ME/CS 132a, Winter 2011, Lab 1

Exercise #1: Running Player/Stage Remotely

In order to run Player/Stage remotely, you'll need to access the robotics server using the login information provided in class. You'll need to have X-forwarding enabled. This is pretty straight-forward if you're running UNIX-like systems. See below for special notes on how to run using Windows.

• Server address: tokyo.cds.caltech.edu
• Connection type: SSH

Logging into the Player/Stage remote server (Linux/Mac OS X)

1. Open a terminal window (that is X-friendly).
2. Connect to robotics via SSH:
   $ ssh -X username@tokyo.cds.caltech.edu
   and enter the password (where username needs to be replaced with the one given out in class).
   • The "-X" enables X11 forwarding, which is how you'll get the Stage windows and such to appear on your local machine.
3. If this is your first login, be sure to change your password by running passwd in the command line.

Logging into the Player/Stage remote server (Windows)

In order to use Windows, you'll need to install X-Win32, which is freely available through Caltech's software service, as well as an SSH client, such as Putty.

1. Once X-Win32 is installed on your machine, start up the X-Win server.
   • This should put a little "X" icon in your system tray.
2. Open up your SSH client program, and change the appropriate settings to enable X11 forwarding.
   • For Putty, this is under "Connection-->SSH-->X11 forwarding"
3. If this is your first login, be sure to change your password by running passwd in the command line.

Running Player/Stage

1. Change directory to the appropriate path that contains the Robotics lab stage world file:
   $ cd worlds
2. Start up Player, using the Robotics lab world config file:
   $ player simple.cfg -p <your_RPIN>
   • your_RPIN is your robot port ID number which you were already assigned.
   • You should see the Stage simulator and a simulated robot wandering around.