Robotics Environment Simulator basics help needed

[mm777]

Hi there.

Recently I started to introduce myself to LabView Robotics 2011, especially to the Robotics Environment Simulator.

My problem is that i find it a bit difficult to get things work, although i know the very basics of using LabView and had experience with it before. Two of my main questions are below:

1. Is there any tutorial (not example project) which can guide a beginner into R.E.S step-by-step from the very basics?

2. More specific question: I built up an environment containing only one robot (Starter Kit 1.0_R0) with the R.E.S wizzard and now i want it to move forward, so I have implemented the motor drive by some example project that can be found here in the Community site. My problem is that the wheels seems to move (circling) but the robot itself does not move (just stands at its starting position). I experience the same situation on the example projects that i tried to run and use although on their attached youtube presentation i see them working perfectly (e.g. Localization of a Starter Kit 2.0 with Dead Reckoning or Automatic Robot Balance Simulation Example). I simulated without attaching any realted component/hardware to my PC (eg. Robotics Starter Kit or any FPGA since i dont have them). Can you give any advice what the problem is? I attached my project.

Any kind of help is appreciated.

P.S.: sorry for my poor english.

[superjing]

Hi mm777,

I checked your code and ran it on my labtop correctly. Did you change the Kinetic Friction Coefficient.txt under <LV2011>\vi.lib\robotics\Simulator\Interface\Utility\ before? If yes, please run the Kinetic Friction Coefficient Table.vi with "Get default coefficients" operation.

Besides the shipping examples under <LV2011>\examples\robotics\Simulator\, you can also find more here: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/10483

[mm777]

Hi superjing.

I have never changed "Kinetic Friction Coefficient.txt" intentionally for sure (although the examples here i tried to run might did). However, following your advice i ran the Kinetic Friction Coefficient Table.vi with "Get default coefficients" operation simply (made it save to the file too) and even did when my code was running, but i still face the same problem (wheels circling but the robot does not move).

You mentioned that you have run my code "correctly". Does this mean that the robot "moves" on your laptop? Do you have any other idea? By the way thanks for your help.

[superjing]

Yes, I can drive the robot arround with your attachment. Have you tried other simulator examples such as the iRobot under  \examples\robotics\Simulator\? Are you using a localized version of LV 2011? What is your LV installation folder? Does it contain any non-English charactor? What is your OS (default language)? I first guess is that the Kinetic Friction Coefficient.txt is not correctly loaded.

[mm777]

I tried out the iRobot example  that you have mentioned (and many examples before) and i experience the same (robot does not move). I also tried to run this example and my project on another laptop and the problem exists there too. The LV installation folder is default and does not contain any non-English character (nor does the project's path). My PC has Win7 Ultimate 64-bit and the laptop has WinXP 32-bit, both runs with hungarian language. Only standard LV 2011 (vers. 11.0, 32bit) and LV Robotics Module 2011 (vers. 11.0, 32bit) are installed on both.

Would you mind if we communicate real-time? I sent you my addresses via PM to you. If we find the solution, i promise i will note it here too.

[superjing · Accepted solution]

After working with mm777 offline, I found the problem was caused by the default page code of his OS (hungarian language). The simulator fails to parse the Kinetic Friction Coefficient.txt in his case. I will create a bug report for this issue. And I found a workaround for him to avoid loading the txt file and use the constent friction coefficient table instead.

[mm777]

Superjing, i only can repeat myself over and over again: thank you very much! I have never met any operator who is as helpful, cooperative and fast as you.

Best wishes: Mark.

[Jokelnice]

hi, i have the same PROBLEM  , THANKS FOR THE HELP    ... my OS (español language)

[superjing]

Here is a temporary workaround:

1. Close LabVIEW

2. Change “Formats” to "English" in "Region and Language" settings in windows Control Panel.
3. Restart LabVIEW

[Jokelnice]

thank you very much!   worked .....   These data will be useful for my research... thanks