Programming Tips

From Team1370

Note: This is actually a "getting started with the professional method" guide.

There are easier ways to program your robot controller, including Easy C (new for 2006), however, I am far more familiar with the classic, more complicated method using MPLab IDE. This perhaps more complicated system is the one which I desribe below, but do consider that there are other options and other tutorials available on the web. Of course, I suggest the following method. -Pierce Lopez

Collecting Your Tools

The system I use requires the use of a few different tools which work together (more or less). Here's what you'll need:

• A Laptop running Windows A laptop will make connecting to the robot immeasurably easier and more convenient, and most tools I use are only available for windows, and have no counterparts for other OSs (unfortunately).
• ... with a serial port. You're laptop might already have one, it's like a rounded-corner trapeziod with two rows of pin-holes. My newer laptop does not have one, so I got a usb-serial adapter cable for $40 at RadioShack.
• MPLAB IDE v7.20 Newer versions don't work, according to the source code documentation. Download this version here.
• MPLAB C18 Compiler Student Edition v2.40 Newer versions of this will apparently not work either, and this older version is pretty difficult to find online. I found a download link for it here. If that link doesn't still work, search for it.
• IFI_Loader v1.0.12 Can be found at the bottom of this page. But don't get the robot default code from there, if you intend to use the camera with your robot, as we will in this guide.
• The Default Robot+Camera Code Download "frc_camera.zip", the "bells-and-whistles version", from this page.
• CMUcam2_workbook.pdf This document contains very useful diagrams and specific sets of instructions which I'll reference, get it on the same page as the robot code.
• puTTY For later, when we're sending adjustment commands to the camera. You just need "putty.exe", get it here.
• COM/Telnet Bridge For use with puTTY, get the "tsb.exe" package from this page.

Getting it all set up

That was a lot of stuff to download, now let's get it set up.

1. Install MPLAB IDE: Extract the files from the zip file you downloaded into a folder, and run "MPLAB v270 Install". You don't need to install support for any fancy debuggers or devices which are mentioned, we just need the basic program.
2. Install MPLAB C18: Extract the installer from the zip file you downloaded and run it. During the install process, select the option which register the C18 compiler and linker with MPLAB IDE, but you don't need to select the options which "Add the compiler/linker/etc. to the system path." You should almost definitely install C18 to the default location, to prevent headaches later, and save som configuration work.
3. Install IFI_Loader: Extract the folder from the zip file, and run "setup.exe".
4. Unzip the code: You need to put the folder which contains the code close to the root of your drive; in simpler terms, just extract the frc_camera folder from frc_camera.zip right to your C: drive, so the files it contains are in C:\\frc_camera\\(files here). (You need to do this because the C18 compiler simply can't handle a long directory name.)
5. Start MPLAB IDE (you can do this by clicking the icon that has been created on your desktop). Click on the Project menu along the top, and click Open... in the menu shown. Browse to the folder you just put the code in, which might be C:\\frc-camera\ (if you can't find it, click the icon with folder with the up-arrow until you see your C: drive, and go from there). Only one file should be shown in the window, camera.mcp, so select it and open it. You will have to reopen this project file every time you start MPLAB IDE. A couple of windows should have opened, including at least a long list of files on the left side. If this hasn't happend, something might have gone wrong already.
6. Now click the Project menu, click the Build Options... submenu, and click Project at the bottom of that submenu. In the window which appears, make sure that Include Path is set to C:\\mcc18\\h, and Library Path is set to C:\\mcc18\\lib. If you installed MPLAB C18 to the default location, everything should be set. (If you changed the install location of C18, you'll have to change these settings, as well as those under Project/Set Language Tool Locations)
7. Now click the Project menu, and click Build All. If a window titled Output pops up and Build Succeeded eventually appears at the bottom of the text there, the default code just compiled, and your coding environment is fully set up! If not, try to figure out what went wrong before continuing.
8. Now we're going to set up some of the other little tools which we'll use later.
   1. Create a folder you'll put the last two little utilities in, for example a folder Robot Tools/ on your desktop. Open the tsb.zip archive you downloaded, and put the folder tsb it contains, or all the files, into the folder you created.
   2. Open example.bat, which came in the tsb archive, with Notepad (a plain text editing tool found in the Accessories submenu of the Start menu). In the very last line of the file, change the number 9600 to 115200. Also, if the com port you'll be using to communicate with the robot isn't COM1, you'll need to change the lone zero in that last line to the number of the COM port you plan to use, minus one. That's why COM1 is represented by the 0.
   3. Also put putty.exe into that folder you created, possibly called Robot Tools/, possibly located on your desktop.
   4. Now, click on putty.exe with the right mouse button, hold it down, drag it over the desktop, and release. Click Create shortcut in the menu which pops up next to your pointer when you do this.
   5. Do the same right click drag / create shortcut operation to example.bat in the tsb folder.

We'll use these last couple of programs to communicate with our robot while it's running, mainly to view messages which will help you to diagnose problems, and to adjust the camera settings.

Setting up the Robot and Connecting

in progress