Getting started
From Player
Some steps to make your robots take over:
Contents |
Plan what you need to develop
Does player support your hardware? You can find the answer in the List of supported devices.
- If your hardware is supported you can continue with the next question.
- If your hardware is not supported, you need to develop drivers for your hardware. Contributing it back to Player's developers is what made Player so successful.
Does your robot already have Player?
Surely Player is not installed in your robot by default, at least commercial robots don't have Player by default. So, you have to install and configure it. The information about downloading and installing Player can be found in the Download page.
Does your robot support Player?
Player works with Linux *BSD and Solaris.
- If your robot already have one of them, you can go to the Download page for instructions about installing Player on your platform
- If your robot don't have any of them or the supplied OS is not suitable for Player you will need to install a OS on your own (if you attach a laptop to a robot, this step should be easy) or download the Robot OS system.
Do you want to work in a simulated environment?
To work in a simulation environment you need Player. You also need Stage for 2D simulation or Gazebo for 3D simulation. Go to the Download page for instructions.
If your robot is totally different to any simulation model of those environments you will need to write a simulation model by yourself.
What programming language will you use?
Player distribution support C, C++ and Python. If you won't use any of these languages, you'll need to install third parties bindings, see the client libraries page for details.
Install everything you need
The next step is install everything you need. See the Download page for details. Player will be installed on the robot or on a computer attached to the robot.
The controlling programs can be created, compiled and installed on any computer, the same computer that has the player server or any other. The server and the controlling program will talk over a network thanks to the TCP/IP protocol.
Testing
Before going on with your fancy application, it may be wise to test that everything is working. The Player distribution comes with a program called playerv. This is a graphic program that allows control over a robot in a very simple way. At this stage you can both test player on the real robot or in a simulator. The instructions for Player and Stage can be found on the Quick start page of the Player manual.
The instructions for Player working with Gazebo can be found in this page of the Gazebo manual.
After checking that you can suscribe (connect to) to any device and control the robot devices, move it around, etc. It is time for your first program.
Write the configuration files
The first step required to work with Player is write its configuration file. The Player project software comes with a good number of examples. Configurations for a lot of common robots in Player (in the config subdirectory), some world files and Player configurations in Stage (worlds subdirectory) and lots of world files with almost every model supported in Gazebo (worlds subdirectory). These examples are known to work.
You can use these files to test your installation, also, the simplest way to write a configuration file is modify an existing one.
You will need to modify the some values or maybe even write your own file, the syntax is simple enough for both cases. For more information read the Writing configuration files tutorial
Your own program
Now is time to do something useful with your robot.
The easiest way to develop a program for Player is using the client libraries of the language best suits you. To know more about how to program an application for the Player server, see the Manual for player.
