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HaddingtonDynamics / Dexter

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Not able to interface the dexter arm with my PC having ubuntu 18.04 #81

Closed sumr4693 closed 4 years ago

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Hi,

I have not worked related to ethernet devices before, and so I have difficulties in interfacing my PC with the Dexter robot arm. I followed the instructions given in the website:

  1. I set my ethernet adapter IP address to : 192.168.1.100 (for example) and subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  2. I connected the CAT 6a (tried also with new CAT 5e cable as well) ethernet cable, which I found in the robot arm kit, between PC and dexter arm.
  3. I tried to ping the dexter arm (whose default address is supposed to be 192.168.1.142) from both the command terminal and DDE interface. But I didn't get any response.
  4. I tried the above steps for IP address for '0-255 in the last section for both 192.168.1. and 192.168.0. (after I kept my PC IP as 192.168.0.100) as well. But no response again.
  5. I also tried by reinserting the mounted SD card in the board, and by switching off my WiFi when pinging the arm. But nothing worked.

Is there someway I can find the dexter ip address either from the physical connection, or by using and reading from the SD card? Please help me to fix this.

Thanks in advance!

JamesNewton commented 4 years ago

Please try the USB connection as per: https://github.com/HaddingtonDynamics/Dexter/wiki/Dexter-USB-Connection that will work IF the redboard is booting. Also check the troubleshooting page on the wiki to verify you are getting the expected lights on the board when it boots.

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Thank you very much for your immediate response! Ok I will try these and let you know.

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

I made the USB connection between dexter and PC, and got the following boot commands from the dexter:

Screenshot from 2020-05-18 14-04-45 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-57-15 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-57-47 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-58-24 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-58-49 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-59-09 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 13-59-42 Screenshot from 2020-05-18 14-00-03

I see an error in the last image. From this info, will I be able to find anything useful to figure out the ethernet communication issue? Thanks in advance!

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Also, I checked the LEDs status when booting: Green: steady 'ON' (Power LED) Blue: steady 'ON' (related to FPGA) Red: 'ON' for few seconds and then 'OFF' (related to disk access to SD card)

Is Red LED functioning a normal behaviour?

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Regarding the jumper configuration:

To boot from SD card, I saw that the jumpers should have the connections JP1: 1-2, JP2: 2-3, JP3: 2-3

And this is the image with the jumper connections: dexter_jumpers

The markings JP1, JP2 and JP3 in the microzed board seen above, are on the different locations from the board which is seen in Troubleshooting page. And I could see "1" on either sides of the three pins for each jumper, so it's confusing to locate the first pin for each jumper. I hope that the board in the attached image is the revised version.

Kindly clarify how to locate the numbers 1,2,3 for each jumper.

Thank you!

JamesNewton commented 4 years ago

Now I'm confused. I'm not aware of any changes to the labeling on the microzed board. Can you post a picture of your board showing that area? I'm checking with the group to see if they are aware of a change... what name did you order the kit under?

JamesNewton commented 4 years ago

In any case, based on your prior post of the USB data, it appears the jumpers are in the correct location, but the SD card isn't working correctly. e.g. it can't mount the ext partition and start the OS. It IS able to read the FAT partition and start the .bit file. I would re-burn the SD card from the image or contact sales for a replacement.

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Thanks for figuring out the issue! I connected the SD card via card reader to my PC, and I am seeing a 16 GB volume drive (the list of files: boot.bin, devicetree.dtb, DexRun.c, uImage, xillydemo.bit and a folder - System Volume Information) and a 8 GB volume drive (I think this may be the ext partition)

  1. I don't find the details from the "SD card image" page on what the image file does look like. I will be using Etcher to flash the image, since my PC is Ubuntu based. Does Etcher automatically take care of the ext partition in the SD card? Is it just enough to add the flash file and select "Flash"? Or do I need to delete the contents or format the SD card?
  2. In the "SD card image" page, it is mentioned to contact you to get the image file. Can you please provide the image file?

This is the 16 GB volume drive screenshot: 16_GB_vol This is the 8 GB volume drive screenshot: 8GB_vol

If this reburning doesn't work either, my company supervisor will be contacting sales team of Haddington Dynamics.

Thank you!

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

This is the microzed board image from the troubleshooting page: troubleshooting_page_microzed And this is the microzed board I have in the robot arm: my_microzed

If you see both the images, the markings of JP1, JP2, JP3 are on the opposite sides. So I was wondering if there is any chance that the numbers 1,2,3 could also be reversed.

And, for your information, this robot arm was exported on May 9, 2019 from Haddington Dynamics. I am just a master thesis student, so I don't know regarding the order details. But the invoice has "Industrial Robots, NESOI" under description. Does this help?

Thanks!

JamesNewton commented 4 years ago

Can you email jamesnewton@hdrobotic.com so we can email you a link to the SD card image? And also, in the email please include what institution you are with and who your supervisor is so we can look this up in the sales db and provide appropriate support? Thank you.

To clarify why that is important: Every Dexter has unique calibration data onboard. Re-imaging the card will loose that data. If we have it here, then we can send it to you, but we need to understand which Dexter that is, and knowing who it was sold to is the best way to do that. If you are able to read out the files from the /srv/samba/share folder on the SD cards ext4 partition, and save them before re-loading it, that would also be good.

Also, there are a few different models of Dexter and we need to know if this is an HD, or an HDI, as they have different configuration files as well. Those are setup on different images, so we need to know what robot it is before we can provide the correct image for the SD card. Again, those are in /srv/samba/share if you can back them up yourself.

Also, I'm concerned that the SD card itself may be defective, and if that's the case, we would want to replace it, if the robot is still under warranty. Warranty depends on the terms of the sale, so again, we need to understand what robot this is.

Hope that makes sense, and please trust that we will do everything we can to get you back up and running.

I will close this issue and we can continue support via email. I'm assuming something was damaged on the SD and it should be replaced rather than just re-imaged, but we can try that first.

sumr4693 commented 4 years ago

Sure! I will contact you. Thank you for providing the email id!