1. Samir Menon Avatar Samir Menon
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  3. scl-manips-v2

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Starting page for Chris

Synapticon Stuff

Synapticon provided two packages (and I downloaded a third).

  1. C22-ComECAT-IfmBLDC-XScope : Seems to be some sort of brushless dc (bldc) motor scope over ethercat
  2. SNCN_SOMANET-0.3_MotorCtrl-EC_130318 : Their customized application for our motor control system
  3. SNCN_SOMANET-0.1-EarlyBird : Their generic system with some config files etc. (older)

Setting up Synapticon Ethercat

  • Install EtherCat Synapticon Wiki or Ethercat. Follow the instructions in the INSTALL file.
  • This requires installing the 8139 ethernet driver, which seems to require kernel v3.2. You can remove this requirement by following these instructions
  • You might have to install mercurial and/or autoconf and libtool 
$ sudo apt-get install mercurial mercurial-git autoconf libtool
  • Disable 8139 and use generic driver 
$ ./configure --disable-8139too --enable-generic
  • Now make and install the code. Also update module dependencies. This should install ethercat on your computer. 
$ make all modules
$ sudo make modules_install install
$ sudo depmod
  • After installing the master, you need to edit /etc/sysconfig/ethercat to select which card yould be used and what driver(s) should be loaded.

Setting up XMOS for compiling Synapticon control code

  • XMOS is the chip that Synapticon uses to actually control the motors. It requires xmake, a custom build process. There is a wiki entry on Synapticon's website XMOS Setup.
  • Download the XMOS development environment (basically a hacked Eclipse with some xmos specific compile options)
  • Download the Synapticon Early Bird Release and import SNCN_SOMANET-0.1-EarlyBird/xn_sncn/C22-ComECAT-IfmBLDC-XScope.zip into the XMOS hardware:
    • XMOS -> Help -> Install New Hardware
    • This registers the hardware platform we have
  • The Synapticon code should now compile in the XMOS development environment

Setting up Synapticon modules for control

Synapticon Wiki Shortcuts

Setting up an new controller for Neuroarm

Followed tutorial.

This created scl_chris_ctrl, a new directory for the controller.

Next, update the Cfg file with a specification for what we want to control.

Command line requires 

./<executable> <robot_config_file_name.xml> <robot_name> <controller_name> <app-specific-arguments>

Which is:

$ ./scl_chris_ctrl ../../specs/Neuroarm/Neuroarm_Cfg.xml Neurobot opc -op hand

To-do's

  1. fix obj's Solidworks_to_Blender
  2. Ask Gerald to help fix my controller
  3. play with joint limits
  4. Verify models; fix base orientation; verify measurements
  5. Copy Samir's tutorial on contro Contributed Paper March 1, 2013 June 14, 2013 ller code at Tutorial
  6. Follow tutorial on how to get Eclipse running; so can fix joints together by running controller in Eclipse debug mode (DONE.)

Setting up a robot model

Use the scl_gc_ctrl application to test the kinematics and the config file.

The command line input is: ./<executable> <file_name.xml> <optional: robot_name.xml>

chris@chris-System-Product-Name:/Documents/scl-manips-group.git/applications-linux/scl_gc_ctrl$ ./scl_gc_ctrl ../../specs/Neuroarm/Neuroarm_Cfg.xml

Git notes

git reset HEAD --hard if accidentally delete code... Series for adding files to git:

Navigate to file directory --> git add (filenames, separated by spaces) --> git commit --> Explanation --> ctrl+O, ctrl+x

Check for changes since last git commit:

git diff

Updated