Specifically for sending commands and receiving sensor data.
+1
A:
Using what interface? it's not like you plug sensor directly into your mainboard. You will use RS232, USB, or some other interface to communicate to external AD converter, to which in turn a sensor is connected.
This means you need to find out two things:
How to use the interface you'll be using (for example: opening/closing RS port, sending/receiving data over this port)
What commands you need to send to external hardware, and in what format you will receive data.
Mchl
2010-08-07 14:46:47
1. There will be a linux netbook mounted onto the robot and then the sensors will be relayed to a desktop computer to run algorithms on. We will use BSD sockets for communication between the robot and desktop computer. I'm not sure if this answers your question. If not, just let me know.2. We will use TCP commands and UDP for sensing updates. I'm pretty new to this, so once again...if it doesn't answer the question just let me know.
Sterling
2010-08-07 15:05:29
@sterling well, if you are using sockets, the API will be the sockets API, won't it?
anon
2010-08-07 15:30:47
@Neil I think he's looking for a general API or protocol for controlling robots, not just the session-layer protocol...
Uncle Mikey
2010-08-09 16:43:58
@Uncle Mikey, Yes that is right.
Sterling
2010-08-10 01:34:48
That entirely depends on the hardware you're using.
Mchl
2010-08-10 07:32:28
Is the hardware info I gave not enough? Would the robot's manual have the answer? I have looked, but I couldn't really find anything I was convinced was right...if it's in the manual, what topics would I be looking for?
Sterling
2010-08-12 02:31:02
+1
A:
Depending on your hardware and setup you might want to look at the player/stage project. This provides a hardware abstraction layer for many robot platforms and sensors and has both C and C++ clients. It can run distributed across multiple machines so you can do stuff both on the robot netbook and your desktop. This package is used by a large number of robotics researchers and provides support for many common robotics tasks. If it's appropriate it will save you a lot of work and wheel reinvention.
hawesie
2010-08-27 08:22:25