e-puck2

1 Hardware

1.1 Overview

The following figures show the main components offered by the e-puck2 robot and where they are physically placed:

1.2 Specifications

The e-puck2 robot maintains full compatibility with its predecessor e-puck (e-puck HWRev 1.3 is considered in the following table):

Feature	e-puck1.3	e-puck2	Compatibility	Additional
Size, weight	70 mm diameter, 55 mm height, 150 g	Same form factor: 70 mm diameter, 45 mm, 130 g		No e-jumper required
Battery, autonomy	LiIPo rechargeable battery (external charger), 1800 mAh. About 3 hours autonomy. Recharging time about 2-3h.	Same battery; USB charging, recharging time about 2.5h.		USB charging
Processor	16-bit dsPIC30F6014A @ 60MHz (15 MIPS), DSP core for signal processing	32-bit STM32F407 @ 168 MHz (210 DMIPS), DSP and FPU, DMA		~10 times faster
Memory	RAM: 8 KB; Flash: 144 KB	RAM: 192 KB; Flash: 1024 KB		RAM: 24x more capable Flash:~7x more capable
Motors	2 stepper motors with a 50:1 reduction gear; 20 steps per revolution; about 0.13 mm resolution	Same motors
Wheels	Wheels diamater = 41 mm Distance between wheels = 53 mm	Same wheels
Speed	Max: 1000 steps/s (about 12.9 cm/s)	Max: 1200 steps/s (about 15.4 cm/s)		20% faster
Mechanical structure	Transparent plastic body supporting PCBs, battery and motors	Same mechanics
Distance sensor	8 infra-red sensors measuring ambient light and proximity of objects up to 6 cm	Same infra-red sensors Front real distance sensor, Time of fight (ToF), up to 2 meter.		ToF sensor
IMU	3D accelerometer and 3D gyro	3D accelerometer, 3D gyro, 3D magnetometer		3D magnetometer
Camera	VGA color camera; typical use: 52x39 or 480x1	Same camera; typical use: 160x120		Bigger images handling
Audio	3 omni-directional microphones for sound localization speaker capable of playing WAV or tone sounds	4 omni-directional microhpones (digital) for sound localization speaker capable of playing WAV or tone sounds		+1 front microphone
LEDs	8 red LEDs around the robot, green body light, 1 strong red LED in front	4 red LEDs and 4 RGB LEDs around the robot, green light, 1 strong red LED in front		4x RGB LEDs
Communication	RS232 and Bluetooth 2.0 for connection and programming	USB Full-speed, Bluetooth 2.0, BLE, WiFi		WiFi, BLE
Storage	Not available	Micro SD slot		Micro SD
Remote Control	Infra-red receiver for standard remote control commands	Same receiver
Switch / selector	16 position rotating switch	Same selector
Extensions	Ground sensors, range and bearing, RGB panel, Gumstix extension, omnivision, your own	All extension supported
Programming	Free C compiler and IDE, Webots simulator, external debugger	Free C compiler and IDE, Webots simulator, onboard debugger (GDB)		Onboard debugger

This is the overall communication schema:

1.3 Documentation

• Main microcontroller: STM32F407, datasheet, reference-manual
• Programmer/debugger: STM32F413, datasheet, reference-manual
• Radio module: Espressif ESP32, datasheet, reference-manual
• Camera: PixelPlus PO8030D CMOS image sensor, datasheet, no IR cut filter
• Microphones: STM-MP45DT02, datasheet
• Optical sensors: Vishay Semiconductors Reflective Optical Sensor, datasheet
• ToF distance sensor: STM-VL53L0X, datasheet, user-manual
• IMU: InvenSense MPU-9250, product-specification, register-map
• Motors: details
• Speaker: Diameter 13mm, power 500mW, 8 Ohm, DS-1389 or PSR12N08AK or similar
• IR receiver: TSOP36230

1.4 Migrating from e-puck1.x to e-puck2

The e-puck2 robot maintains full compatibility with its predecessor e-puck, but there are some improvements that you should be aware of.

First of all the e-jumper, that is the small board that is attached on top of the e-puck1.x, isn't anymore needed in the e-puck2. The components available on the e-jumper are integrated directly in the robot board. On top of the e-puck2 you'll see a quite big free connector, this is used to attach the extensions board designed for the e-puck1.x that are fully compatible with the e-puck2; you must not connect the e-jumper in this connector.

Secondly you don't need anymore to unplug and plugin the battery for charging, but instead you can charge the battery directly by connecting the USB cable. If you want you can still charge the battery with the e-puck1.x external charger, in case you have more than one battery.

Moreover you don't need anymore a special serial cable (with probably an RS232 to USB adapter) to be able to communicate with the robot, but you can use the USB cable. Once connected to the computer a serial port will be available that you can use to easily exchange data with the robot.

1.5 Extensions

All the extensions (ground sensors, range and bearing, RGB panel, gumstix and omnvision) are supported by the e-puck2 robot, this means that if you have some extensions for the e-puck1.x you can still use them also with e-puck2.
For more information about using the gumstix extension with e-puck2 robot refer to http://www.gctronic.com/doc/index.php?title=Overo_Extension#e-puck2.

2 Getting Started

2.1 Turn on/off the robot

2.2 Meaning of the LEDs

The e-puck2 has three groups of LEDs that are not controllable by the user.

Top view of the e-puck2

• Charger: RED if charging, GREEN if charge complete and RED and GREEN if an error occurs
• USB: Turned ON if the e-puck2 detects a USB connection with a computer
• STATUS: Turned ON if the robot is ON and OFF if the robot is OFF. When ON, gives an indication of the level of the battery. Also blinks GREEN if the program is running during a debug session.

Battery level indications (STATUS RGB LED):

• GREEN if the system's tension is greater than 3.5V
• ORANGE if the system's tension is between 3.5V and 3.4V
• RED if the system's tension is between 3.4V and 3.3V
• RED blinking if the system's tension is below 3.3V

The robot is automatically turned OFF if the system's tension gets below 3.2V during 10 seconds.

2.3 Finding the USB serial ports used

Two ports are created by the e-puck2's programmer when the USB cable is connected to the robot (even if the robot is turned off):

• e-puck2 GDB Server. The port used to program and debug the e-puck2 with Eclipse_e-puck2 (GDB).
• e-puck2 Serial Monitor. A serial monitor. #see dedicated chapter(not yet ready)

A third port could be available depending on the code inside the e-puck2's microcontroller. With the standard firmware a port named e-puck2 STM32F407 is created.

2.3.1 Windows

1. Open the Device Manager
2. Under Ports (COM & LPT) you can see the virtual ports connected to your computer.
3. Do a Right-click -> properties on the COM port you want to identify.
4. Go under the details tab and select Bus reported device description in the properties list.
5. The name of the port should be written in the text box below.
6. Once you found the desired device, you can simply look at its port number (COMX).

2.3.2 Linux

1. Open a terminal window (ctrl+alt+t) and enter the following command.

ls /dev/ttyACM*

2. Look for ttyACM0 and ttyACM1 in the generated list, which are respectively e-puck2 GDB Server and e-puck2 Serial Monitor.

Note : Virtual serial port numbering on Linux is made by the connections order, thus it can be different if another device using virtual serial ports is already connected to your computer.

2.3.3 Mac

1. Open a terminal window and enter the following command.

ls /dev/cu.usbmodem*

2. Look for two cu.usbmodemXXXX, where XXXX is the number attributed by your computer. You should find two names, more or less following in the numbering, which are respectively e-puck2 GDB Server and e-puck2 Serial Monitor.

Note : Virtual serial port numbering on Mac depends on the physical USB port used and the device. If you want to keep the same names, you must connect to the same USB port each time.

2.4 PC interface

An interface running on a computer and connecting to the e-puck2 either through Bluetooth (selector position 3) or via USB (selector position 8) based on the advanced sercom protocol was developed; from this interface it's possible to have information about all the sensors, receive camera images and control the leds and motors. The source code is available from the repository https://github.com/e-puck2/monitor. Available executables:

• Windows executable: tested on Windows 7 and Windows 10
• Max OS X executable

On Linux remember to apply the configuration explained in the chapter Installation for Linux - Serial Port in order to access the serial port.

2.4.1 WiFi support

A dedicated WiFi version of the monitor application was developed to communicate with the robot through TCP protocol.
For more information about the communication protocol, refer to section WiFi communication protocol.
The source code can be downloaded with the command git clone -b wifi --recursive https://github.com/e-puck2/monitor.git
A Windows executable is available here Monitor WiFi for Windows.

2.5 High level programming

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5 Programmer

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