Neato Lidar sensor (XV11) and Arduino

[Todd Enger]

Hi all,

From Camp's generosity, I was able to get a Neato Lidar sensor. I hooked it up the motor and sensor to my Arduino's 5V power supply and then I found online that the orange wire is the TX line.  I hooked that up to my serial Rx pin and then ran some sample code to read the sensor. The motor spun as expected but I never got any output from the sensor. 

Does anyone know if that sensor requires a dedicated 5V power supply?  I tried to power the sensor with a 9V battery but still no data was detected. 

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Todd

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 30, 2016, at 4:41 PM, Mark Womack <mwo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Maisa, I assume you are trying to launch the Arduino IDE? That is going to require a desktop (or an X11 session I guess) to run properly. Can you describe your setup and exactly what you are doing? 

On Dec 30, 2016 2:55 PM, "Griswald Brooks" <griswal...@gmail.com> wrote:

The arduino cli is still linked to the ide, which needs to connect to an X11 session (a screen).

https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues/1981

There is a work around to redirect that, but I never got it to work, 

http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/Headless

though it must work somehow, as there are travis implementations that use it.

https://learn.adafruit.com/continuous-integration-arduino-and-you/testing-your-project

Maybe you can get some leads from this?

On 30 December 2016 at 11:23, Maisa Jazba <maisa...@gmail.com> wrote:

when I typed arduino on the terminal it gave me an error :
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
    at processing.app.Preferences.save(Preferences.java:735)
    at processing.app.Preferences.init(Preferences.java:249)
    at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:117)
Caused by: java.awt.HeadlessException: 

No X11 DISPLAY variable was set, but this program performed an operation which requires it.

    at sun.awt.HeadlessToolkit.getMenuShortcutKeyMask(HeadlessToolkit.java:236)
    at processing.core.PApplet.<clinit>(Unknown Source)
    ... 3 more

I googled about it but no solve for this issue

2016-12-30 20:39 GMT+02:00 Mark Womack <mwo...@gmail.com>:

M,

Did any of that help?  Are you able to pass ROS messages between your Pi and Mega?

-Mark

On Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 4:35 PM, 'Camp Peavy' via HomeBrew Robotics Club <hbrob...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

> Yes sure,I want to make robot do mapping by SLAM.I want to use arduino for low level control(to get the encoders value and determine the speed and velocity)

 

A lot of us have standardized on the Neato Botvac  platform with this ROS package: https://github.com/SV-ROS/intro_to_ros

 

Enjoy,

Camp

On Thursday, December 29, 2016 12:10 PM, Jeffrey Cicolani <jcic...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've been using ros_serial with my Nomad project. With it I've been able to read my sensors and operate servos for the pan-tilt.

Jeffrey Cicolani

President; The Robot Group; http://therobotgroup.org

Chair; Chupacabracon; http://chupacabracon.com

See my most recent geekiness at www.cicolanistudios.com and http://nomadrobot.info

"Power to the people powerful enough to crush the other people" Joss Whedon

"Always be yourself... unless you suck." Joss Whedon

On Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 11:18 AM, M jz <maisa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes sure,I want to make robot do mapping by SLAM.I want to use arduino for low level control(to get the encoders value and determine the speed and velocity)

بتاريخ الأربعاء، 28 ديسمبر، 2016 4:11:34 ص UTC+2، كتب Mark Womack:

Well, one very simple goal is to be able to execute the HelloWorld example from the ros_arduino code.  That will demonstrate that you have everything installed and functioning correctly.  Then you can look at figuring out how to spin wheels.  :-)

1) I am assuming that you have ROS installed on your Pi.

2) I am assuming that you have installed the Arduino IDE.  I installed it on my Pi as well, I have the Ubuntu Mate desktop installed on it, so it makes it easy to run ROS and the Arduino IDE on it.  And it just convenient to have everything to develop with on a single machine (the Pi).  Actual deployment for real usage may differ after the development is done (wait, is it ever really 'done'? ~:0 )

Assuming the above are true, you should follow the instructions here to install the ros_arduino:

http://wiki.ros.org/rosserial_ arduino/Tutorials/Arduino%20ID E%20Setup

I did step 2.1.1 (using 'kinetic' instead of 'indigo' as shown in the example), skipped 2.1.2 (not needed), and then did 2.2.  At the end of that, you should have the ros_lib installed in your Arduino IDE.

At this point, I would connect your Mega to your Pi via a USB cable and make sure you can see it using the Arduino IDE.  Try uploading the basic Blink example to it to make sure you can upload sketches to it.  If you get an error like "Error opening serial port", then see the "Please read" section of this page: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guid e/Linux

So, now you have ROS installed.  You have ros_lib installed on the Arduino IDE.  You have your Mega attached to the Pi.  Now you will want to try out the Hello World ros_arduino example.

http://wiki.ros.org/rosserial_ arduino/Tutorials/Hello%20Worl d

You should be able to open the ros_lib->HelloWorld example in the Arduino IDE.  Upload the code and then try running it per the instruction on the HelloWorld link.

If you can get it the HelloWorld running on the Mega to publish "hellow world!" to ROS running on the Pi, then you are up and running.  You can move onto the Blink example to test out ROS subscribers:

http://wiki.ros.org/rosserial_ arduino/Tutorials/Blink

I hope this helps.

-Mark

On Tue, Dec 27, 2016 at 4:31 PM, 'Camp Peavy' via HomeBrew Robotics Club <hbrob...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

> I have downloaded ROS_arduino_bridge but I do not know what's the next step I must to do.I'm completely confused

 

Do you have a goal in mind? That is to "move wheels" or "monitor sensors"... without a goal it will never make sense.

 

- Camp

On Tuesday, December 27, 2016 1:46 PM, M jz <maisa...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have downloaded ROS_arduino_bridge but I do not know what's the next step I must to do.I'm completely confused 
بتاريخ الثلاثاء، 27 ديسمبر، 2016 1:52:05 ص UTC+2، كتب Griswald Brooks:

ros_serial

On 25 December 2016 at 14:58, Mark Womack <mwo...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have been using ros arduino with a Teensy and I just connected the Teensy to one of the USB ports of the Pi3. I imagine it would be something similar for the Mega? I guess another way would be to connect via the serial connection from the Pi3, but I have not attempted that. 

With the connection using the USB ports, I have been able to run all the ros arduino examples. 

Mark

On Dec 25, 2016 2:09 PM, "Chris Albertson" <alberts...@gmail.com> wrote:

Look here: http://wiki.ros.org/ros_ arduino_bridge

On Sun, Dec 25, 2016 at 9:25 AM, M jz <maisa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I am going to make a robot with Raspberry pi 3 and Arduino mega with ROS, I
> have installed ROS kinetic on both of Pi's and laptop.When I want to connect
> Arduino with Raspberry I stucked over there ,I read that the best way to
> connect them is using USB,but I do not know how to do that?Can any one help
> me?
--

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California

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[Chris Albertson]

Have you seen this?
https://xv11hacking.wikispaces.com/LIDAR+Sensor

The logic needs either 3.3 or 5 volts depending on model. I don't
know if 9 volts would destroy it or not. I would not try it.
The motor needs power too.

On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 5:35 PM, Todd Enger <todd....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> From Camp's generosity, I was able to get a Neato Lidar sensor. I hooked it
> up the motor and sensor to my Arduino's 5V power supply and then I found
> online that the orange wire is the TX line. I hooked that up to my serial
> Rx pin and then ran some sample code to read the sensor. The motor spun as
> expected but I never got any output from the sensor.
>
> Does anyone know if that sensor requires a dedicated 5V power supply? I
> tried to power the sensor with a 9V battery but still no data was detected.
>

[Todd Enger]

Thanks for the info Chris. I did follow that wiki page and the results were the same before I used the 9 V supply and I only powered the motor with it and not the sensor. For the sensor I tried the built-in 3.3 V and the 5V supplies from the Arduino.

Thanks,
Todd

Sent from my iPhone

[James LeRoy]

The motor has to spin between 200-300 RPMs in order to get data, preferably 300.  That typically equates to 3.0v.  

You can find code to control the XV Lidar on my github which uses PWM to control the motor. https://github.com/getSurreal/XV_Lidar_Controller

Thanks,

James

[Chris Albertson]

My understanding was that you have some serial data on power up even
without the motor spinning?

One good debug method is to verify your Arduino app can read serial
data at that baud rate. You need some OTHER device that sends serial
data. See that the Arduino app can read the known-good serial data.
If that words then swap in the LIDAR.

[Todd Enger]

Yeah that was my concern that the arduino's serial port is nonfunctional.

Sent from my iPhone

[Todd Enger]

I also saw ur code online and I had difficulties getting the libraries installed in Arduino. Do you think settings the PWM will ensure that the sensor works?

Thanks,

Todd

Sent from my iPhone

[Jeffrey Cicolani]

What kind of Arduino are you using and how are you viewing the data? The Uno only has one serial port. So, if you're trying to read the data on the serial monitor from your PC and using the TX/RX pins on the Uno you won't get data. If the Uno connects to your serial monitor it is usurping the LIDAR connection.

Jeffrey Cicolani

President; The Robot Group; http://therobotgroup.org

Chair; Chupacabracon; http://chupacabracon.com

See my most recent geekiness at www.cicolanistudios.com and http://nomadrobot.info

"Power to the people powerful enough to crush the other people" Joss Whedon

"Always be yourself... unless you suck." Joss Whedon

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[James LeRoy]

PWM doesn't ensure anything will work.  It just ensures you can maintain a specific RPM.

[James LeRoy]

Good point Jeff! Some Arduino Uno alternatives that it will work with are the Leonardo, Teensy 2.0, Pololu A-Star, or anything with an Atmega 32U4 since you get a rx/tx in addition to the USB.

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[Todd Enger]

Jeff, I have an Arduino Uno. I didn't know that it shared the serial port with the USB port. I also tried the simple serial program and only received random characters when it started. 

I'm ordering a PI3. Is there a way to verify the serial output directly with that platform?

Sent from my iPhone

[Jeffrey Cicolani]

So, the random character thing is just a matter of making sure you're serial monitor is set up at the same baud rate as your Arduino. Whatever value is in your serial start command should be what you use in the serial monitor.

As far as the Pi3, there should be serial pins on the GPIO header. You'll need to look that up. On the Pi B+ UART serial TX and RX are on pins 8 and 10 respectively. Once connected, crack open Python and you're on your way. Mind you, accessing the serial port is a little more complicated than the serial.print() command on the Arduino.

Jeffrey Cicolani

President; The Robot Group; http://therobotgroup.org

Chair; Chupacabracon; http://chupacabracon.com

See my most recent geekiness at www.cicolanistudios.com and http://nomadrobot.info

"Power to the people powerful enough to crush the other people" Joss Whedon

"Always be yourself... unless you suck." Joss Whedon

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[Camp Peavy]

If you put 3v3 on the motor it will (should) spin at ~5Hz and data will (should) start spilling out @ 115200 8n1. I've had success outputting to the xv_11_laser_driver* ROS node through one of those FTDI Smart Cables (3v3 or 5v). Less success with Arduino... I got the header out... these guys make a dedicated board for it: https://github.com/getSurreal/XV_Lidar_Controller

 

Have fun!

Camp

 

* http://wiki.ros.org/xv_11_laser_driver

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[Chris Albertson]

If you only want to read the seal data you can connect the LIDAR to a
normal PC using a serial to USB cable. On a UNIX-like OS you'd just
"cat" the serial device to the terminal

On my iMac I'd type "cat /dev/cu.usbserial" to print whatever is
coming in on that USB serial device. First set the baud rate with
"stty", see stty man page. Note "usbserial" is a stand in for
whatever device name you get based on the brand of cable you buy

I'm guessing you have a Mac based on email headers, it's very close for Linux

[jsam...@pobox.com]

Keep in mind the Pi3 also has a conflict with UART GPIO pins. The Pi3 added a Blutooth interface and they used the same UART pins to talk to it. There are various write-ups on how to disable the Bluetooth so that you can use the UART on the GPIO pins. I haven't actually tried any of this, but I think I got this right.

- Jeff Sampson

[jsam...@pobox.com]

If you use the FTDI cable, you really should use the cable with the 3.3V I/O. The XV-11 has 3.3V I/O that is not 5 V tolerant (according to the spec sheet for the CPU chip that they used). Also keep this is in mind if you connect the XV-11 to any serial interface, make sure it is 3.3V logic or do your own level translation. (A standard Arduino is 5V logic)

And "these guys" (getSurreal) are part of this conversation... I use that board. I like it. But I cut a trace and added a voltage divider so it does not put 5V signal on the XV-11 3.3V input pin. In case I ever want to send data to the XV-11 in the future...

- Jeff Sampson

[Brain Higgins]

Is it possible to get Linux on a Mac?  I have a surreal board with a Lidar. Can't use setup till I get Linux on Mac. Any assistance 

Sent from my iPhone

[Chris Albertson]

My new favorite "Arduino-like" board is the STM32 "minimal system" that is sold all over eBay for about $3 shipped.   Compared to the Arduino Uno it is about one order of magnitude more powerful.  It is a 32-bit ARM that runs at 72 MHz with 64K of flash.   It has USB plus two serial USARTS and over all quite a few more features.   There is a boot loader for it so that it can be programmed using the normal Arduino IDE so it will run Arduino sketches but yo have to change the pin names.   It can also be programmed using "mbed" or eclipse or just plain out gcc in a terminal.

But $3 and 10X better performance with much larger memories and 1/2 the physical size, not bad

Here is a write-up 

http://www.cnx-software.com/....stmicro-stm32-mcu/

If you are up to some more advanced programming, the ARM chips come with a LOT of on-chip peripherals  it might have (say) a half dozen serial parts and several DACs and in general many more then can fit on the pins.  You can map the pperiferals you have to the pins you have so as to expose the features you needsnd if making a PCB to simplify routing but this pin-amping is hard work and different for every ARM chip.   You can also use it just like an Arduino with fixed pin mapping

These are 3 volt devices but do have an on board regulator so you can power them with 5 volts

 "mbed" is an interesting IDE.   It is one step up in complexity from Arduino but MUCH more powerful.  The IDE is web based so you don't need to install it on your computer

The M3 CPU used on these lacks hardware floating point.  I'm still experimenting to see if I need that.

My goal is to use these with ROS Serial and the RTOS provided by mbed.   

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[Chris Albertson]

On Sat, Dec 31, 2016 at 7:56 PM, Brain Higgins <see...@comcast.net> wrote:

Is it possible to get Linux on a Mac?  I have a surreal board with a Lidar. Can't use setup till I get Linux on Mac. Any assistance 

Yes, it is easy.   But Macs already are running UNIX.  Most anything that works in Linux was on a Mac.

The best way to run Linux on a Mac is with a virtual machine.  I use VMware and keep a Ubuntu 16.04 image that I can run. (I also have a Windows XP image)  Mostly I don't need linux but some packages like ROS don't run well enough on Mac OS.  So ROS runs on my Mac under Ubuntu.  It is fast enough on my quad core iMac.

You can also dual boot the Mac but that is nor good because you boot so often and always have the "wrong" os running.

VMware is not free but works well.  VirtualBox is free and also works well.   First download and install VirtualBNox on the Mac then fire up a virtual PC and install the OS (linux or BSD or whatever) just like you would install it on a bare hardware PC.   One difference is that your "virtual DVD drive" can be either the real drive for an image file.  So, no need to burn a CD, just tell Virtual Box that the ISO file is the DVD drive.

Good things about VMWare disk images that are better than real PC hardware is

1) The virtual machine is portable and I can move the entire installation to other host hardware, even VMware running on a Windows 10 host .

2) I can snapshot the virtual machine at some point in time and always get back to a known good state.  I can even recover from a re-formetted virtual disk.

3) a virtual machine is NOT an emulation it runs at native speed 99.9% of the time

I tell people that the only safe way to run Windows is to first install VMware then Windows on that.   The point in time snapshot will recover from "anything" because the snapshot is from Windows point of view done in hardware

Once you have Linux running in a VM you likely want to mount your Mac home directly or part of it on Linux so you can move files by drag and drop to the shared folder