Help!!!!

Offliner

hi i have a serial full kit boe-bot and im doing the project done by phil pilgrim http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/resources/custapps/app_Boe-Dar.asp·and at the end i checked the recieved data from the debug terminal at the Basic Stamp at Com1 and everything seem great and worked on but when i ran the boe-dar.exe file the mapping demo the program didnt intercept any boe-bot at the connection Com1 and also the botplot.exe eventhough i saw all the data coming from there at the debug terminal and seems theres no error !!!!
anyone can help me for correcting this problem, i need that for my graduating project and i want to update it [noparse]:([/noparse]
thanks

Phil Pilgrim

Hi,

Did you remember to close the debug terminal before starting the Boe-Dar app? If the debug terminal is running, it will prevent Boe-Dar from using the same serial port.

-Phil

Offliner

i did close the debug and even the basic stamp AND NOTHING CHANGED!, i dont know how can the pc serial port recieve all the data successfully from the port and view it at the right Com. , but the software isnt working , i feel like that theres no linking between the software and the com1 HELP AGAIN [noparse]:([/noparse]

Phil Pilgrim

Hi,

Make sure the SureLink's baudrate is set to 38400. The original datasheet specified 57600, due to a bug in the SureLink setup software. But this bug has likely been fixed by now.

Also, if there's a file called boe-dar.ini in the same directory as boe-dar.exe, edit it to read:

COM1: 38400

If there is no such file, create one with the above line in it.

Finally, IMPORTANT!!, make sure (using the debug screen) that boe-dar.bs2 is sending a string ending with a digit and not with a non-digit event character when boe-dar.exe starts up. This digit is sent when there are no other events (such as obstacles) being reported. Boe-dar.exe needs this digit to identify the Boe-Bot sending the data and to initialize the port. Otherwise, port initialization will fail.

Please let me know whether this helps or not. If not, please include more information about your system, including which processor and Windows version you're using, along with some output from your debug window.

Regards,
Phil

Offliner

Hi Phil,

I have done all the settings u told me about , the bug i fixed it a week ago as i realized from the note at the documentation and the problem seems to me here that when i start the boe-dar.exe a file called boe-dar.ini is initialized eventhough theres no interception found! . i read from the documents that this file is created once the .exe file find the boe-bot but here the boe bot is not communicating and the file is also created!!

About the digits , theres a 9 digit string sent at the debug terminal the first 8 digits are starting as it shown in the figure in the documents and the last one is set as (1) when theres no obstacle found and (!) when u reset the program , (R) for left obstacle and (G) for right one .

I have checked that manually moving the robot right and left by setting an obstacle at the path , the first 8 digit is changing continuesly and it seems logically .

My operating system is Windows Xp and my processor is Pentuim 4 , 2.8 GHz.

I will send u some of the output at the debug screen today when i get home , cause now i'm in university.

Regards ,
Mohammed

Offliner

Hi Phil,
here is the output from the Com1 ( i took them from software called SimpleTerm GE) :
808000401
808000401
80800040! ====>>RESET BUTTON
8081103D1 ====>> FORWARD
81841F381 .......
82872C2E1 ......
84892C2E1 ........
848931281 .......
848931281 ......
84893128G =====>> RIGHT OBSTACLE
83883A1A1
82883F0B1
82883F0B1
818840031
818840031
81882C2E1
8188EF3D1
8188EF3D1
8188E83B1
8188E83B1
8189083F1
828C173B1
838F1F481
85922C2E1
859225331
859225331
85922533G ======>>> RIGHT OBSTACLE
849131281
839036221
829036221
829036221
82901F381
8290D32E1
8290C9221
8290C9221
8290D32E1
8092E0381
7E95E83B1
7E96EF3D1
7E96EF3D1
7E96EF3DR =====>> LEFT OBSTACLE
7E95083F1
7E94103D1
7E93173B1
7E93173B1
7E9325331
7E9340031
80800040! ========>> RESET BUTTON
808000401 ========>> INITIALIZED

Phil Pilgrim

Hi Mohammed,

I've uploaded a new version of Boe-Dar.exe. I'll message you an address where you can retrieve it. This version gives a little more time to each port during the discovery process. So, hopefully, it will solve your problem. If it works, I'll send Parallax an update. If it doesn't work, I've included a DOS window where debug data is printed. Be sure to save the output in case you have a problem.

Best regards,
Phil

Offliner

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your support , i hope this will solve the problem , and i hope this thread will let the others read your project and learn some new techniques for robotics .


With All Respect,
Mohammed

JSmith

I am also having some trouble with the boe-dar program.· I set everything up as directed, but when I run the program it fails to find a valid signal.· I checked the information being transmitted, and it was mostly foreign language characters and symbols with no line feeds.· I wrote a short program to eliminate as much code as possible:

' {$STAMP BS2}
· BAUD····· CON $4006

· Main:
··· SEROUT 5, BAUD, [noparse][[/noparse]65]
··· DEBUG 65
··· PAUSE 1000
··· GOTO main

When I connect the serial cable directly to the Boebot, the debug window displays "AAA..."
Howeverk, when I connect the cable to the Quicklink demo board, and set the debug window to baudrate 38400, no parity, 8 data bits, and rts enabled, it displays: "ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ..."
If I change the 65 to 64, the debug for the cable connected to the boebot is "@@@@@...", whereas the radio debug is still "ÿÿÿÿ...". Does anyone have suggestions of what I am doing wrong?