Pioneer 2 User Manual

Page 26

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Quick Start

20

When manually joysticking the robot, each keypress moves the robot forward or backward faster or slower
and incrementally changes its direction. For instance, when turning, it is often useful to push the left- or
right-turn key rapidly several times in a row, because the turn increment is small.

Disconnecting Serial Communications

(intentionally or unintentionally)

When you finish playing with Pioneer 2, pull-down the Saphira client’s Connect

menu with your

mouse and choose the Disconnect option (Figure 4-4).

Figure 4-4. Gracefully disconnect the Saphira client from the Pioneer server

The Pioneer will disengage its drive motors and stop moving automatically, and its sonar should stop firing.
Its LCD also should return to the waiting-state message, and the motors should become disabled. You may
now slide the Pioneer’s Main Power switch to off.

Quickstart Troubleshooting

You must have a valid Saphira license to connect with Pioneer or any other robot. Unlicensed Saphira
clients may only connect with the Pioneer simulator.

Licensed versions of Saphira come with the robot and can be downloaded by Pioneer customers from the
ActivM

EDIA

ROBOTICS support website, http://robots.activmedia.com.

Most problems occur when attempting to connect the Saphira client with the Pioneer server for the first
time. Make sure you have Saphira properly installed and its related SAPHIRA and LD_LIBRARY_PATH
(UNIX/Linux only) environment variables set. It's also a good idea to recheck that the serial cable is
plugged into a working serial port on your computer.

UNIX and Linux users should be sure they have permission to read/write the connection serial port. On the
server side, make sure your radio modem is on, if that is the connection route.

If you access the wrong port, the Saphira demonstration program will complain, "Error opening" the
selected serial port. If the robot server isn't listening, or if the serial link is severed somewhere between the
client and server (cable loose, or a modem off, for instance), the client will attempt to "Syncing 0" six times
and fail with a "Connection refused." In that case, reset the robot and check your serial connections. For

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