Using the example binaries¶

• Using the example binaries
  • • Example 1: The ContinuumSegmentDemo (3D visualization)
    • Example 2: The ContinuumRobotDemo (3D visualization)
    • Example 3: The BhaTrajectoryPrediction
  • Windows binaries
  • Linux Debian packages
  • Troubleshooting
• Install and use from source
  • Dependencies
  • Building from source
  • Troubleshooting
  • Platform/Compiler support

Example 1: The ContinuumSegmentDemo (3D visualization)¶

This didactic example shows the geometric model underlying the simulated continuum kinematics, i.e. that each segment of a continuum robot behaves
like a torus segment. The example shows an animated movement of such a segment. Press Alt-T(orus), Alt-G(eometry) to toggle various visualization modes.
The code shows how to use the basic class ContinuumSegmentDrawable, which takes take of the 3D rendering.

Example 2: The ContinuumRobotDemo (3D visualization)¶

Example 3: The BhaTrajectoryPrediction¶

Predict and visualize the end-effector trajectory for the "Bionic Handling Assistant" morphology given a posture-trajectory.
In the 3D visualization, press N to generate a new trajectory.

Windows binaries¶

In order to execute the examples, you need some "Microsoft Visual C++" libaries:

• The easiest way to get them is installing the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package" from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5555
• Having the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010" development environment installed does the same job, of course.

Linux Debian packages¶

There are debian-packages for "Ubuntu Linux Oneiric". Get them by adding the line

deb http://packages.cor-lab.de/ubuntu/ oneiric testing

to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Then type

sudo apt-get install continuumkinematics-bin

The example binaries will be installed to /usr/bin/examples.

Troubleshooting¶

Install and use from source¶

Dependencies¶

• Required: NemoMath
  • Which requires: Eigen 2
  • Which requires: Boost (header-only parts)
• Required: CMake
• Optional: libqglviewer-qt4-dev, in case you want to use the visualization. The pure kinematics part can be built and deployed without this dependency.
  • Which requires: Qt 4

Building from source¶

• Get the source from https://code.cor-lab.org/svn/continuumkinematics, e.g.
  

  svn co https://code.cor-lab.org/svn/continuumkinematics

• Build it under Linux (or MacOS???)
  

  cd continuumkinematics/build
  cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PREFIX} ..
  make install

• Build it under Windows/MSVC
  

  cd continuumkinematics
  call project\build_vs.bat

Troubleshooting¶

• During configuration, cmake says Qt qmake not found!. Simply check out where the qmake binary is located in your filesystem and put this in your cmake call:
  

  -DQT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE="${PATH_TO_QMAKE}/qmake" 

• If you get linking errors like undefined reference to `QGLViewer::***', you are probably linking against libqglviewer-qt3 instead of qt4
  • If you don't have the right version of qglviewer around, install it.
  • If cmake still does not configure the correct library, you can manually chose the correct path by setting the variables "QGLVIEWER_*":
    

    cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PREFIX} -DQGLVIEWER_INCLUDE_DIR=${QGL_QT4_DIR}/include -DQGLVIEWER_LIBRARIES=${QGL_QT4_DIR}/lib/${library_name} ..
    make install

• When running the example binaries, you get the error message QWidget: Must construct a QApplication before a QPaintDevice
  • An annoying problem that is currently only observed under Windows/MSVC: It seems to happen when QGLViewer is built in release mode, but you build the continuumkinematics code in debug mode, or vice versa.
  • Solution: find out how QGLViewer was built (most likely as release) and set the build-configuration accordingly in the cmake call:
    

    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=[release/debug]

Platform/Compiler support¶

Currently, the following combinations are explicitly supported and known to work:

• Ubuntu Linux/GCC with Ubuntu version from 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) and newer, and GCC>=4.3, 32bit as well as 64bit
• MacOS/CLang3.0
• Windows 7/MSVC2010, 32bit

The following platforms are known not to work:

• GCC 4.2 or older
• MSVC 2008 or older