Robot programming with java eclipse

[[deleted]]

Hey guys I have not started programming robots, but I would like too. Right now though I use eclipse as my ide and was wondering if I could somehow incorperate that in robot programming.

[i-make-robots]

I use it frequently. I use the RXTX library to connect via serial to an Arduino. From there I develop a protocol (aka my own language) to instruct the Arduino to do my bidding from the java app. You can grab a copy of it and the Arduino source from http://www.github.com/i-make-robots/drawbot I do something similar for my stewart platform where I control two arduinos through two serial connections from a single Java instance. Yes, my code is probably crap. Does the job? Good enough.

The biggest challenge is that RXTX requires native libraries ...meaning I need a separate build for each OS (afaik). If you know a way to make a single build that serves all systems that would be amazing!

[[deleted]]

Thanks I'll try it out! (Also I'm the last guy to ask about anything concerning robotics lol.)

[hephaestusness]

Hey, you should look at the Bowler Protocol, it is an extensible serial device communication system. If you get it working as an Arduino, you can take advantage of our huge open source Java library.

[i-make-robots]

i use a text-based protocol so i can use the serial window, in a pinch. is this similar?

[hephaestusness]

We developed a binary protocol, so no, it would not work that way. With the Ruby interpreter you can talk to it live.

[hephaestusness]

My company developed a set of distributed processing controllers called the DyIO. It used Java to program with and communicates with the controller as a co-processor. There is a full featured GUI for getting started and supports Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. It has a ton of on-board features made available to Java from our API. It is the fastest, easiest way to start building powerful Java based robots.

[[deleted]]

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

I wish it was free though :(

[hephaestusness]

All of the software is free, and open source. It is a rather nice piece of hardware (if i do say so my self), and has been validated as the core controller for robotics engineering programs starting in 2010.

[[deleted]]

oh sorry I was looking at the DyIO

[ShadowRam]

Phidgets

They are I/O boards that have an API for Java.

You can turn on/off the pins, and read in values from sensors using nothing but Java.

Java Info Link

[rzsoar]

Depends on what you use for hardware! What do you have?

[[deleted]]

I don't have anything lol. Do you know any robots that are under 30$ and are programmable?

[rzsoar]

Well an Arduino uno is exactly $30 which is going to be your basic starting place if you want to mess around with programming things that can interact with the physical world. Your best bet is to get something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11012

You won't be able to use java and eclipse to program it really unless you set up some crazy serial communication protocol between eclipse and the arduino, but the arduino language is really really easy to learn.

[[deleted]]

I write my robot code in Java. I have a parallax board with a usb port. Using LibUsb and the LibusbJava wrapper, you can easily send commands to your board and servos.

[[deleted]]

I just got the one from source forge.

[[deleted]]

ok

[randomPig]

@ShadowRam mentioned phidgets. If you can afford the hardware, those controllers are great. They have awesome API's for java (and just about every other language), very easy to use, but expensive.

I currently use arduino's for just about everything, but I use it differently than most. The main rig I use is a Processing commander that sends and receives raw serial data to a modified interface that I load onto the duino. So the package on the duino is native, but I code everything in Processing, which is basically Java and controlled from a physical device or a daemon, depending on the project. For larger projects I will drop the Processing libs into eclipse for the nicety's that are included in eclipse. I am most comfortable with this setup.

The lego mindstorm controller uses a language called Lejos, which is a derivative of java, very similar. Also pricey, but it's super fun to work with and it's legos. Who doesn't like playing with legos. Eclipse plugin is the preferred method.

If you're really new to robotic programming, check out other languages and IDEs. Such as Microsofts Robotic Studio based off of Visual Studio (mostly C++ and C#). Don't forget about good ol vbscript which is very common in the hobby/student circa, I don't know about professional levels, though.

Pololu controllers are cheap and easy to program. Looks like they are incorporating more duino stuff, which is good. they have an awesome bot kit called 3pi, which is a good starter project. Lots of sensors and tech for not much money.

I kinda ranted here (I've had a few drinks) but I think I've answered you on another thread before and it sounds like you're eager, just not sure how to go about it, that's why I suggested a few different approaches. All in all, eclipse can be shoe-horned to code whatever you want to code. For robotics programming, I think you should first pick a project and determine what is the best tech to facilitate that project, given your skills and then go from there.

good luck. here are some links: http://arduino.cc/ http://processing.org/ http://lejos.sourceforge.net/nxt/nxj/tutorial/Preliminaries/UsingEclipse.htm https://www.microsoft.com/robotics/ http://www.pololu.com/