire differences.
battery charge falls below this value.
signals onboard PC to shutdown when battery charge
falls below this value.
1=19.2k, 2=38.4k, 3=56.8k, 4=115.2k.
increments. Default is classic 100 ms.
watchdog int 2000 Ms time before robot automatically stops if it has
not received a command from a client. Restarts on
46
restoration of connection.
soundtog byte 1 0 disables the buzzer
SONARcycle byte 40 SONAR cycle time in milliseconds
SONAR1 str 12345678 Ping sequence for SONAR array #1. Up to 16 number
SONAR2 str 0 Ping sequence for array #2. See SONAR1 above
SONAR3 str 0 Ping sequence for array #3. See SONAR1 above
SONAR4 str 0 Ping sequence for array #4. See SONAR1 above
hasgyro byte 0 Set to 1 (client-side) or 2 (server-side) if you have
gyrocw int 1000 Adjust for gyro type 2 clockwise rotations
gyroccw int 1000 Adjust for gyro type 2 counter-clockwise rotations
gyroratelimit int 0 Degs per sec X 10 below which to not believe the
gyrorange int 0 Max rotational speed of gyro (SPI-based only); 0
hasbrakes byte 0 1 if your robot has brakes; 0 if not.
charger byte 0 Set to 1 if P3/PeopleBot or 2 if PowerBot autocharger
chargethreshold int 0 PowerBot only
gripper byte 0 Set to 1 if DX/AT Gripper; 2 if Gripper on
characters 1-8; 0 to disable the array
the gyro accessory
gyro; 0 = internal default of 20 = 2 deg/sec
internal default = 320 deg/sec
mechanism and circuitry installed; otherwise 0
Performance PeopleBot
tcm2 byte 0 TCM2 module, if connected, specify AUX port number 1,
lcd byte 0 LCD module, if attached, specify AUX port number 1,
uichange byte 1 0 restricts number of user options selectable with
frontbumps byte 0 Number of front bumper segments
rearbumps byte 0 Number of rear bumper segments
invertbumps byte 0 0=none; 1=front; 2=rear; or 3=invert both; affects
bumpstall byte 0 3=disable bump stall; 1=enable rear; 2=enable front;
frontirs str 0 Associates IR ports with respective front bumpers
rearirs str 0 Associates IR ports with respective rear bumpers
invertirs byte 0
stallval int 200 Maximum PWM before stall. If > PwmMax, never.
stallcount int 200 Ms time motors disabled after a stall for recovery.
pwmmax int 500 Maximum motor PWM (500 maximum).
2, or 3
2, or 3
LCD
STALL bits in std. SIP only.
0=enable both front and rear bump stalls
0=none; 1=front; 2=rear; or 3=invert both; only related to
bumper responses.
rotveltop int 360 Maximum rotation velocity; deg/sec
47
transveltop int 1500 Maximum translation speed; mm/sec
rotacctop int 300 Maximum rotation (de)acceleration; deg/sec2
transacctop int 2000 Maximum translation (de)acceleration; mm/sec2
rotvelmax int 100 Max rotation speed; deg/sec.
transvelmax int 750 Max translation speed; mm/sec.
rotacc int 100 Rotation acceleration; deg/sec2
rotdecel int 100 Rotation deceleration; deg/sec2
rotkp int 40 Proportional PID for rotation
rotkv int 20 Differential PID for rotation
rotki int 0 Integral PID for rotation
transacc int 300 Translation acceleration; mm/sec2
transdecel int 300 Translation deceleration; mm/sec2
transkp int 40 Proportional PID for translation
transkv int 30 Differential PID for translation
transki int 0 Integral PID for translation
joystick byte 0 Joystick type: 0=analog, 1=inductive
joysafe byte 0 1 lets you operate in joydrive UNSAFE mode
joyvelmax int 750 Joydrive maximum translation velocity
joyrvelmax int 50 Joydrive maximum rotation velocity
PID P
ARAMETERS
The ARCOS configuration parameters include settings for the PID motor controls for translation and rotation of the
robot. The translation values also are used for independent-wheel mode. The default values are for a lightly loaded
robot. Experiment with different values to improve the performance of your robot in its current environment.
The Proportional PID (Kp) values control the responsiveness of your robot. Lower values make for a slower system;
higher values make the robot "zippier", but can lead to overshoot and oscillation.
The Derivative PID (Kv) dampens oscillation and overshoot. Increasing values gives better control of oscillation and
overshoot, but they also make the robot’s movements more sluggish.
The Integral PID (Ki) adjusts residual error in turning and velocity. Higher values make the robot correct increasingly
smaller errors between its desired and actual angular position and speed.
D
RIFTFACTOR, TICKSMM AND REVCOUNT
ARCOS uses the
TicksMM
and
RevCount
parameters to convert your platform-independent speed and rotation
commands—typically expressed in millimeters or degrees, respectively—into platform-dependent units. And it uses
DriftFactor
to compensate for tire differences.
The
TicksMM
value is the number of encoder pulses (“ticks”) per millimeter of wheel rotation. The value is, of course,
dependent upon the wheel encoder’s resolution, the motor-to-wheel gear ratio and the wheel’s diameter.
The
RevCount
value is the differential number of encoder ticks for a 180-degree turn of the robot. It depends on a
number of factors, principally the length of the wheel base which may change due to payload, tire wear, operating
surface and so on.
48
The
DriftFactor
is a value in 1/8192 units that gets added or subtracted from the left-wheel encoder count at each
motor cycle. In doing so, it compensates for tire difference and thereby straightens the robot’s translation forward and
backward.
Table 21. Some platform-dependent parameters
P
The TicksMM
ARAMETER
encoder ticks/rev 500 500 500
gear ratio 38.3 49.8 38.3
wheel diam (mm) 195 220 195
encoder ticks/mm 132 138 132
and
RevCount
P3DX P3AT
parameters affect the conversion of your motion command arguments into platform-
dependent values used by ARCOS. Unlike previous firmware implementations, ARCOS also uses
RevCount
client in the standard SIP, such as
have many conversion factors like
S
TALLVAL AND STALLCOUNT
to convert its internal measures into platform-independent position and velocity values that it sends to the
Xpos
and
Ypos
DistConvFactor
VALUES
P
ERF
PB
TicksMM
and
. Accordingly, you’ll notice that the respective ARIA client parameters
set to 1.0.
An ARCOS stall monitor maintains a running average of PWM values for each wheel over a 500 millisecond integration
period. PWM values get added to the sum if the wheel speed is below 100 mm/sec. The average is then compared
with the
are barely moving if at all, a stall occurs. Once stalled, power is removed and the motors relax for the
stallVal
FLASH value. If it exceeds that value, in other words the motors are being given lots of power but
stallWait
period, after which power gets reapplied.
B
UMPERS
Use the
triggered. Normally,
bumpStall
FLASH parameter to set the default for the robot’s behavior when its front and/or rear bumper gets
bumpStall
is engaged for both front and rear (default value of 0) bumpers. Reset it to 3 to
disengage bump-related stalls altogether; 1 to trigger stalls only when the rear bumpers engage; or 2 for front bumps
only.
You may over-ride the
arguments are the reverse: enabling versus disabling the various bumper-stall combinations. Your robot’s
bumpStall
FLASH default with the
BUMPSTALL
client command #44, although the command
bumpStall
behavior reverts to the FLASH default on reset and up disconnection from the client.
ARCOS implements three FLASH parameters that specify states and numbers of front and rear bumper segments. Set
the
frontBumps
and
rearBumps
values to the number of bumper segments for the front and rear bumpers,
respectively; or to 0 if you don't have a particular bumper. The number of segments is used to isolate the bumper bits,
if any, so that a triggered bumper event is reported correctly in the
invertBump
reported in the
The
frontBumps
FLASH parameter to invert those bumper-related STALL values, but not the hardware-related states
IOpac
.
and
rearBumps
byte values also are reported near the end of the
remove a bumper from your robot, you MUST reset the associated
STALL
values of the standard SIP. Use the
CONFIGpac
frontBumps or rearBumps
. If for any reason you
FLASH value.
Otherwise, the robot will stall incessantly and ARIA won’t let you drive.
IRS
Use the
bumper, respectively. Each parameter value is a string of eight characters. Each character, in sequence, represents the
frontIRs
and
rearIRs
FLASH parameters to associate the IR/extended bumper ports with a front and/or rear
49
IR ports 1-8. Set the value of each character position to the number of the bumper you want that IR port to effect;
otherwise, '0' for no association/IR bumper.
For example, the
frontIRs
string "002411" means that IR #3, when triggered, will cause a bump event as if the front
bumper #2 had been hit. Similarly, IRs 5 and 6 will cause bump events on the front bumper #1; redundancy is okay. We
aren't using IRs #1 and #2, at least not with the front bumpers. Note, too, that there are only six characters in the
string, even though there are a total of eight IR ports. Trailing IR spaces automatically get set to zero.
The IR inputs are pulled up electrically, and so their digital states normally are high (“1”) when parsed in the IO packet
and go low (“0”) when shorted to ground. Use
rearIRs
effects are inverted.
invertIRs
to invert that logic so that the related
frontIRs
and
README
We often update ARCOS with new and experimental features. Be sure to read the text README file found with each
distribution for more FLASH parameter details and operations.
50
Chapter 7
Calibration & Maintenance
Your Pioneer 3 robot platform is built to last a lifetime and requires little maintenance.
T
IRE INFLATION
Maintain even tire inflation for proper navigation of your Pioneer 3-AT. We ship with each pneumatic tire inflated to 23
psi. If you change the inflation, remember to adjust the
C
ALIBRATING YOUR ROBOT
driftFactor, ticksMM,
and
revCount
FLASH values.
Your robot comes with FLASH parameters adjusted for operation on smooth, flat surfaces with its original payload. If
you operate your robot on some different surface and with lighter or heavier loads, you probably will need to recalibrate
many of its operating parameters, such as
The ARIA
demo
program has two modes to help you do that. In ‘p’osition mode,
driftFactor, revCount, ticksMM
and the PIDs.
demo
displays current heading and
position. Press the ‘r’ key to reset these to 0 at any time. Press the right or left arrow key to have the robot rotate 90
degrees either clockwise or counterclockwise, respectively. The up and down arrow keys tell the robot to advance
forward or backward one meter, respectively.
ARIA
demo
’s ‘d’irect mode lets you change the variety of operating parameters on-the-fly by letting you send an ARCOS
client command number and value to be used during the current session. To replace the default values in FLASH, use
ARCOScf
Accordingly, to properly calibrate your robot, first use
respective parameters, such as for
.
driftFactor
ARCOScf
and
and record and save on disk the current values for the
revCount
. Then connect with the ARIA
demo
and engage
position mode to move the robot. As accurately as possible—a laser-line or pointer is helpful here--measure its actual
motion and position and use
demo
’s direct mode to adjust the reported values for your robot’s current configuration and
operating environment.
Note:
Disable the server-side gyroscope accessory (HasGyro 2) before calibrating driftFactor and
revCount.
Standard Calibrations
Start with
robot’s translation travel and drive the robot forward or back at least three meters. Adjust
#89) to minimize the robot’s drift off that line.
Then drive the robot forward or back one or more meters and compare its actual translation distance you accurately
measure with
match.
Likewise, rotate your robot and compare your measured rotation angle to the reported heading (th). Adjust
the measure of differential encoder ticks to achieve 180-degrees rotation-- accordingly (command #88).
Finally, drive the robot around and adjust its PID, velocity and acceleration values to achieve the desired performance
for the operating configuration.
Gyroscope Calibrations
With the client-side gyroscope (
Consequently, you don’t have to disable it when performing calibrations with the ARIA demo program. In fact demo’s
‘p’osition mode displays the gyro versus encoder headings separately for tandem calibration. Adjust the
value in your robot’s
driftFactor
demo
’s ARCOS-reported distance (x) in millimeters. Adjust
Aria/params/*.p
since its value affects both
hasGyro
set to one), ARIA retrieves the rate data and manages it from the client side.
params file (
ticksMM
p3dx-sh.p
and
revCount
ticksMM
, for example).
. Draw a line on the floor parallel to the
driftFactor
(command
(command #93) so that the numbers
revCount
GyroScaler
--
When using the server-side mode for the gyro, disable it when doing the standard encoder calibrations, such as with the
client command #58 and argument 0 or by simply setting
HasGyro
to 0. Then, after re-enabling it, adjust the
GyroCW
51
and
GyroCCW
refine the values before committing them to FLASH.
When you are satisfied that the robot moves and rotates the proper distances and headings, and drives with the proper
performance, commit those new values into their related FLASH parameters in your robot with
forget to save a copy in a
D
RIVE LUBRICATION
Pioneer 3 drive motors and gearboxes are sealed and self-lubricating, so you need not fuss with grease or oil. An
occasional drop or two of oil on the axle bushings between the wheels and the case won’t hurt. And keep the axles
clear of carpet or other strings that may wrap around and bind up your robot’s drive.
B
ATTERIES
Lead-acid batteries like those in your Pioneer 3 robot last longest when kept fully charged. In fact, severe discharge is
harmful to the battery, so be careful not to operate the robot if the battery voltage falls below 11 VDC. You may charge
the batteries as often as needed or as long as needed, this will not damage the batteries or change their behavior.
Changing Batteries
values as you did for
.rop
revCount
file for later reference.
. Use the
GYROCALCW
(#38) and
GYROCALCCW
(#39) client commands to
ARCOScf
and don’t
CAREFUL!
The Batteries slide in
TERMINALS LAST!
To access the batteries, unlatch the rear door, swing it open and locate the one to three onboard batteries inside.
To remove a battery, simply grasp it and pull out. We provide a suction-cup tool to help.
Insert the batteries by simply sliding each one into a battery box compartment. Load the batteries so that their weight
gets distributed evenly across the platform: If using a single battery, place it in the center. If using two batteries, place
one at either side. If using three batteries, use all three locations.
Make sure that all battery terminals are making contact with the spring contacts in the robot. If any batteries fail to
make full contact, then damage may result to the batteries or robot.
CAREFUL
Always ensure that battery terminals are making full contact with the robot’s spring contacts.
Hot-Swapping the Batteries
You may change the batteries on your Pioneer 3 without disrupting operation of the onboard systems (except the
motors, of course): Either connect the charger, which powers the robot's systems while you change the battery or
batteries. Or, if you have two or three batteries, swap each with a freshly charged one individually, so that at least one
battery is in place and providing the necessary power.
Charging the Batteries
If you have the standard charger accessory, insert it into a standard 110 or 220 (Europe/South America/Asia) VAC wall
power receptacle. (Some users may require a special power adapter.) Locate the round plug at the end of the cable
that is attached to the charger and insert it into the charge socket that is just below your robot’s Main Power switch.
The LEDs on the charger indicate charge status, as marked on its case.
It takes fewer than 12 hours—often just a few hours, depending on the level of discharge—to fully charge a battery using
the accompanying charger (roughly, three hours per volt per battery). Although you may operate the robot while
recharging, it restricts the robot’s mobility.
52
Automated Docking/Charging System
The automated docking/charging system accessory optimally conditions power to charge the three 21-Ahr, 12 VDC
lead-acid batteries (6 A charging current max) and provides sufficient power (up to 5A) for operation of all onboard
systems.
The charging mechanism and onboard power conditioning circuitry can be retrofitted to all Pioneer 3 and some Pioneer
2 and PeopleBot robots. All require return to the factory.
Alternative Battery Chargers
The center post of the charger socket is the positive (+) side of the battery; the case is the negative (-) side. A diode
protects against the wrong charger polarity. Nonetheless, if you choose to use an alternative battery charger, be sure to
connect positive to positive and negative to negative from charger to robot.
An alternative AC to DC converter/battery charger should sustain at least 0.75A at 13.75 to 14 VDC per battery, and
not more than 2-2.5 amperes per battery. The High-Speed Charger accessory, for example, is a four ampere charger
and should be used with at least two of the standard batteries.
An alternative charger also should be voltage-and current-limited so that it cannot overcharge the batteries.
T
IGHTENING THE AT DRIVE BELT
Occasionally, particularly after heavy use, the Pioneer 3- or 2-AT drive belts that mechanically link the front and rear
motors on each side will loosen and slip, resulting in a load popping noise. To tighten them, start with a 3mm hex key
to loosen, but not remove, the three screws on the side of the robot near the front wheel. One screw is partly behind
the wheel, so with our parts kit, we included a 3mm hex key with a shortened “L” section to fit behind the wheel.
Figure 13. Locations of the P3-AT's belt-tensioning bolts
Figure 14. Loosen the AT drive belt retainer screws first.
Remove the small plastic plug which is near the hinge on the top plate and near the edge by the wheel. Under it, you
will see the head of a large hex bolt. This bolt tightens (clockwise) or loosens (counter-clockwise) the drive belt for that
side of the robot. Turn it using a 5mm hex key probably not more than 1 full rotation. Avoid over tightening.
Test to make sure that it is tight enough by holding the wheel while running the self test. When adjusted satisfactorily,
re-tighten the screws on the side and replace the plug.
53
G
Figure
16
. Remove indicated screws from Pioneer 3
-
DX or
-
AT rear deck to open plate.
ETTING INSIDE
Removing the Nose
The Pioneer 3-DX and –AT onboard computer sits just behind the
robot’s nose. And you may have to remove the nose to access the
front SONAR array’s gain adjustment pot. Two screws hold the
nose to the front SONAR (or blank) array. The AT also has a screw
at the bottom of the nose that attaches to the body; the DX’s nose
is hinged at the bottom.
Remove all nose retaining screws with the 3mm hex wrench
supplied with your robot. Unlike earlier Pioneer 2 models, you do
not have to remove the Gripper or the front bumper accessories.
Once loosened, the DX nose pivots down on a hinge. For the AT
model, four pins along the nose’s back edges guide it onto the front of the robot. Simply pry the nose out and away
from the body.
Figure 15. Remove indicated screws to access
the front plate of Pioneer 3-DX and -AT robots.
Careful: The computer’s hard-drive, fan, and speaker have attached wire harnesses that you need to relieve before
completely detaching the nose from the body. We recommend unplugging the speaker wire and simply rotating the
nose out of the way to access the onboard computer.
Opening the Deck
All Pioneer 3 robots have a center hinge in the deck which let you easily open and access internal components without
completely removing the top plate. Simply remove the indicated 3mm screws shown in the Figures nearby from the
section of the deck that you want to access. You may need to first remove any accessories that are bolted to the top
plate through the indicated holes.
Remove the batteries BEFORE opening the robot.
F
ACTORY REPAIRS
If, after reading this manual, you’re having hardware problems with your Pioneer 3 robot and you’re satisfied that it
needs repair, contact us:
http://robots.MobileRobots.com/techsupport
Tell us your robot’s SERIAL NUMBER
Describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Also include your
name, email and mail addresses, along with phone and fax numbers. Tell us when and how we can best contact you
(we will assume email is the best manner, unless otherwise notified).
robot’s serial number
(IMPORTANT!) as well as
54
Use authorized parts ONLY;
warranty void otherwise.
We will try to resolve the problem through communication. If the robot must be returned to the factory for repair, obtain
a shipping and repair authorization code and shipping details from us first.
We are not responsible for shipping damage or loss.
55
Available for user
Digital inputs ID0
-7
Gripper, dock, or user
“USER IO/GRIPPER” Connector
Yes, if no gripper
Digital outputs OD0
-7
Gripper, dock or user
“USER IO/GRIPPER” Connector
Yes, if no gripper
Analog input AN0
Joystick speed control
“USER IO/GRIPPER” Connector and
Analog input AN1
Joystick X axis
“JOYSTICK” Connector
Analog input AN2
Joystick Y axis
“JOYSTICK” Connector
Analog input AN3
Internal
n/a
Analog input AN4
Available for user custom
“TILT/ROLL” connector
Yes
Analog input
AN5 Available for user custom
“TILT/ROLL” connector
Yes
Analog input AN6
Gyro “GYRO” connector
Analog input AN7
Gyro “GYRO” connector.
Joystick button FB0
Joystick button
“JOYSTICK” Connector
Joystick button FB1
Joystick button
“JOYSTICK”
Connector
Bumper switch inputs
Bumpers
“BUMPERS” Connector
IR inputs IR0
-
IR7 Infrared sensors on
“MOTORS” motor/power/encoder/IR
Yes, if no IR
HOST serial port
Software control of robot
User
control panel, and “HOST”
AUX1-3 serial ports
Accessory or user
“AUX1” , “AUX2”, “AUX3” serial port
Yes, if no
Chapter 8
R
OBOT MICROCONTROLLER PORTS & CONNECTORS
Appendix A
This Appendix contains pin-out and electrical specifications for the external and internal ports and connectors on the
SH2-based microcontroller for the Pioneer 3, PeopleBot and PowerBot, including motor-power interface and User
Control boards.
Figure 18. Mini-fit and
micro-fit connector
Figure 17. IDC connector
Function Uses Connector Label on Board
custom I/O
custom I/O
custom use?
“JOYSTICK” Connector
I/O
I/O
DB0-DB7
Peoplebot, or user
custom inputs
connections
connector.
connector.
connectors
sensors
accessory
56
Figure 19. SH-2 Microcontroller Board Connector Locations
Main Power Input
The power connector is a 3-pin microfit socket that delivers 12 and 5 VDC to the microcontroller, including power
ground, supplied by the Motor-Power board (see below).
Table 22. Microcontroller Power Connector
PIN DESCRIPTION
1
12 VDC (battery)
2 GND
3 5VDC
Auxilliary Serial Ports
One DSUB-9 and three 5-position microfit sockets provide the HOST and AUX1, AUX2, AUX3 serial ports for the SH2
microcontroller. All are RS-232 compatible. The HOST port is shared with the User Control Panel’s
SERIAL
port and is
for ARCOS client-server and maintenance connections. The HOST serial connector also has signal lines for detecting an
attached device (DTR pin 4) and for notifying the attached PC of low-power condition (DSR pin 6 and HRNG pin 9). The
HOST serial connectors are wired DCE for direct connection (straight-through cable, not NULL-modem) to a standard PC
serial port. See the nearby Tables for details.
The AUX1, AUX2 and AUX3 ports are extra RS-232 serial interfaces on the robot microcontroller. Data can be sent via
the robot microcontroller using “TTY” and “GETAUX” commands (see Chapter 6).
The serial ports operate at any of the common data rates: 9.6, 19.2, 38.4, 57.8, or 115.2 kilobits per second, and with
eight data bits, one stop bit, no parity or hardware handshaking.
AUX SERIAL
Sockets:
5-position microfit (3mm, single row) header (male pins)
Molex part #43650-0515
Mating connector:
www.digikey.com part #WM1848-ND
www.mouser.com part #538-43645-0500
5-pos microfit 3mm single row connector receptacle (female
socket) with latch lock
Molex part #43645-0500
57
low
Table 23. HOST serial ports on microcontroller and on User Control panel
PIN SIGNAL DESCRIPTION
PIN
SIGNAL
DESCRIPTION
1 nc
3 RCV Signal in 4 DTR Input detects attached device
5 GND Common 6 DSR Output when microcontroller
7 nc 8 nc
9 HRING Set low to signal
battery voltage
TXD Signal out
2
and switches TxD and RxD into
the uC
powered
Table 24. Aux1, Aux2, and Aux3 serial ports (5-pos microfit sockets)
PIN SIGNAL DESCRIPTION
1 DTR Aux1 only
3 RCV Signal in 4 DSR Output active
5 GND Common
PIN
SIGNAL DESCRIPTION
TXD Signal out
2
User I/O, Gripper and Automated Recharger Connector
A 20-pin latching IDC socket on the microcontroller provides the digital IO, analog IO and power ports for user I/O or
accessories. If the Pioneer Gripper or docking hardware is installed in a robot, the digital I/O ports used for those
devices will not be available for user custom devices. Indicated ports (*) are shared on other connectors. Digital inputs
are buffered and pulled high (digital 1); outputs are buffered and normally low (digital 0).
The states of the buffered digital input and output ports are provided to client software in the DIGIN and DIGOUT field of
the standard information packet (SIP), and are included in the IO Packet as well. The state of digital outputs port may
be set by sending the DIGOUT command (#30). The voltage on the AN0 analog input port is provided in the ANALOG
field of the SIP if AN0 was selected with the ADSEL command, and is also included in the IO Packet as well. See
Chapter 6,
ARCOS,
for details.
NOTE: AN0 is used by the Pioneer joystick if your robot was equipped with this option, and is also present on the
Joystick connector. If used for a joystick it cannot be used for user custom I/O; use AN4 or AN5 instead (see below).
Socket:
Mating connector:
MobileRobots part #CAB1003 (with cable: part #CAB1075)
3M part #89120-0101
www.digikey.com part #MKC20A-ND
www.mouser.com part #517-8920
20-position IDC socket (latching).
3M part #3428-6302
20-position IDC connector. Crimp with 26-28AWG ribbon
cable.
58
Table 25. User I/O – Gripper (20-pos latching IDC)
PIN S
1 OD0 DIGOUT bit 0;
3 OD1 DIGOUT bit 1;
5 OD2 DIGOUT bit 2;
7 OD3 DIGOUT bit 3;
9 ID4 DIGIN bit 4;
11 ID5 DIGIN bit 5;
13 ID6 DIGIN bit 6;
15 ID7 DIGIN bit 7;
17 AN0 Analog port 0 18 Vcc 5VDC < 1A
19 Vpp Battery 12VDC < 1A 20 Gnd Signal/power common
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
Gripper enable
Gripper direction
Lift enable
Lift direction
Left paddle contact
Right paddle contact
”power good”
”overcharge”
PIN S
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
2 ID0 DIGIN bit 0;
Paddles open limit
4 ID1 DIGIN bit 1;
Lift limit
6 ID2 DIGIN bit 2;
Outer breakbeam IR
8 ID3 DIGIN bit 3;
Inner breakbeam IR
10 OD4 DIGOUT bit 4;
“inhibit”
12 OD5 DIGOUT bit 5;
“deploy”
14 OD6 DIGOUT bit 6;
User only
16 OD7 DIGOUT bit 7;
User only
AN4, AN5 Analog Inputs (“TILT/ROLL”)
The “TILT/ROLL” connector provides connections for two additional analog I/O inputs, AN4 and AN5, as well as an extra
5V power connection. These values are available in the IO Packet (see Chapter 6, ARCOS above for details). They are
not used for any purpose by ARCOS itself.
PIN S
1 nc
3 AN4 AN4 4 AN5 AN5
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
Motors, Encoders Table 26. “tilt/roll” connector
PIN S
IGNAL
D
VCC 5 VDC power
2
ESCRIPTION
59
AN signal
Max speed
5 AGND
ground
6 GND Power ground
Motors, Encoders and IRs
A 26-position latching IDC connector on the microcontroller connects the Microcontroller to the Motor-Power Board (see
Appendix B). Line descriptions also can be found in the following Motor-Power Interface section.
Table 27. Motors, encoders, and IRs interface (26-pos latching IDC)
PIN S
1 LPWM Left motors PWM 2 LDIR Left motors direction
3 RPWM Right motors PWM 4 RDIR Right motors direction
5 MEN Motors enable 6 LEA Left encoder channel A
7 E-STOP E-Stop detect input 8 REA Right encoder channel A
9 RPWR Aux1 power enable 10 REB Right encoder channel B
11 APWR Aux2 power enable 12 LEB Left encoder channel B
13 CHRG Charge port detect 14 IR6 IR input bit 6
15 IR7 IR input bit 7 16 IR4 IR input bit 4
17 IR5 IR input bit 5 18 IR2 IR input bit 2
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
PIN S
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
19 IR3 IR input bit 3 20 IR0 IR input bit 0
21 IR1 IR input bit 1 22 VBAT Battery voltage
23 Gnd Signal common 24 AN1* Analog input
25 Gnd Signal common 26 AN2* Analog input
* Board versions C and earlier pin 24 HOST RI and pin 26 ground.
Joystick
An 8-position microfit socket provides signal lines for connection to the inductive joystick accessory. Indicated lines (*)
are shared on other connectors.
NOTE: AN0 input is also present on the user IO connector.
Table 28. Joystick connector (8-pos microfit)
pin signal description pin signal description
1 Vcc 5 VDC
3 AN2 Turn Y-axis 4 AGND Analog common
5 AN1 Translate X-
axis
7 *AN0
control
6 FB1 Fire button 1
8 nc
FB0 Fire button 0
2
Bumpers
Two 10-position latching IDC connectors provide general-purpose digital inputs, typically used for the robot’s bumpers.
All inputs are buffered and pulled high (digital 1).
60
Table 29. Bumper ports (10-pos latching IDC)
PIN S
1 BP0 Bumper bit 0 2 BP1 Bumper bit 1
3 BP2 Bumper bit 2 4 BP3 Bumper bit 3
5 BP4 Bumper bit 4 6 BP5 Bumper bit 5
7 BP6 Bumper bit 6 8 BP7 Bumper bit 7
9 Gnd Common 10 Gnd Common
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
PIN S
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
SONAR
Four connectors—two latching 10-pos IDC and two 10-pos microfits—provide signal and power for the four SONAR
arrays SONAR1 through SONAR4, respectively.
Table 30. SONAR
PIN S
1 A0 disc address
3 A2 disc address 4 BINH inhibits return signal
5 INIT starts SONAR ping 6 VCC 5 VDC
7 VCC 5 VDC 8 SGND Common
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
PIN S
2
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
A1 disc address
9 SGND Common 10 ECHO Goes high if echo threshold reached
User Control Board
A 16-position latching IDC connector provides interface with the User Control Panel board and functions. See
description in a following section.
Table 31. User Control Panel interface
PIN S
1 Vcc 5 VDC power 2 Vcc 5 VDC power
3 RST RESET button 4 MOT MOTORS button
5 RPWR Radio power switch 6 APWR Aux power switch
7 8 BZR Buzzer PWM
9 PLED Main power 10 SLED Status
11 Vpp Battery 12 VDC 12 Gnd Signal/power common
13 Gnd Signal/power common 14 HTXD HOST serial transmit
15 HDSR HOST serial enabled 16 HRCV HOST serial receive
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
PIN S
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
Gyro
The heading-correction gyro accessory attaches directly with the microcontroller through its respective 6-position
microfit connector. Indicated lines (*) are shared on other connectors.
61
Table 32. Heading correction gyro connector
PIN S
1 nc
3 RATE AN6 4 TEMP AN7
5 AGND Analog gnd 6 GND Power ground
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
PIN S
2
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
VCC 5 VDC power
62
Chapter 9
M
OTOR-POWER DISTRIBUTION BOARD
Appendix B
The Motor-Power Board provides power conversion and distribution to other robot components.
Figure 20. Pioneer 3 Motor-Power Board
Microcontroller Connection
Individual 26-pos IDC connectors and cables provide signal for the H8S- and SH2-based microcontrollers or for the
legacy C166-based microcontrollers. A separate cable and connector provides for the SH2 microcontroller and SONAR
power. Power and signal are shared on the C166 microcontroller connector.
Table 33. “H8S Power” connector, to microcontroller board (5-pos microfit)
PIN F
1
2 Gnd Power common
3 Vcc 5 VDC for SONAR
4 Vcc 5 VDC for SONAR
5 nc No connection
UNCTION
D
ESCRIPTION
Vbat Battery power
Auxiliary and User Power Connectors
Various connectors provide conditioned 5 VDC @ 1.5A total and unconditioned battery power for the variety of
accessories and custom user attachments. Some are AUX1 and AUX2 power switched from the User Control Panel.
The row of screw-down auxiliary user-power connectors along the top edge of the motor-powerboard make custom
attachments easy.
63
(The 12-position latchlock connector to the left of the screw-down terminals was used in the past for some
accessories.) Four-position microfit connectors also provide AUX power for standard accessories. AUX1 power was
formerly called “Radio” power. AUX2 power is sometimes referred to or labeled as “Video” power as well.
Table 34. User Control Panel-switched AUX1 power connector (3-pos microfit)
PIN F
1
2 Gnd Power common
3 Vcc AUX1 (formerly radio) switched 5 VDC
Socket on Board:
Mating connector:
Molex part #436450300
www.digikey.com part #WM1846-ND
www.mouser.com part #538-43645-0300
UNCTION
D
ESCRIPTION
Vpp AUX1 (formerly radio) switched battery 12
VDC
3-position microfit header (male pins, 3mm)
Molex part #43650-0315
3-position connector receptacle (female)
with latch lock. Add 20-30 AWG terminal
contact pins to crimp with wire.
Table 35. User Control Panel-switched and unswitched Aux power connectors (4-pos microfits and screw-down
terminal blocks)
PIN F
UNCTION
D
ESCRIPTION
1 Vpp Aux switched battery 12 VDC
2 Vcc Aux switched 5 VDC
3 Gnd Power common
4 Gnd Power common
Socket on Board:
Mating connector:
Molex part #436450-400
www.digikey.com part #WM1847-ND
www.mouser.com part #538-43645-0400
4-position microfit header (male pins, 3mm)
Molex part #43650-0415
4-position connector receptacle (female) with
latch lock. Add 20-30 AWG terminal contact
pins to crimp with wire.
Table 36. User Power connector (12-pos latchlock; unswitched)
P
IN
F
UNCTION
PIN F
1 Vcc 7 Vcc
2 Gnd 8 Gnd
UNCTION
3 Vpp 9 Vpp
64
4 Vcc 10 Vcc
5 Gnd 11 Gnd
6 Vpp 12 Vpp
IR Signal and Power
Four connectors provide power and signal for fixed-range IR sensors. A separate connector provides signal path for an
additional four IR sensors.
Table 37. IR power and signal connectors (3-pos microfits)
PIN F
2 IRn Switching signal
3 Gnd Power/signal ground
UNCTION
D
ESCRIPTION
Vpp Battery 12 VDC
1
Table 38. Additional IR connector (8-pos latchlock 0.1 header)
PIN S
1-4
5-8 GND Signal common
IGNAL
D
ESCRIPTION
IR4-7 IR signals
65
Pioneer 3
-DX
Pioneer 3
-
AT
Physical Characteristics
Length (cm)
44.5 50.1
Width (cm)
39.3 49.3
Height (cm)
23.7 27.7
Clearance (cm)
6.0 8.4
Clearance bumpers (cm)
3.5 5.4
Weight (kg)
9 14
Payload (kg)
25 15
Power
Batteries 12VDC lead
-
acid
Charge (
watt-hours)
252 252
Run time (approx.
hours) 8–10 4-6
with PC (approx.
hours) 3-4 2-3
Recharge t
ime
High-Speed
Mobility
Wheels
2 foam
-
filled 4 pneumatic
W
ave (optional narrow indoor
diam
eter (mm) 195.3
220
75 (optional narrow indoor
Tire pressure
na
23 psi (1.6 bar)
Caster (mm)
75 na
Steering
Differential
Skid
Gear ratio
38.3:1
49.8:1
Swing (cm)
26.7 34
Turn (cm)
0 0
Translate speed
Rotate speed
Traversable step
Traversable gap
Traversable slope
Unconsolidated
/loose/high
Chapter 10
S
PECIFICATIONS
(7 or 9 Ah)
low speed charger (1
battery)
(3 batteries)
Appendix C
3 3
6 6
2.4 2.4
tread knobby
width (mm) 47.4
max (mm/sec)
max (deg/sec)
max (mm)
max (mm)
max (grade)
Traversable
terrains
1,400 700
300 140
20 89
89 127
25% 40%
Wheel-chair accessible
wheels also available)
wheels also available)
friction (e.g. sand, gravel, dirt)
No carpets
!
66
Sensors
Pioneer 3
-DX
Pioneer 3
-
AT
SONAR Front Array (one each side, six
Rear SONAR Array (one each side, six rear
Bumpers
Optional
Optional
Motors
Four 12V DC gearmotors. Two motors on each
Gear ratio
38.3:1
49.8:1
(motor gearbox 38.3:1 plus belt pulleys)
500-count quadrature optical encoder on
500-count
quadrature optical encoder on one
Quadrature e
ncoder counts/mm robot
Quadrature e
ncoder counts/
360°
robot
Ports and Controls
Main Power
Switch
Standard
Standard
Motor E
-
Stop Button
Optional
Standard
Aux1 Power
Switch
5 & 12 VDC
5 & 12 VDC
Aux2 Power
Switch
5 & 12 VDC
5 & 12 VDC
General purpose power (unswitched)
5 & 12 VDC
5 & 12 VDC
Standard
DSUB-9 Port; USB
-
serial
Standard
DSUB-9 Port; USB
-
serial adapter
Motors Button
Standard
Standard
Microcontroller Reset
Button
Standard
Standard
Digital and Analog IO
Microfit header in robot
Microfit header in robot
forward @ 20° intervals)
@ 20° intervals)
Motors Two 12V DC gearmotors
Encoders
Quadrature encoder count/wheel
revolution
linear distance travelled
rotation
8 standard 8 optional
8 optional 8 optional
each motor
19,150 (200mm wheel) 24,900 (220mm wheel)
128 138
33,140 65,100
side, linked by belt.
motor on each side
System Serial Control Connection
adapter optional
optional
67
Chapter 11
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES/USER DEVICES
S
YSTEM INTERCONNECTION/WIRING DIAGRAM
Appendix D
PIONEER 3 INTERCONNECTION/WIRING DIAGRAM
REV A 4/7/2017 RH initial drawing
(C) 2017 OMRON ADEPT MOBILEROBOTS LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
12V SLA BATTERIES (up to 3)
MAIN POWER SWITCH
CHARGER IN
Component Part Numbers:
P3 Motor/Power Board Assembly: ELC1626
P3 Microcontroller Board Assembly: ELC1815
Gyro: ACT0090
Battery Board Assembly: ELC1084
User Control Panel: ELC1494
Sonar Board: ELC1121
Onboard PC and power supply: Varies according to type
For further information:
(1) Motor Power Board: See Pioneer 3 Manual Appendix B
(2) Microcontroller board: See Pioneer 3 Manual Appendix A
(3) http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Pioneer_3_Digital_Analog_IO
(4) Pioneer 3 Manual Chapter 3: Accessories
(5) Pioneer 3 Manual Chapter 2: Specifcations & Controls
(6) http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Pioneer_3_Motor-Power_Board
(7) Batteries, Battery Board and Charging:
See Pioneer 3 Manual Chapter 2 & Chapter 7
(8) http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Robot_Aux_Serial_Ports
(9) Pioneer 3 Manual Chapter 5
(10) Onboard Computer: See:
* http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Category:Computer
* Documentation regarding computer & OS provided with robot
* Some robots are equipped with a wireless serial adapter,
which connects to HOST SERIAL on the Microcontroller Board,
and receives power from the Motor/Power board. See
documentation provided with adapter or
http://robots.mobilerobots.com/
BATTERY BOARD
BATTERY POWER (11-13VDC unregulated)
(Vbatt)
GYRO
(OPTIONAL)
see (4)
USER DEVICES
(5VDC, GND and
AN4, AN5, analog inputs )
see (2) and (3)
JOYSTICK CONNECTOR
(OPTIONAL) see (4)
GRIPPER (OPTIONAL),
DOCKING (OPTIONAL),
OR USER DEVICES
(DIGITAL I/O)
see (2) and (3)
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES
OR USER DEVICES -SEE (1) and (6)
12V (Vbatt unregulated 11-13VDC)
5V (regulated)
AUX POWER (VARIOUS CONNECTOR TYPES):
5V, 12V, AUX1 Switched, AUX2 Switched
MAIN PWR IN J32/J32
LEFT MOTOR DRIVER PWR J2/J3
RIGHT MOTOR DRIVER PWR J4/J5
CHARGE
(unused)
MICRO POWER J13
SONAR BOARD - REAR
SONAR BOARD - FRONT
(OPTIONAL)
I2C (unused)
GYRO J12
"TILT/ROLL" (ANALOG INPUTS) J13
JOYSTICK J14
USER/GRIPPER IO J10
IR4, IR5, IR6, IR7
J19
IR SENSORS (PEOPLEBOT ONLY, see Peoplebot Manual)
SONAR 1 J1SONAR 2
LEFT ENCODER RIGHT ENCODER
LEFT MOTOR RIGHT MOTOR
LEFT MASTER
"RED/BLK"
LEFT SLAVE
MOTOR
(AT ONLY)
LEFT SLAVE
"RED/BLK"
(AT ONLY)
MOTOR DRIVERSPOWER CONVERSION
RIGHT SLAVE
MOTOR
(AT ONLY)
RIGHT SLAVE
"RED/BLK"
(AT ONLY)
P3 MOTOR/POWER BOARD
IR0J8IR1 J9IR2
5V Vcc, 12V Vbatt
J2
P3 MICROCONTROLLER
FRONT BUMPER SWITCHES
(OPTIONAL)
IR3
J12
J18
SONAR4
SONAR 3
J3
J4
SH MCU
BOARD
FRONT BUMPER J8
SONAR BOARD -TOP REAR
(PEOPLEBOT ONLY)
SONAR BOARD -TOP FRONT
(PEOPLEBOT ONLY)
REAR BUMPER J9
REAR BUMPER SWITCHES
(OPTIONAL)
H8 MICRO-CONTROLLER
J28
POWER IN J22
MOTORS J15
AUX SERIAL 1 J6
AUX SERIAL 2 J7
AUX SERIAL 3 J17
HOST SERIAL J5
USER J11
RIGHT MASTER
"RED/BLK"
COOLING FAN
J37
MOTOR TEMP
J38
ESTOP J11
(OPTIONAL)
RIGHT ENCODER
JP4
LEFT ENCODER
JP3
MOTOR CONTROL SIGNALS,
DRIVER and ENCODER DATA,
IR and MISC ANALOG INs
RS-232
12V (Thermostat controlled)
Unused
ESTOP BUTTON
(OPTIONAL) see (5)
(ROBOT EXTERIOR SIDE PANEL)
HOST SERIAL CONNECTOR
see (8) and (9)
ENCODER SIGNALS
USER CONTROL PANEL
see (5)
POWER SWITCH AUX1
POWER SWITCH AUX2
RESET SWITCH
MOTORS SWITCH
BUZZER
STATUS LEDs
COMPUTER
POWER
SUPPLY
5V or ATX POWER SUPPLY STANDARD (depends on o nboard PC type)
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES
AND USER DEVICES
DISK
ONBOARD PC
SINGLE-BOARD COMPUTER
(OPTIONAL)
see (10)
RS-232 SERIAL
See also (9)
COMPUTER CONTROL PANEL
(ROBOT EXTERIOR SIDE PANEL)
see (4)
POWER SWITCH
RESET SWITCH
MONITOR PORT
USB or PS2 PORTS
STATUS LEDs
Chapter 12
Your Pioneer 3 robot platform is fully warranted against defective parts or assembly for one year after it is shipped to
you from the factory. Accessories are warranted for 90 days. Use only Omron Adept MobileRobots authorized parts or
warranty void. This warranty also explicitly does not include damage from shipping or from abuse or inappropriate
operation, such as if the robot is allowed to tumble or fall off a ledge, or if it is overloaded with heavy objects.
The developers, marketers and manufacturers of Omron Adept MobileRobots Pioneer products shall bear no liabilities
for operation and use of the robot or any accompanying software except that covered by the warranty and period. The
developers, marketers or manufacturers shall not be held responsible for any injury to persons or property involving
Omron Adept MobileRobots products in any way. They shall bear no responsibilities or liabilities for any operation or
application of the robot, or for support of any of those activities. And under no circumstances will the developers,
marketers or manufacturers of Omron Adept MobileRobots products take responsibility for support of any special or
custom modification to Omron Adept MobileRobots platforms or their software.
Warranty & Liabilities
69
Index
acceleration, 31
Accessory Panels, 10
ADSEL, 40
ARCOS, 23, 47
ARCOScf, 49
Configuring, 49
PID parameters, 52
revcount parameter, 52
TicksMM pararmeter, 53
ARCOScf, 48, 49
Commands, 49
ARIA, 5
ArNetworking, 5
ARNL, 5
Assembly, 18
AUX power switches, 9
Auxilliary Serial Port Connectors, 61
Batteries, 11, 56
Changing, 56
Charging, 56
Hot-swap, 56
Installation, 18, 56
Battery charger, 11
BATTERY LED, 8, 11
Body, 9
Bumpers, 13
BUMPSTALL command, 34
buzzer, 8, 11, 38
A
B
Basic, 1
Body, 9
Computer, 10
Console, 8
Nose, 10
Optional, 1
User supplied, 2
Computer, 10
Computer Control Panel, 15
CONFIG command, 35
CONFIG Packet, 35
Configuration, 12
Configuration packets, 35
Console, 8
Controls, 7
Sonar Gain, 10
coordinate system, 32
D
Data types, 23
Deck, 8
Hinged, 58
demo (ARIA), 18
DHEAD command, 31
DIGIN, 40
DIGOUT command, 40
Dissassembly
Onboard PC, 58
Dock, 14
DriftFactor, 33, 52
Drive Lubrication, 56
E
C
Calibration, 43, 44, 55
Charge Cube, 11
Charger, 11, 57
Checksum, 24
Client commands
CONFIG, 35
client-server, 14, 23
CLOSE command, 27
Commands, 27
Communication packets, 23, See Packets
Communication rate, 26
Components
Accessory Panels, 10
70
E_STALL, 32
E_STALL command, 34
E_STOP, 32
E_STOP command, 34
Emergency STOP, 32
ENABLE comamnd, 25
ENCODER command, 38
ENCODERpac, 38
Encoders, 11
Errors, 24
E-Stop Button, 8
Extended packets, 34
G
Gripper, 42
GRIPPERpac, 42
GRIPREQUEST command, 42
Gyro, 43
Gyroscope (Gyro), 17
Calibration, 55
H
HasGyro, 43
HEAD command, 31
High-speed charger, 12
HOST port, 14
HOST serial port, 9
IDC Connector, 60
IO Packets, 41
IOpac, 41
IOREQUEST command, 41
IP address, 16
JOYDRIVE command, 13
JOYREQUEST command, 42
Joystick, 13, 42
Connector, 64
JOYSTICKpac packet, 42
M
O
Onboard Computer, 15
Networking, 16
OPEN, 25
P
Packet, 23
Packets
Checksum, 24
Configuration, 35
Data types, 23
ENCODERpac, 38
Errors, 24
Extended, 34
GRIPPERpac, 42
I
J
IOpac, 41
JOYSTICKpac, 42
Processing, 35
Protocols, 23
parameters, 47
PID Control, 32
PID parameters, 52
Pioneer 1, 4
Pioneer 2, 4
Pioneer SDK, 4
pioneer-users mailing list, 2
POLLING command, 33
Position integration, 32
Power Connectors, 67
Protocol, 23
PULSE command, 27
PWR LED, 8
Maintenance, 55
Maintenance Mode, 6, 47
Mapper3, 5
Microcontroller, 60
Ports and Connectors, 60
Microfit Connector, 60
MobileEyes, 5, 21
MobileSim, 5
MOGS, 5
Motor-Power Distribution Board, 67
Motors, 11
ENABLE command, 25
MOTORS button, 9
Motors enable, 31
MOVE command, 31
N
Newsgroups, 2
Nose, 10
71
R
Recharger, 11
Repairs, 55, 58
Authorization, 59
RESET button, 9
RevCount, 33, 52
Robot Specifications, 70
RVEL command, 31
S
Safety, iii
Safety Watchdog, 12
SAY command, 38
Serial
Internal ports, 61
SERIAL port, 9, 14
Serial Ports
Auxilliary Serial Ports, 37
Server Information Packets, 26
serverDemo (ArNetworking), 21
Servers
ADSEL, 40
ENCODER, 38
SETA command, 31
SETO command, 33
SETRA command, 31
SETRV command, 31
SETV command, 31
SIP, 26
Software, 4
Software updates, 2
Sonar, 33
Firing rate, 10
Polling rate, 33
Polling sequence, 33
SONAR, 10
SONAR command, 33
Sonar Gain, 10
SONAR_CYCLE command, 33
SONARNL, 5
Sounds, 38
Specifications, 7
StallCount, 53
Stalls, 12
stallval, 12
StallVal, 53
stallwait, 12
STAT LED, 8
subtype, 25
Support, 3
SYNC, 25
T
TCM2 Compass, 38
TCM2 Compass
Calibration, 39
Ticksmm, 52
TicksMM, 33, 53
tires, 11
Tires, 55
Troubleshooting, 21
U
User Control Panel, 8
User I/O, 40
User I/O and Gripper Port, 62
User Power Connectors, 67
V
VEL command, 31
VEL2 command, 31
W
Warranty, 72
watchdog, 12
72
Loading...