WebbotLib Gait Designer

[Webbot]

what I meant was - you can click the Disconnect button to disconnect from the robot but leave Gait Designer running. ie seems odd to have GaitDesigner on your PC constantly sending serial commands to make your humanoid walk whilst you are off looking at the internet, doing emails etc.

I've been doing Java for about 8 years and programming for 30 years. But always willing to learn!

[klims]

Fair comment. I meant to put more emphasis on the general sluggishness of the system when connected. For example if I forget to disconnect when I save my system locks up for about 30 seconds.

[Admin]

Got a Dell Inspiron 9400 running, at 1.6GHz (if I remember right) and 4gb RAM, on XP. 30% gets used as soon as I load up a project file. No problem at all on my work PC, also XP.

Tried it on my work computer . . . loaded up board designer and java was using like 1% . . . created a new board file, still 1%. Then I dragged over an image and it shoots up to like 20%. I haven't even declared any pins on it yet . . . If I let it be for ~10 minutes it'll slowly go down to ~5%. Odd . . .

[Webbot]

As of version 1.22 of WebbotLib then you can now export your gait from Gait Designer and use it in your stand alone robot.

[klims]

I'm having some trouble getting gaits to play on my robot.

In the output file there is a reference to GaitPlayer.h but this does not exist in the Gait folder. Did you mean GaitRunner.h?

I'm not sure if my problem is caused by the fact that I have a servo controller. When I set up everything as you describe in the documentation I don't even get a flashing light on my servo controller telling me data is getting to it.

I have attached my code so you can hopefully point out what I have so obviously done wrong 

[Webbot]

In the output file there is a reference to GaitPlayer.h but this does not exist in the Gait folder. Did you mean GaitRunner.h?

Ooops my mistake - it should be GaitRunner.h

The baud rate of 115385 for talking to your servo controller looks like a strange figure. 115200 is more of a standard baud rate - but check the datasheet for your controller to see what it expects and do not use auto baud detection.
If you dont think that the servo controller is being sent anything then try connecting it to Hyperterminal instead.

In your main loop you are always calling gaitRunnerPlay which will reset it to the first frame of the animation - so you wont get any movement. You can use the gaitRunnerIsPlaying call to see if there is a current active animation. Alternatively if you just want the robot to make one loop of the animation and then stop then you could just move your gaitRunnerPlay to the end of the appInitSoftware so that it is only called once. Your main loop then just calls gaitRunnerProcess to keep the animation frames being sent out until the animation loop comes to an end.

[klims]

The baud rate of 115385 for talking to your servo controller looks like a strange figure.

Yeah it's a strange number, but my servo controller seems to round the baud rate of 115200 to 115385. I figured since I can't change it in the servo controller I may as well match it on my Axon.

Thanks for the help. I'll give it a go tonight.

Are you taking usability feedback for the Gait Designer at this stage? I have been using it a fair bit lately and have some suggestions that I think would make it easier to use.

[Webbot]

Are you taking usability feedback for the Gait Designer at this stage? I have been using it a fair bit lately and have some suggestions that I think would make it easier to use.

Yes I am - but I would prefer it via a PM/email so as not to confuse folk trying to use what is already there. Equally I value comments more from people who have used it versus those just giving a random opinion via a forum post. ie dont want to spend ages adding functionality suggested by people who don't even use it in practice.

In the longer term I want to add that sort of feedback to my own website so that SoR can just concentrate on any implementation issues with the current functionality/release.

[klims]

Thought I needed to post a short video of my accomplishments so far using webbot's gaitDesigner, gaitRunner and soon to be released delta function for dynamically adjusting servos in real time.

video 2010 07 31 19 36 37

It may not look like much but this is a HUGE leap forward in being able to dynamically stabilize a biped in real time.
What you are seeing is my robot running its default 'home' motion waiting for another motion to be called.
All the work of managing motions and reading sensors is being done in the background using the webbotlib scheduler so there is no messy code to play motions. All I need is one line to ask for a new motion to be played and it happens in the background.

The feedback the robot is getting is only from an accelerometer, meaning the data is only really useful to measure slopes or when my robot has fallen over. My gyro is busted so it will be a little while yet till I have full dynamic stability control on my biped :-D

Edit: I'm holding an accelerometer in my hand which is directly influencing the angle of the ankle joint, which will make my robot always stand upright.

[kjleitz]

Sorry to revive this old topic, but I believe that the file in the first post (http://webbot.org.uk/webbotlib/GaitDesignerAxon.hex) is an out-of-date URL. Is there a new location for this hex file?

[Webbot]

Sorry to revive this old topic, but I believe that the file in the first post (http://webbot.org.uk/webbotlib/GaitDesignerAxon.hex) is an out-of-date URL. Is there a new location for this hex file?

Briefly 'No' - if you read that original post then the .hex file was something to play with before the Gait stuff was released in WebbotLib. Since its now been released for ages then you can create your own hex files with the number of servos you see fit and on whatever ports you see fit. It was just a 'taster'.