Installation Instructions for "iRobot Create" Version

Please see http://www.sparkyjr.com/page/instructions-1 for installation instructions.

Installation Instructions for Make Controller Version

Overview

There are several pieces of software that need to be installed and configured:

Sparky Skype Server -- runs along with Skype and listens for incoming text messages with motor commands
Sparky MakeBoard Controller -- communicates with the Skype Listener, parses abstract motor commands, sends low-level commands to MakeBoard
Sparky Controller Skype Plugin -- runs along with Skype on any Mac OSX 10.4 and greater machine which you want to use drive your robot

Once you have these software packages installed and configured, you are ready to go

Sparky Skype Server

Download/Install Skype onto the robot computer
Download the Sparky Skpe Listener Plugin from http://code.google.com/p/sparkyrobotcontroller/.
Drop this plugin application anywhere on your system, the Desktop is perfectly fine
Whenever you use your robot, you will want to start Skype, then start the listener plugin
Once the listener plugin begins running, press the "Connect" button. You should see a success message. If you do not, make sure you have started Skype.

Sparky MakeBoard Controller

Pre-reqs:

You will need to know a little about the "Terminal" program to install the listener and prepare it to run automatically on startup
Your make board must be connected by ethernet and be configured to run at 192.168.0.200

Download the MakeBoard Controller files from http://code.google.com/p/sparkyrobotcontroller
There are 3 files to download, put these in /Sparky on your robot system:

control.hdf -- confiuration file that maps a control string like "move_left" to servo actions
controld.php -- PHP script that listens for commands from the Skype plugin
shell_check_sprarky.php -- PHP script the makes sure controld.php is always running
OSC.phps -- Open Sound control library to interface with MakeController
hdf.php -- Hierarchal Data Format reader (http://clearsilver.org)

edit control.hdf to configure the move commands as your wish. By default, these commands are support:

  move_straight
  move_straight_slow
  move_left
  move_left_slow
  move_right
  move_right_slow
  move_reverse
  move_reverse_slow
  stop

add the check script to your cron scheduler so controld.php starts on system startup:
open a Terminal (From Applications->Utilities->Terminal)
type "crontab -e" -- this will start the VI editor, if you do not know how to use VI, try looking on Google, or just follow these steps:
move to the last line of the file with arrow-keys
type "i"
paste:

 * * * * * php /Sparky/shell_check_sparky.php &> /dev/null

type ":wq" (which should appear at the bottom of the screen)

Sparky Controller Skype Plugin

On the machine from which you want to drive your robot:

install Skype.
goto http://code.google.com/p/sparkyrobotcontroller and download the "Sparky Controller Skype Plugin".
Install this plugin application anywhere on your system, the Desktop is fine.

When you start Skype, start this application second. Then click "Connect", you should see a confirmation that the plugin is connected to your Skype software.

Opertation Instructions

Follow these steps to get your robot running once you have installed all of the software.

On the robot

Make sure you have a working wireless network that the robot can join
Start up your robot
Once booted and network connected, start Skype
After Skype fully loads and logs in, start the Sparky Skype Listener Plugin
Press the "Connect" button on the Skype Listener Plugin, you should see a success message if the plugin could connect to Skype.

That should do it! When someone calls the robot, it'll automatically answer!

WHACKY BUG NOTE -- always click (focus) the text chat window in Skype as the last action after making contact with a human driver. You may need to open a text chat window from the "Windows" menu.

On the controller

Start Skype and log in
Start the "Sparky Controller Skype Plugin" and click connect, you should see a success message if the plugin could connect to Skype.
Call your ready robot and start driving!