1 Windows Environment Build

First of all, it needs to be clear that all case experiments are implemented based on python+opencv+pymycobot, so when using the M5 robotic arm, you need to use Mystudio to burn ATOM firmware and M5Stack-basic firmware on the head and bottom of the robotic arm respectively.

Usage environment: Windows 10 or Windows 11, Python3+OpenCV+pymycobot, Git
Applicable devices: myCobot 320 M5

1.1 Install Python+pymycobot

pymycobot is a Python package for serial communication with myCobot, supporting Python2, Python3.5 and later versions.

Before using pymycobot to control the robotic arm, you need to build a Python environment. For the specific building process, please refer to Pyhton Environment Build 章节。

1.2 Install OpenCV

OpenCV-Python is a Python-based library designed to solve computer vision problems. Before installation, make sure that the Python environment has been set up.

Open a console terminal (shortcut key Win+R, enter cmd to enter the terminal), enter the following command:

# The version numbers of the two need to be consistent, and version 4.6.0.66 is installed here
pip install opencv-python==4.6.0.66
pip install opencv-contrib-python==4.6.0.66

# Install pyqt5
pip install pyqt5

After successful installation, you can use the following command to view the specific installed version and installation location:

# You can also view other python libraries format: pip show library name
pip show opencv-python
pip show opencv-contrib-python

1.3 Install Git

Git is an open source distributed version control system for effective and high-speed processing of project version management from small to very large.

Git official download address: https://gitforwindows.org/
Click the Download option to start downloading Git

Double-click the downloaded exe file to install

Select the installation location, the default is under the C drive, if you don’t want to put it under the C drive, you can change the location. After selecting the installation location, click next.

By default, no icon will be created on the desktop, and a new feature has been added, adding GItBash to the Windows terminal, it is recommended to check it.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

Choose a default editor, the default is Vim (Linux), and there is Notepad inside, I choose to use Vim

The default name (master) after Git creates a branch. If there is no special default setting, click next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

The next step is the default, just select Next.

Additional configuration options are not selected by default, you can check these two boxes, support (node, python although there are still bugs) and then choose install.

After the installation is complete, click FInish to complete the installation.

checking

Open a console terminal (shortcut key Win+R, enter cmd to enter the terminal), and enter the following command to view the Git version information:

git --version

You need to use git to download the aikit_V2 package in the future. For the use of git, please refer to the link below:

1.4 aikit_V2 Install

aikit_V2 is launched by ElephantRobotics, which is an artificial intelligence kit V2.0 package adapted to its desktop robotic arm.

project address: https://github.com/elephantrobotics/aikit_V2

1 Double-click the Git Bash icon on the desktop to enter the Git terminal.

2 Enter the following command in the Git terminal:

cd Desktop
git clone https://github.com/elephantrobotics/aikit_V2.git

Then the aikit_V2 folder will appear on the desktop.

At this point, the Windows environment is built.

2 Raspberry Pi Environment Construction

Since the Raspberry Pi version has a built-in Ubuntu 20.04 system, there is no need to build an environment.

Applicable devices: myCobot 320 Pi

2.1 Install OpenCV

Open a console terminal (shortcut key Ctrl+Alt+T), enter the command:

# The version numbers of the two need to be consistent, and version 4.6.0.66 is installed here
pip install opencv-python==4.6.0.66
pip install opencv-contrib-python==4.6.0.66

2.2 aikit_V2 Install

aikit_V2 is launched by ElephantRobotics, which is an artificial intelligence kit V2.0 package adapted to its desktop robotic arm.

Applicable devices: myCobot 320 Pi project address: https://github.com/elephantrobotics/aikit_V2

1 Open a console terminal (shortcut key Ctrl+Alt+T), enter the command:

git clone https://github.com/elephantrobotics/aikit_V2.git

2 Then under the main directory /home/er, there will be a folder named aikit_V2.

So far, aikit_V2 has completed the installation.

2.3 mycobot_ros Install and update

mycobot_ros is a ROS package launched by ElephantRobotics that is suitable for all types of desktop robotic arms. It also integrates the artificial intelligence suit V2.0 program package.

Applicable devices: myCobot 320 Pi

project address: https://github.com/elephantrobotics/mycobot_ros

Click the ROS1 Shell icon on the desktop or the corresponding icon in the lower bar of the desktop to open the ROS1 environment terminal:

Then enter the following command:

cd ~/catkin_ws/src  # Go to the src folder in the workspace
# Clone the code on github
git clone https://github.com/elephantrobotics/mycobot_ros.git
cd ..       # return to workspace
catkin_make # Build the code in the workspace
source devel/setup.bash # Add environment variables

Note: If the mycobot_ros folder already exists in the /home/er/catkin_ws/src (equivalent to ~/catkin_ws/src) directory, you need to delete the original mycobot_ros before executing above command.

Environment build