TeamBots^TM Application: JCye

Welcome to the JCye information page. This documentation is also included with the TeamBots and JCye distribution in JCye/index.html .
• Jump to the JCyeSrv API documentation .
• Download the latest JCye-only release (Jan 7, 2000).
• Download the entire TeamBots release (includes JCye).

In this document:

• Introduction
• Installing
• Using JCye
• On the horizon
• Bugs
• Troubleshooting
• Getting Help
• Website

We have developed open source Java software for controlling a Cye robot. The software release is composed of two parts, the EDU.cmu.cs.coral.cye package (a Java library) and several example programs that use it. This software was developed at CMU as part of the Minnow project by Brian Chemel.

The software has been tested on Linux and Windows 9x machines. We expect it to work on all of these platforms:

• AIX
• HP UX
• OS2
• Solaris SPARC
• Solaris x86
• BSD
• Irix
• Linux
• MacOS
• Windows 9x
• Windows NT

Follow these instructions to install the cye package and JCye applications on your computer. You can follow these same instructions to install the entire TeamBots distribution as well.
1. Required software: make sure you have Java 1.1 or later installed on your computer. The distribution will not run with earlier versions. If you have Java, but aren't sure of the version, type "java -version". You also need unzip to unpack the distribution. You will need gmake if you want to modify and recompile using the included makefiles.

2. Make a directory for the distribution (we'll call it tb).

3. Put the distribution (JCye.zip or TeamBots.zip) in the directory.

4. unzip JCye.zip (or TeamBots.zip).

5. Set your CLASSPATH environment variable to point to the directory where you unzipped the distribution and to the libraries that implement serial communication. So, for example, if you installed the distribution in /home/you/java and you use csh you would set CLASSPATH with the following commands:

   	setenv CLASSPATH /home/you/tb:.
   	setenv CLASSPATH ${CLASSPATH}:/home/you/tb/lib/collections.jar
   	setenv CLASSPATH ${CLASSPATH}:/home/you/tb/lib/Serialio/Serialio.jar
   	setenv CLASSPATH ${CLASSPATH}:/home/you/tb/lib/Serialio/jspComm.jar
           

   Be sure the include the ".", it is important.

   Other shells and/or operating systems use similar commands to set the CLASSPATH. In Windows you can set the CLASSPATH by editing your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file as follows:

   	set CLASSPATH=C:\tb;.;C:\tb\lib\collections.jar;C:\tb\lib\Serialio\Serialio.jar;\tb\lib\Serialio\jspComm.jar
           

   If you are using a JVM other than Sun's you may need to use some other mechanism to tell it about your CLASSPATH.

6. Set up the serial libraries. To access your computer's serial port JCye uses a commerial machine independent serial I/O package. This package is included with JCye and TeamBots in the the Serialio subdirectory. Here are instructions for each of the OSs we have tested on:
   • Windows 9x: copy the contents of Serialio\Lib\Win32 to the Windows\System directory.
   • Windows NT: copy the contents of Serialio\Lib\Win32 to the Winnt\System32 directory.
   • Linux: setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/you/tb/lib/Serialio/Lib/Linux
   • Other OS: consult the Serialio installation notes. Please let us know of your success so we add a description here.

7. Try some of the JCye programs. They are in the JCye directory. See instructions on "Using JCye" below for more info.

First, download and install the distribution (instructions above). If you are using Windows, we suggest you first make sure your Cye works properly with the Map-N-Zap software provided by Probotics. That will ensure you have all of the physical and radio connections working properly.

To start experimenting with JCye, edit one of the programs; JCyePWM.java is a good start. All user-level commands are implemented by the JCyeSrv class, that is your interface to control of the robot. Look for the code at the begining that establishes a connection to the robot:

/*--- initiate connection to robot ---*/
JCyeSrv Srv = new JCyeSrv(
       "COM1",                // the device to communicate with
       19200,                 // baud rate (9600 or 19200)
       JCyeComm.NEW_RADIO,    // connection is WIRED, NEW_RADIO or OLD_RADIO
       JCyeComm.BLACK_ROBOT); // robot ID, depends on color

The example above would be typical for a Windows configuration with a recently purchased robot.

You need to edit this call to reflect the configuration of your robot and computer. The first argument is the name of the serial line device your robot is plugged into on your computer. /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 is typical for a Linux box. COM1 or COM2 (no colon) would be standard on a Windows machine.

The second argument sets the baud rate for communication. All Cyes now being sold (on or after December 1999) use 19200.

The third argument depends on whether your Cye is wired directly to your computer (unusual) or if it uses a radio connection (standard). Use JCyeComm.WIRED, JCyeComm.NEW_RADIO or JCyeComm.OLD_RADIO as appropriate. For RADIO connections several pauses are inserted into the transmitt and receive procedures to ensure the radios have time to warm up.

Finally you need to set the ID for your robot. This depends on the color of your robot, as follows: JCyeComm.ORIGINAL_ROBOT (for older robots using 9600 baud radios), JCyeComm.BLACK_ROBOT (for newer black robots), JCyeComm.ORANGE_ROBOT (for newer orange robots), JCyeComm.YELLOW_ROBOT (for newer yellow robots), or JCyeComm.CHROME_ROBOT (for newer chrome robots).

You are now ready to compile and test the program:

javac JCyePWM.java
java JCyePWM 100 100

If everything worked, your robot should beep and start moving slowly. You should also see text like this:

java JCyePWM 100 100
Serialio.SerialPortLocal: version 6.6b
Copyright (c) 1996,1999 Solutions Consulting, All Rights Reserved.
SerialPort class loaded: jspLux86
Last X: 483.94221541452254
Last Y: -37.45327560447702
Last H: 5.459871370376744
Last B: 11.54224

Last X: 484.59785262422895
Last Y: -38.1089128141834
Last H: 5.45445483131883
Last B: 11.58062

Last X: 484.76176192665554
Last Y: -38.354776767823296
Last H: 5.45445483131883
Last B: 11.59981

X and Y are the current location of the robot, H is the heading and B is the battery voltage. Take a look at the other example programs in the JCye directory, and the cye package documentation. Pay particular attention to the JCyeSrv class. Enjoy.

You might be interested in our TeamBots Cye simulation. The API to this simulated robot is slightly different from the interface to the real Cye robot provided in the cye package. Our next project is to implement the TeamBots API for the real cye robot. This way the same code can run in simulation and on mobile robots.

• Windows
  • Error message "Sent only 16 of 17 bytes" is printed out occasionally. For some reason the serial code on Windows boxes reports this problem occasionally. We don't yet know what causes this or if it is a significant issue.
• Linux
  No bugs reported yet.

Before attempting to troubleshoot TeamBots, make sure your computer is turned on. If that does not solve the problem, try this set of common solutions:

1. If you get the error message:

          Can't find class forage
   

   or something similar when you try to run the demos, your CLASSPATH probably does not include "." Try Step 5 of the installation again.

2. If you get the error message:

          java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: TBSim/SimulationCanvas
                  at TBSim.TBSim.(TBSim.java:79)
                  at TBSim.TBSim.main(TBSim.java:199)
   

   Your CLASSPATH may not point properly to the /home/you/java directory. Try Step 5 of the installation again.

3. If you get the error message:

          error:  zipfile probably corrupt
   

   while trying to unzip the distribution, you probably either got a bad copy while downloading, or your version of unzip is too old. Unzip v5.12 works properly while v5.1 has been known to complain, but still unpack the distribution. The distribution was compressed with Zip v2.1, please let me know if you have this problem.

4. If you get the error message:

          Can't find class TBSim.TBSim
   

   then your CLASSPATH probably doesn't point properly to the /home/you/java directory. Try Step 5 of the installation again.

5. If you get the error message:

          java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: TBSim/SimulationCanvas
                  at TBSim.TBSim.(TBSim.java:79)
                  at TBSim.TBSim.main(TBSim.java:199)
   

   Your CLASSPATH may not point properly to the /home/you/java directory. Try Step 5 of the installation again.

   This might also be caused by a corrupted download or unzip operation. Try getting a new copy of the distribution from the webpage or just unzipping again. You may have unzipped with the "-a" option, try it without.

6. If you get the error message:

          Unable to initialize threads: cannot find class java/lang/Thread
   

   then you are probably running Java 1.0.2 instead of Java 1.1.
   You can check that by typing "java -version".

7. If you get the error message:

          ./demo: java: not found
   

   make sure java is in your PATH somewhere, and that Java 1.1 is installed on your system.

8. If the program runs but the source code looks like gibberish, try unzipping again using the -a option (Step 4). This option may not be available on older versions of unzip or on WinZip. I suggest you get the real unzip.

9. Finally, try typing the contents of the demo file directly as a command line:

          java TBSim robocup.dsc 511 300
   

If you have any problems, please checkout the teambots-developer email list archives. If you don't find your answer there, subscribe and post a message. Another good resource is Probotic's forum.

The official TeamBots website address is http://www.teambots.org.