KControl version 0.4.8

This page is about my control and monitor program for the well known Khepera^® robot from the K-Team. It can be used to evaluate algorithms developed in the fields of robotics and artificial life in real time and on a real robot.

Content

1. Program Features
2. Library Features
3. Preview
4. Download

• controls up to 4 Khepera^® robots concurrently
• provides a customizable drawing area
• uses the XForms graphics library to provide comfortable X-programming
• the demo version is able to read a simple neuronal net for controlling purposes, which be created and trained by SNNS
• ideal tool to gain the first experiencs with your brandnew Khepera^® robot

• Displays the internal state of the death reckoning algorithm
• A second view for the visual turret is provided. This view can display the filtered data from the visual turret. One can build up a filter chain with clipping, fourier transform, lowpass and highpass. The ordering of the filter functions can be changed.
• More than one learning algorithms can be executed or trained during a single run of the robot assuming that only one of them is used to control the robot.
• The amount of graphical data beeing displayed by an algorithm can be scaled down or inhibited by the user to prevent a high workload on the controlling host. Furthermore, the data can be saved into a file containing an image or a sequence their of.
• Every algorithm has its own parameter view with sliders and checkboxes. The configuration for an algorithm can be saved and loaded from individual text files to resume a testrun after a break.
• The main controller includes functions for crash detection and supports a two-way scheme to improve the granularity of control. The functionality has been moved into several C⁺⁺ objects to support not only the direct control but also the hybrid mode to be used in future releases.
• Runtime parameters such as the cpu load, update rate, transfer time or command delays over the serial line are calculated in order to help you to interpret the result of a testrun.
• Every algorithm can produce logdata without interfering other running algorithms. The user has control how often a data set of logging information is saved to file.
• The bounds of every slider can be changed at runtime.
• Five different demos are included as programming examples
  • A implementation of a simple light compass demonstrates the use of the canvas.
  • A implementation of the new learning principle homeokinesis developed by Ralf Der.
  • A implementation of an algorithm of competing differential equations (german) This algorithm can help to reduce the errors from dead reckoning and provides additional information about the actual environment of the robot.
  • The controller using a neuronal network (as in the first version of kcontrol).
  • A simple demo to record the trajectory of the robot during a testrun. This trajectory can be used to simulate a virtual run of the robot lateron.

• the interface to the real robot is represented by a single C⁺⁺ object
• the vision turret and the gripper are supported
• the scanned image can be preprocessed by edge detection or fourier transformation algorithms
• the controller can get connected using sockets as well as serial ports and therefore enable the use of a khepera simulator as well as a real robot.
• includes additional functions for turns and movement

• the main window
  containing the sensor displays, the basis control menus, the "hand-operating" section and the list of some run time parameters,
• the drawing canvas
  can display graphical data programmed by the user and
• the parameter views
  containing the sliders and checkboxes needed to fine tune the parameters of the selected algorithms. More than one parameter view can be active at a time for different algorithms.

	The main window
		and a sample desktop with all possible kinds of windows from kcontrol.

Documentation

• The kcontrol manpage
• german documentation about libkhepera library functions
• german documentation about the "competing differential equations algorithm"
  • gzipped postscript file (about 328kByte)
  • latex2html document
• images from some trials with khepera an kcontrol
• my diploma thesis, kcontrol user guide and programming reference in appendix A and B (language german)

Requirements

• installed XForms library version 0.81 or higher
• GNU gcc,tar,install and make
• khepera library written by Thomas Pantzer

kcontrol-package-0.4.8.tgz (about 300 kBytes)

There is also a loader program for serial communications, a serial-to-network forwarder and a simple tcp echo server included in the archive. You have to install the supplied libraries first. Change to the apropriate directory and type

make forcedep

make

make install

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/lib

$HOME/bin/X11/kcontrol

You have to set the jumpers on the khepera to mode 3 (38400 Baud) in order to work with kcontrol. Happy driving with your khepera.

Copyright

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for non-commercial and non-military use and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of the Author not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. The Author makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

maintained by Thomas Pantzer ,
mailto pantec@aix520.informatik.uni-leipzig.de,
PGP public key available