Contents

Overview

The Acroname aGarciaTool is an application for interfacing with Garcia mobile robots.  Use the aGarciaTool to check robot diagnostics, such as ranger readings, user controls, motor/encoder manipulation, IR transmitting/receiving and servo motor controls. 

aGarciaTool running on Mac OS X

Related Devices

The aGarciaTool application is designed to be interfaced with a Garcia robots.  This includes both physical and simulated Garcia mobile robots. 

Simulated and physical robots can be manipulated using aGarciaTool.

Software Details

The aGarciaTool has interfaces for a general overview, servo control, analog inputs and IR transmit/receive into separate panes. 

GarciaTool overview pane running on Mac OS X.

The overview pane shows a graphical interface for displaying ranger readings, battery voltage, ledge detection sensors, and control for the user LED. 

Motion pane running on Windows Vista.

The motion pane provides utility for controlling the motors and reading the encoders.  Each motion channel can be controlled by adjusting the motion control throttle.  Encoder counts are stored and display.  The count can be reset by clicking the reset encoder count button. 

Servo pane running on Linux

Servo pane allows adjustment and control for each servo motor channel.  Each channel has a slider that adjusts the absolute position value for the servo motor.  The raw absolute position value is shown above the slider.  A separate configuration menu that adjusts servo control settings can be opened by clicking on the configuration settings button. 

When a camera boom is attached, the pan servo motor is typically attached to servo port 2.  The tilt servo motor is typically attached to servo port 3. 

Additional Information

The aGarciaTool application is designed as a stripped down and interactive interface to the Garcia mobile robots.  Supplemental information about working with the aGarciaTool application can be found in the following resources:

• Getting Started Guide - A step-by-step walkthrough intended to guide one through using the aGarciaTool application. 

Revision History:

• 2009-11-20: Added detail about the motion, servo and overview panes.
• 2009-11-13: Initial post.