Innovation Days 2009

In this page we explain how we took care of Chico during the Innovation Days 2009 exhibition that occurred in the Feira Internacional de Lisboa from 18 to 20 June 2009. This is also a useful reference for Chico demos in general.

Setup

The demo inventory consists of:

machine	notes	IP address, username
Chico the robot (duh)	has a pc104 CPU in its head	10.10.1.50, icub
icubsrv Dell XPS laptop	don't worry about this machine, just keep it switched on. It contains a hard disk that gets mounted by Chico's read-only CPU at boot time	10.10.1.51, icub
chico3 Tsunami 17" laptop	we will use this machine for YARP and all demo management	10.10.1.53, icub

Below Chico's table, from top to bottom we have:

what	notes	IP address, username
iCubBrain chassis	contains two servers used for computation	10.10.1.41 (icubbrain1), 10.10.1.42 (icubbrain2), icub
Xantrex XFR 35-35	thin power supply unit, to power pc104 and some motors	-
Xantrex XFR 60-46	thick power supply unit, to power most motors	-
APC UPS	uninterruptible power supply	-

Starting YARP components

Launch the graphical Cluster Manager application on the chico3 laptop, by typing this in a terminal:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/default/scripts
  ./icub-cluster.py $ICUB_ROOT/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/scripts/vislab-cluster.xml

yarpserver

Click 'Run' to start yarpserver on chico3. The light above the 'Stop' button will become green.

yarprun

Now we are ready to start 'yarprun' on all the machines we need (necessary for several YARP modules distributed on different machines to communicate with one another). In the 'Select' column, make sure that only the following machines are selected with a red light:

• chico3
• pc104
• icubbrain1

Click 'Run Selected' and wait a bit so that all machines can turn on their green 'On' light. The pc104 can be slow and, sometimes, unpredictable (if it doesn't find the yarpserver, you will need to write the following line into yarp conf: 10.10.1.53 40000).

Do all the selected machines have their 'On/Off' switch green by now? If so, proceed to the next step. If not, click on 'Check All' and see if we have a green light from the pc104 now. You should see something like this:

Other components

Cameras

Note: for the old "./cameras start" method consult Innovation Days 2009/Archive. Following, we will only list the new method based on an Application Manager GUI and XML files.

Open a chico3 console and type:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/default/scripts
  ./manager.py $ICUB_ROOT/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/scripts/cameras_320x240.xml  // or the other resolution

iCubInterface

This program controls all of Chico hardware (except cameras). In practice, all demos assume that iCubInterface is already running in the background.

To start iCubInterface, unlock the red button switch and type this on a pc104 console:

  iCubInterface --config $ICUB_ROOT/app/iCubLisboa01/conf/icubSafe.ini

and wait for all boards to answer (which takes around 1 minute); after that, you are ready to move on.

To stop iCubInterface, type ctrl+c once. Chico will thus move its limbs and head to a "parking" position. (If things don't quit gracefully, hit ctrl+c more times and be ready to hold Chico's forehead since the head may fall to the front.)

Before every demo

• Check that the UPS is on
• Turn on icubsrv (Dell XPS laptop)
• Turn on chico3 (Tsunami 17" laptop), which we will use to actually control the demos
• Turn on the Xantrex power supply units
• Turn on the green switches behind Chico
  • Safety hint: first turn on the pc104 CPU switch, wait for it to be alive and only then switch the motors on
  • Another safety hint: wait for the four purple lights on each board to turn off and become two blue lights – at this pointy you can start iCubInterface
• Start the needed YARP components with the GUI: one instance of yarpserver and all necessary instances of yarprun, one per machine
• Depending on which demo you want to execute, you will probably need to start iCubInterface and the cameras (this is explained below, in every demo subsection)
• Depending on your demo, you might need to power up icubbrain1 (left half of server chassis) and/or icubbrain2 (right half)

Yoga demo

• Run iCubInterface on the pc104
• On any machine, type:

  iCubDemoY3 --config /app/demoy3/fullBody.txt

Facial expressions

• Start the facial expression driver on the pc104:

  cd $ICUB_DIR/app/faceExpressions/scripts
  ./emotions.sh $ICUB_DIR/app/iCubLisboa01/conf

• Start the facial expression demo by typing one of these two sequences on any machine:

  $ICUB_DIR/app/faceExpressions/scripts/cycle.sh

or

  yarp rpc /icub/face/emotions/in
  set all hap // full face happy
  set all sad // full face sad
  set all ang // full face angry
  set all neu // full face neutral
  set mou sur // mouth surprised
  set eli evi // eyelids evil
  set leb shy // left eyebrow shy
  set reb cun // right eyebrow cunning
  set all ta1 // mouth talking position 1 (mouth closed)
  set all ta2 // mouth talking position 2 (mouth open)

Ball tracking and reaching demo

Note: for the old (manual) method, see Innovation Days 2009/Archive. Here we report the new method based on the Application Manager GUI and an XML file.

This demo uses the left eye and the right arm of Chico. Assumption: left eye is running at a resolution of 320x240 pixels. Attention: make sure that the launcher uses icubbrain2 (32bit) or any of the 32-bit Cortexes for the kinematics computation.

These dependencies will be checked by the GUI:

• cameras are running
• iCubInterface is running

You need to set the color parameters of the camera using the framegrabberGui (left eye) to the following. Be careful, though, that the first time that you move any slider the action typically does not work. You have to move the slider first to a random position and then to the desired one.

 brightness 0
 sharpness 0.5
 white balance red 0.474
 white balance blue 0.648 
 hue 0.482
 saturation 0.826
 gamma 0.400
 shutter 0.592
 gain 0.305

On chico3 type:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/default/scripts
  ./manager.py $ICUB_ROOT/app/demoReach_IIT_ISR/scripts/isr/demoReach_IIT_ISR_RightHand.xml

Notes:

• the aforementioned XML file configures a system that moves the head and right arm of the robot. There exist also an XML file for moving juste the head and the left hand (demoReach_IIT_ISR_LeftHand.xml), one which moves just the head (demoReach_IIT_ISR_NoHand.xml) and one which only starts the tracker, so it moves nothing (demoReach_IIT_ISR_JustTracker.xml).
• you still need to set the camera parameters using framegrabberGui, we're trying to make that automatic.

Pausing the Ball Following demo

You can do this by disconnecting two ports (and connecting them again when you want to resume the demo).

Note that this will only stop the positions from being sent to the inverse kinematics module (and thus, almost always, it will stop the robot). The rest of the processes (e.g., the tracker) will keep running.

• Pause (from any machine)

  yarp disconnect /icub/LeftEyeToRoot/ballPositionOut /iKinArmCtrl/right_arm/xd:i

• Resume (from any machine)

  yarp connect /icub/LeftEyeToRoot/ballPositionOut /iKinArmCtrl/right_arm/xd:i

Quitting the Ball Following demo

• Disconnect all ports. Careful: this will stop the robot.

  cd 13.FIL
  ./7.disconnect_all.sh

• Quit/Kill the processes of the demo, in any order.

SIFT Object Detection and Tracking demo

Ignore this for now, as some libraries are not compiling. [controlGaze2 COMPILATION TO BE FIXED ON THE SERVERS - PROBLEMS WITH EGOSPHERELIB_LIBRARIES and PREDICTORS_LIBRARIES]

Assumptions:

• cameras are running
• iCubInterface is running at /icub/head (in order to read encoder values)

On any machine, run:

  $ICUB_ROOT/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/scripts/controlGazeManual.sh
  $ICUB_ROOT/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/scripts/attentionObjects/noEgoSetup/CalibBothStart.sh

On any machine (preferably one of the icubbrains, at this task is computationally heavy) type:

  $ICUB_DIR/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/scripts/attentionObjects/noEgoSetup/startSiftObjectRepresentation.sh

If you want to change the configuration, do:

  nano -w $ICUB_DIR/app/$ICUB_ROBOTNAME/conf/icubEyes.ini

Attention system demo

Assumptions:

• /icub/cam/right is running at 320x240 pixels
• iCubInterface is running at /icub/head

Please note: we will run all the modules of this demo on icubbrain1 (64bit), unless specified differently.

Start the following module:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts
  ./camCalibRightManual.sh

Then:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts/
  ./salienceRightManual.sh

Then:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts
  ./egoSphereManual.sh

Then:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts
  ./attentionSelectionManual.sh

Then:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts/
  ./controlGazeManual.sh

And finally, but this time on chico3:

  cd $ICUB_ROOT/app/attentionDistributed/scripts
  ./appGui.sh

Press 'check all ports and connections', followed by pressing '>>' buttons (becoming green), in all the tabs of the GUI.

Now, in the 'Salience Right' tab of the GUI, press 'Initialize interface' and move the thresholds a bit (e.g., the 'intensity' one).