RiSE Platform Notes on Updating the Code

The robot runs a version of Unix known as QNX (which has been tweaked a bit by BDI), so to get code to operate on the robot, it must be compiled for a QNX machine. This can be done on the robot OS, but is VERY slow. So, for this project, we have been able to remotely use a QNX machine at CMU (named bassoon). Generally, the process starts with locally (on a machine in your lab) developing a compilable version of new code on a Linux machine. Then, this code is moved to the CMU QNX machine (either thru CVS or directly) and compiled under QNX. After the code is compiled, the key parts of it are copied to the robot, and your updated code should now be active.
NOTE: There is a nice tutorial on creating a new mode in the RiSE software environment in RiSEHelloWorldTutorial

Main Points:

RoboDevel tree

• Get the latest version or the version you want to build from
• Need a CVS acct on geeveegie to access tree
• Online: http://geeveegie.msl.ri.cmu.edu/rhexcvs/viewcvs.cgi/

Code development (in Linux)

• Write C code
  • Adjust makefile, includes, etc
• Compile project (MAKE)
• Submit changes to CVS or save development files separately

Code compilation (on QNX)

• Need an acct on bassoon (CMU QNX compile machine)
• Get desired code for compilation
  • From CVS
  • Manually copy files to machine
• Compile project (MAKE)

Code moving

• Copy the QNX-compiled code to the robot
• From a Linux machine with the RoboDevel tree
  • Go to the RoboDevel/RiSE directory
  • Use ./upload_all.sh login@machine rise@surise
    • ie. ./upload_all.sh amcclung@bassoon.msl.ri.cmu.edu rise@surise
  • OR upload_sup, upload_config, etc

Modifying a gait

• Use the GaitBuilder Matlab tools to create a new gait
• Copy the gait to the robot
• Insert the gait in the GUI (if its not already there)

-- AMcClung? - 12 Apr 2005