Creating robots in a loop without explicit naming them makes their components disapear

[nicolaje]

In the builder script, creating robots in a loop without explicitly naming them creates erratic robot naming and their attached sensors/actuators disappear.

Minimal builder file to reproduce the issue:

from morse.builder import *

for i in range(1,10):
    robot = Pioneer3DX()

    differential_actuator=MotionVWDiff()
    differential_actuator.add_interface('socket')
    robot.append(differential_actuator)
    robot.translate(x=i)
    robot.add_default_interface('socket')

env = Environment('sandbox', fastmode = False)

Output of the simulation initialization:

...
[    0.200] Robots in the simulation:
[    0.200]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.005'
[    0.200]         - Component: 'Empty.005'
[    0.200]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.007'
[    0.200]         - Component: 'Empty.007'
[    0.200]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.006'
[    0.201]         - Component: 'Empty.006'
[    0.201]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer'
[    0.201]         - Component: 'Empty'
[    0.201]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.001'
[    0.201]         - Component: 'Empty.001'
[    0.201]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.002'
[    0.201]         - Component: 'Empty.002'
[    0.201]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.003'
[    0.201]         - Component: 'Empty.003'
[    0.202]     ROBOT: 'robot'
[    0.202]         - Component: 'robot.differential_actuator'
[    0.202]     ROBOT: 'Pioneer.004'
[    0.202]         - Component: 'Empty.004'
...

While when explicitly naming the robots in the builder script, the scene is correctly initialized and the robots naming conflicts is correctly handled

from morse.builder import *

for i in range(1,10):
    robot = Pioneer3DX('robot') # Robot is named

    differential_actuator=MotionVWDiff()
    differential_actuator.add_interface('socket')
    robot.append(differential_actuator)
    robot.translate(x=i)
    robot.add_default_interface('socket')

env = Environment('sandbox', fastmode = False)

output:

...
[    0.251] Robots in the simulation:
[    0.251]     ROBOT: 'robot_005'
[    0.251]         - Component: 'robot_005.differential_actuator'
[    0.251]     ROBOT: 'robot_007'
[    0.251]         - Component: 'robot_007.differential_actuator'
[    0.251]     ROBOT: 'robot_006'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot_006.differential_actuator'
[    0.252]     ROBOT: 'robot'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot.differential_actuator'
[    0.252]     ROBOT: 'robot_001'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot_001.differential_actuator'
[    0.252]     ROBOT: 'robot_002'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot_002.differential_actuator'
[    0.252]     ROBOT: 'robot_003'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot_003.differential_actuator'
[    0.252]     ROBOT: 'robot_008'
[    0.252]         - Component: 'robot_008.differential_actuator'
[    0.253]     ROBOT: 'robot_004'
[    0.253]         - Component: 'robot_004.differential_actuator'

By the way, pymorse really needs an easy way to access robots from their name as a string, in the spirit of:

...
with pymorse.Morse() as s:
    robot1_handle=s.get_robot(s.robots[0])
    robot2_handle=s.get_robot('my_robot')

Best regards,

Jeremy

---

• MORSE version: [morse 1.3-68-g5538]
• Blender version: [2.75.4]
• Python version: [3.4.2]

[adegroote]

I don't want to be rude, but there is a red warning box in the builder documentation about the creation of robot in a loop, explaining how it can be done properly.

For the second point, if I understand properly, it has been fixed in 1.4, see #358.

[nicolaje]

My bad, I think I remember having initialized robots in a loop without this precaution before, so I did not dig in the doc, should have seen the big red box.

Is there a reason why the close_context is not called by default in each robot constructor?

[adegroote]

close_context must be called at the end of the context (here the loop), it takes care of renaming and the proper link between the different objects. So I can't be called in the robot ctor (well, you can, but it will have no effect at all).

[nicolaje]

Thanks for these clarifications. It seems that with 1.4 it causes a problem with wheeled robot losing their wheels though. I will create a dedicated issue if this is confirmed.