Getting started for Demiurge

This page will list all the necessary steps you should take before starting to work on the Demiurge project.

Set up your working environment

• Activate all resources as described on this page, if you not have done so already.
  • TODO What is most important of these steps?
• Set up your workstation (see this page for more details)
• Send your github account name to the Demiurge repository administrator (at the moment Ken)
  • He will add you to the demiurge-project organization so that you can see the private development repositories
  • Development rules for the github repositories: TODO
• Get yourself added to the Demiurge Whatsapp group
• Give your e-mail address to Mauro, he will add you to the Demiurge mailing list
• Install argos (TODO Instructions)
  1. Install all prerequisites (specified at the github page)
     • You can do so by running the following command in your terminal: TODO
  2. Download and install argos
     • Be aware that we are currently not using the most recent version but instead the release "3.0.0-beta48"
     • Get the repository:
       1. git clone git@github.com:ilpincy/argos3.git argos3, clones the repository TODO: Setting up ssh keys?
       2. cd argos3
       3. git checkout 3.0.0-beta48, checks out the version that we are using at the moment
     • If you are on the cluster: Change the CMake-version from 2.8.12 to 2.8.8 in the src/CMakeLists.txt file. There are two occurences that need to be replaced.
     • Prepare the build of argos3
       1. mkdir build
       2. cd build
       3. cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=[INSTALL_LOCATION]/argos3-dist -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DARGOS_INSTALL_LDSOCONF=OFF -DARGOS_DOCUMENTATION=OFF ../src, where the [INSTALL_LOCATION] is the place where you will place all compiled projects (on the cluster /home/[USER_NAME]/)
       4. make
       5. make doc, if you have forgotten the -DARGOS_DOCUMENTATION=OFF
       6. make install
     • TODO Remove the default e-puck plugin
     • Add the following lines to your .bashrc (or create a separate file and source it from your .bashrc)
       1. export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=[INSTALL_LOCATION]/lib/pkgconfig
       2. export ARGOS_PLUGIN_PATH=/home/jkuckling/argos3-dist/lib/argos3
       3. export PATH=/home/jkuckling/argos3-dist/bin/:$PATH
  3. Download and install the e-puck plugin TODO
     • Get the repository
       1. git clone git@github.com:demiurge-project/argos3-epuck.git argos3-epuck
       2. cd argos3-epuck
       3. git checkout v48
     • If you are on the cluster:
       1. Open src/plugins/robots/e-puck/CMakeLists.txt and comment the line with include(VisionTools.cmake)
       2. Open src/cmake/ARGoSBuildChecks.cmake and remove the checks for Lua and Qt/OpenGL
     • Prepare the build of the epuck-plugin
       1. mkdir build
       2. cd build
       3. cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=[INSTALL_LOCATION]/argos3-dist -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ../src, where the [INSTALL_LOCATION] is the same place as for argos3 (on the cluster /home/[USER_NAME]/)
       4. make
  • If you don't want to install everything by hand this script might be useful. However you need all prerequisites installed before running the script.
• Install AutoMoDe (TODO Instructions)
• If you have to work on the cluster you should follow these instructions to install Argos. AutoMoDe can be installed as on your local computer.
• In order to install irace on the cluster, follow these steps:
  1. Download the irace package
  2. Upload the .tar.gz file to your home directory in the cluster
  3. Install the R package locally
     • Run the following command: R CMD INSTALL -l ~/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/2.15/ irace_2.2.tar.gz
     • Please note that the irace package must be located in ~/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/2.15/irace to be correctly located by R. At the moment it is not possible to put it anywhere else
     • If you are installing on the new rack, replace the 2.15 in the path by 3.5. This is because we have an updated version of R.
  4. Add irace to IRACE_HOME, PATH and R_LIBS path (for example in your .bashrc file with the following commands)
     • export R_LIBS_USER=~/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/2.15/
     • export IRACE_HOME=${R_LIBS_USER}/irace/
     • export PATH=${IRACE_HOME}/bin/:${PATH}
     • export R_LIBS=${R_LIBS_USER}:${R_LIBS}

Running robot experiments in the arena

• A detailed description on running experiments in the Arena can be found here

Writing your paper

• See this page for information on how to write your paper.

Important paper to read

• AutoMoDe Vanilla
• AutoMoDe Chocolate
• Irace User Guide

Useful pages to bookmark

• http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/IridiaTrSeries/: Here all Technical reports will be published
• https://github.com/demiurge-project: The github page for all of our repositories

People working on the project

• TODO

Resources depending on your area of expertise

• TODO