Kilobots

Last updated: 2019 June 13
  1. Fix Kilogui permissions error
  2. Debug Kilobots with serial monitor
  3. Locally compile Kilobot code

Fix Kilogui permissions error

When running this on Linux, I tried to connect to the USB IR controller as a Serial device. I got an error that it couldn’t connect, so check if the device was in use. This message was actually masking a permissions error.

To check the permissions of the selected USB device, run ls -la /dev/ttyUSB0 (or whatever the USB number is). You can one-time change the permissions for the device with chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0. I’ve been trying to implement a “permanent” rule change for the device permissions as suggested here, but I haven’t gotten it to work yet.

Debug Kilobots with serial monitor

  • Can use Putty, minicom, or any other serial terminal emulator to print out debug statements
  • Using minicom:
    • Install with sudo apt-get install minicom
    • Set up: sudo minicom -s
      • Under Serial port setup:
        • A - Serial Device: /dev/ttyUSB1 or something similar
        • E - Bps (baudrate): 38400
      • Save setup as dfl and then Exit from Minicom
      • If something’s not working, try changing the Hardware/Software Flow Control and restarting minicom
    • Run the monitor: sudo minicom (sudo minicom -c on if you want pretty colors)
    • Quit: Ctrl+a, x
  • Printing statements to terminal from kilobot:
    • Follow this example to add debugging to your code
    • To get stuff to print correctly on successive lines (in Linux, at least), put \r\n at the end of the printf statement.

Locally compile Kilobot code

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