ODOP pycontroller v1.0.0

Copyright (C) 2021 Anatole Hernot (github.com/ahernot), Mines Paris (PSL Research University). All rights reserved.

Description

Controller program for SmartPixels' Omni-Directional Object Pictures (ODOP) automated scanner.
Built for ahernot/ODOP-controller.

Operation

0. Program initialisation

• 0.1. Specify the serial communication port (variable PORT) in preferences.py.
• 0.2. Specify the DigiCamControl communication preferences in preferences.py.

1. Unpowered calibration

• 1.1. With the motors unpowered, position the swing on its lowest position.
• 1.2. Mount the camera on the sliding platform.
• 1.3. Adjust the camera's distance from the object by sliding the platform.
• 1.4. Adjust the counterweights so that the camera lifts up lightly from the lowest resting point of the swing.
• 1.5. Point the camera towards the intersection between the vertical axis (of the turntable) and the horizontal axis (of the swing).
• 1.6. Mount the front horizontal wire (the one closest to the camera) onto the frame.
• 1.7. Adjust the camera's horizontal inclination to match the wire's.

2. Powered calibration

• 2.1. Turn on power to the motors.
  Create a new ODOP object.
• 2.2. Run the calibration process (method ODOP.calibrate()).
  • 2.2.1. Let the swing move to its lowest position and then back up to the specified calibration point.
  • 2.2.2. Mount the back horizontal wire onto the frame.
  • 2.2.3. Enter manual rotation commands (e.g. "-1.8" for -1.8°) until the two wires overlap on the camera's screen.
  • 2.2.4. Type "go" to validate and set the zero point. The camera should be horizontal with respect to the machine.
• 2.3. Remove all calibration wires from the machine.

3. Composition

• 3.1. Specify the number of vertical and horizontal shots to be taken.
  Create a new Composition object.
• 3.2. Run the composition. (method Composition.run()).

Usage guidelines

• Time windows (in Controller.execute()) must be set large enough to avoid backlogging commands. Otherwise, the completion success message of the previous command could trigger the end of the next one.
• ODOP needs to be recalibrated every time a new ODOP object is created, due to the fact that the locally-stored positional information is reset in ODOP.__init__().

Requirements

• Python 3 (tested with Python 3.9.0; should work with Python 3.6.0 and newer)
• PySerial module (run "pip install pyserial")