SimRobot for Unix

SimRobot was implemented first for Unix systems. Under Unix the simulation and the robot controller are two separate programs that are communicating through pipes with each other. In this aspect the Unix version is ahead of the other versions.

The XView Toolkit is used as user interface. The system was tested under different versions of Solaris and Linux. Only versions of GNU C++ were used to compile SimRobot for Unix.

Required Files

• The source code and examples of SimRobot for Unix.
• The source code of the graphics converter XLI version 1.15.
• The installation's description.
• Possibly the german technical report that describes SimRobot's usage.
• The english online documentation in HTML. This is identical to the other version's online help. You can only use its information about the scene description language, because the new controller interface is not implemented in the Unix version yet.

Known Errors

• Texures aren't sized correctly if SCALE is used:
  You can work around the bug by using the SIZE attribute in the SURFACE declaration.

Corrected Errors

• While compiling the scene the attribute DEPTH generates '(' expected.
• A VEHICLE doesn't move in y-direction.
• The use of ZBUFFER changes the DEPTH values returned by cameras.
• While displaying a scene with hidden lines a "division by zero" error is generated.
• SimRobot ignores the sign of reals in the range ]-1..0[.
• If the example RobotArm is running, SimRobot uses more and more memory
• If a controller program reads a sensor with more that 32767 values SimRobot gets stuck.
• SIMULATION::SetLocation does not work in controller programs.
• Some compilers do not accept the calls to DrawHeaded3DBox in ControlPanel.cc.
• Some ports cannot be accessed from control programs.