AutoMoDe Arena Experiments

Getting started

Ken has already prepared a number of helpful scripts that can help when running experiments in the arena. They are available on his github account.

Generating the files

The script ExpGen.py generates most of the files that you will need to run your experiments. It takes a couple of arguments (a short summary can be obtained by the -h option). (TODO: Explain the arguments a little bit more)

• An .xml file that contains the template for the mission .xml (or .argos) file.
• Another .xml file that contains the template for the initial positioning with the Iridia Tracking System.
• The number of experiments that are run.
• The file that contains the random seeds for the experiments.
• The output file where the seeds, ids, and mission files are listed. The output file will be formatted in Markdown, if you want to have a visual representation, than you will need to convert the file (for example to html or pdf).

The script will load your controllers (you may need to adjust the script to your needs), create a random order for your experiments and copy your controllers and seeds into the corresponding templates. It will also create two scripts called startE.sh and startPathPla.sh. The startE.sh script is intended to be uploaded to the E-Pucks where it will start a single run of the experiment. The other script (startPathPla.sh) is executed on the computer in the lab, where it will start Argos for the positioning of the robots in the arena.

Preparing the robots

Before using the robots you need to put in the batteries from the charging port. It is recommended that you put the batteries into the box labelled "charged" so that you always know which batteries are for your use. Put the batteries without the cable in the bottom slot of the e-puck and the battery with the cables in the top slot of the e-puck. When connecting the cable, make sure that it is twisted inward so that the robots do not get caught on each other.