Calibration Module

Current bugs or problems

  • Calibration attempts to call the control module (io) at termination. This feature sometimes do not work. Either fix this bug or remove the feature; since other programs (e.g. Trek) also use the calibration module, the io demo shouldn't be always invoked.
  • A future version will write the calibration parameters into a file which the appropiate programs should read if no arguments are provided when invoked (e.g., io and Trek).

    How to execute this module

    1. Log in to Nomad20
    2. Make sure robotd is running as root in the background. If not, then run the daemon as follows:
      1. Log in as root
      2. cd to /Nomad200/Nomad_robot/robot-linux???
      3. run robotd &
    3. Make sure landmark server is running.
    4. cd to /home/hhg_19/demo
    5. Make sure robot is under a landmark.
    6. Run calibration. Follow directions, and hit return every time the program reports a new localization.
    7. At the end the calibration program will call the io demo. You may break execution at this point if you want. Record the calibration paramters Xh,Yh,Beta.

    Revision history

    1. First version April, 1995.
    2. Fixed a bug regarding steering alignment. July, 1995.
    3. Linux version. January, 1996.

    Ideas for improvement

    1. Generally speaking the calibration program performs well. It is probably the most reliable (and shortest) io module. Some modifications, however, might be done to improve the interface with the user.

    Other comments

    1. Calibration computes the offset of the vertical camera with respect to the robot's turret center, and the angle between the x-axis of the vertical camera and the line of sight of the horizontal one (Xh,Yh,Beta).
    2. At the end of execution the calibration program sends a limp command to the robot's motors. It then asks the user to manually rotate the turret until the horizontal camera is facing a KNOWN absolute direction, which should be then provided to the program via keyboard.
    Hector H. Gonzalez-Banos, hhg@flamingo.stanford.edu
    Last modified: Mon Oct 20 18:12:30 1997