View source for Getting started on ARK

We see here how to run a typical experiment with a robot swarm augmented via [[ARK]].

==Running an ARK experiment==

* '''Check motor calibration.''' I suggest that, before any experiment that is sensitive to accurate robot motion, you check if your robots have properly calibrated motors. I recommend you run a simple code and use ARK to test the three movements.<br/>You can use this Kilobot code: [[:File:TestMotion.c|TestMotion.c]] and follow the video on how to use ARK to test the motor calibration https://youtu.be/_65-DPJC8CY. As you can see, at the moment the process relies on visual observation, this could be improved through ARK supervision. Any keen student is welcome to help in implementing it. If you need to calibrate your robots' motors you can follow the tutorial https://youtu.be/fenkr9Dov0s and the relative code is available in the page [[Experiments Source Code]].

* '''Open cameras.''' Open ARK and load the camera calibration file. If you don't have one, you need to first calibrate ARK's cameras. A matrix of four cameras, as in ARK's Sheffield Robotics, the camera calibration file can be generated through the dedicated software available on GitHub at https://github.com/DiODeProject/KilobotArenaCalibration If you need to calibrate the cameras, watch the tutorial at https://youtu.be/dLsubMMMCJQ

* '''Assign unique robot IDs.''' If the robots do not already have unique IDs, through ARK you can assign them. If you don't know how, follow the tutorial at https://youtu.be/nc_DHUcX6Rg

* '''Load your ARK experiment''' Load your pre-compiled ARK experiment in the "Experiment" tab. ARK automatically loads the last experiment that you loaded.

* '''Run the ARK experiment and the Kilobots.''' If the robots start moving immediately at 'RUN' command, then, the recommendation is to first run the ARK experiment, and after to run the robots. This order is not mandatory, just make appropriate decisions when coding the start of both ARK and Kilobots. Note that the Kilobots can read ARK messages also before receiving RUN.

* '''Good luck!''' You'll need it.