BotWay Getting Started - ResgreenGroup/Botway-Documentation GitHub Wiki
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This page is a guide to configuring BotWay for the first time. It describes the process of logging in, uploading a map image, making tags, and making routes. The next set of introductory instructions for configuring BotWay can be found on the Level 2 Page.
For information on installing BotWay and supporting software see BotWay Installation and Setup Guide
Double click on the BotWay.jar file. BotWay should be completely unconfigured and look like the following image.
Image: Completely new instance of BotWay
Open the "files" dropdown menu from the main toolbar and click the "Login" option. The default password for Admin is RGGI!! The login process is shown in the following images.
Image: Opening the "files" menu.
Image: Logged into BotWay.
Open the "Files" menu and select the "Settings" option. In the window that appears, click the folder icon in the "map" section to open a file browser. Acceptable Image formats are .png, .bitmap, .gif, and .jpg. A full description of everything in the settings window can be found on the Settings Page. The following images show the settings dialogue window and the map file browser.
Image: Settings window.
Image: Map file browser.
Image: BotWay with a map uploaded.
The user must be logged in as Admin to make changes. Click the "edit" button in the top left corner of the map display in the green map display toolbar. This reveals several options for customizing BotWay. Click on the "Tags" button to open the tag creation and deletion dialogue window. The user must supply one or more tag labels and click the "Add" button in the Tag dialogue window. Tags may be supplied individually, comma separated, or separated on a new line. The tags will be placed on the map and the user may move them around to correspond to their physical location in the working environment. A full description of tags and their function in BotWay can be found on the Tags Page. The following images show the process of tag creation.
Image: Putting BotWay into Edit Mode.
Image: Tag dialog window.
Image: Tags placed on BotWay Map..
Routes provide a way to control the actions of a Robot at each tag it encounters. Commands such as: Wait, Speed Up, Pin Up, Follow Left... etc. are used to control how and where the Robot travels. Each Route is a collection of Tags. When a robot is assigned a route, it will report the route it is on whenever it reads a tag. BotWay looks through all the route data and picks the appropriate tag-route-robot combination, then sends that command or series of commands to the robot to carry out.
Enter edit mode by clicking the "Edit" button in the map display toolbar, just like the first step for making tags, then click the "Routes" button to open the route editor dialog window. The following images show and describe the route creation process. The first image below shows an empty route editor dialog window, which is what the window will look like for the user when first creating a route. Add new rows by highlighting row 1 and selecting the "Insert Above" or "Insert Below" buttons in the dialogue window toolbar. There needs to be at least 1 line per tag on the route the robot will travel. For cases with loading and unloading, The robot may need to switch routes, in which case more lines will be needed.
Image: Route editor window.
Now fill in each line. There are 6 columns in each line: Route name, Tag label, Robot type, Delay(ms), Route jump, and Command to issue. Route Name is the ID of the route that the tags are grouped under. When a robot is assigned this route, it will receive commands associated with tags in this route. Tag label is the ID at each tag. Robot type specifies which robot will receive the command. If the user operates multiple types of robots that can complete their task, then a second line in the route editor with the same route and tag ID can be added with a different robot type rather than making an entire separate route. Delay specifies how long in ms BotWay will wait between the robot reading the tag and sending the command associated with that tag. Route jump specifies a new route name to jump to when this tag is read. Command to issue specifies the set of Instructions BotWay will send to the robot. Commands may be enclosed in double quotes or curly braces. Commands in curly braces must be properly formed JSON objects and quoted commands are sent in "data1" as simple text. For a full description of routes, their creation, and their characteristics, visit the Routes Page. For a full description of acceptable commands, visit the Communications Page. Now save the changes to the route by clicking BOTH the "Save" button in the Route Editor and the "Save" button in the map display toolbar. Canceling out of edit mode will not save the route changes.
Image: Route editor with multiple empty lines.
Image: Route Editor filled in.