(c) 2012 Stefan Wendler sw@kaltpost.de http://gpio.kaltpost.de/

This project is basically a bunch of Python scripts running on the [8devices] (http://8devices.com) Carambola SoC to drive a 4-wheel robot remotely and autonomous.

The script uses [uSherpa] (http://usherpa.org) to communicate with a MSP430G2553 micro-controller connected to the Carambola through the serial line on "/dev/ttyS0". The MSP430 is responsible to operate the motor controller, the pan-servo, the ultrasonic range finder and the wheel encoders.

The Carambola in this setup provides connectivity through its build in WiFi, and thus allows to stream a live video from a web-cam connected to the Carambola USB port. An other reason for the Carambola is, that it is affordable, but strong enough to run Python.

As mentioned before, the purpose of this example setup is to demonstrate how one could "backpack" a micro-controller to a stronger CPU (here the MIPS based Carambola SoC), and easily integrate it through the uSherpa firmware on the micro-controller, and uSherpa Python API on the SoC.

Both, this demo project, and the uSherpa project are currently work in progress, and are far from complete right now.

For more information follow the links below:

• [Carambola] (http://www.8devices.com/)
• [uSherpa web-page] (http://usherpa.org/?page_id=1267)
• [uSherpa firmware at git] (https://github.com/wendlers/usherpa-firmware)
• [uSherpa Python API at git] (https://github.com/wendlers/usherpa-pysherpa)

• bin Some wrapper-scripts to start the robot client/server
• LICENSE The license file
• MANIFEST.in Manifest for distribution
• README.md This README
• setenv.sh Set PYTHONPATH for testing
• setup.py Setup script to install/distribute
• src Sources of this library
• test-src Some test/example sources

• To use the library, the pyserial library has to be installed.
• A MCU (currently the TI Launchpad with MSP430G2553) with uSherpa firmware flashed.

For details see the uSherpa [firmware documentation] (https://github.com/wendlers/usherpa-firmware/tree/master/doc).

see doc/schematic

No installation is needed. The robot client and server could be run directly from the project directory.

From the top-level project directory, start the server with the following command:

./bin/carambot-srv 

This assumes, that the MSP430 is connected to "/dev/ttyS0". If you like to enable remote logging to a client (carambot-cli) running e.g. on IP 192.168.1.2, use the following command:

./bin/carambot-srv -c 192.168.1.2

For a list of all available command line options issue the following:

./bin/carambot-srv -h

To connect the carambot curses client to a server instance, the following has to be issued (if your server runs on IP 192.168.1.3):

./bin/carambot-cli -s 192.168.1.3

For a list of all available command line options issue the following:

./bin/carambot-cli -h