FAQs

ROBOTS and ROBOT RECIPES

How can I purchase a robot kit?
Why do I have to purchase all these small parts (screws, washers, wires) myself from various stores? Why doesn’t one place sell a whole Qwerkbot Classic kit?
Why can’t I connect to my robot?
What do the blinking lights on the Qwerk mean?
Is there a hardware specifications document for the Qwerk with information about current ratings, voltage ranges, jumpers, FPGA specifics, etc.?
I built something cool using my Qwerk board. How can I make a recipe and post it online?
I have lots of LEGO bricks and/or LEGO Mindstorms. Can I use them with a Qwerk?
Do TeRK robots have sound capability?
How long do the batteries last?
How long can a TeRK robot operate continuously?

CURRICULA

How can I get a copy of your workshop materials and curriculum for Robot Diaries?
Can I hire you to do a workshop for my school/community/museum?

SOFTWARE

What version of Java should I download to run the Java Webstart applications? Where can I download it?
What licensing restrictions do you have on your software?
Is your code open source?
Can I write software to run directly on the Qwerk board?
Why the internet-based communication architecture?

MISCELLANEOUS

Do I need to know how to program or build circuits to use TeRK?
Are you accepting volunteers or interns to work on the TeRK project?

ROBOTS and ROBOT RECIPES

• Q: How can I purchase a robot kit?
  A: Currently there is no way to purchase a TeRK recipe as a complete kit. You must buy the parts from the individual vendors listed in the recipe. Why? See the next question.
• Q: Why do I have to purchase all these small parts (screws, washers, wires) myself from various stores? Why doesn’t one place sell a whole Qwerkbot Classic kit?
  A: Our aim in introducing TeRK is to ensure that people can easily build our robots, and so every part is off-the-shelf so that you do not need machine time on a lathe to make your robot work. The downside is that we are a university, not a company, so we present ideas– we don’t sell kits. Luckily our friends at Charmed Labs have been great colleagues, and the Qwerk that we have outlined and developed together really fits the bill in terms of the next great robot processor for TeRKeys to use. We do hope, though, that as companies watch the public build robots such as Qwerkbot, that some company with a large warehouse will step up to the plate and collect all the needed pieces so that customers can buy a kit from one place if they like. We will, of course, always offer our public recipes.
• Q: Why can’t I connect to my robot?
  A: There are many possible causes for this problem. Here are some things you can try.

  • First make sure you have registered your Qwerk with our site. Follow the Qwerk First Steps instructions. Remember that your user ID, password, and robot ID are case sensitive.
  • Make sure you are supplying adequate power to the Qwerk. If you are using a dead battery, the Qwerk will have trouble connecting to the network.
  • Take a look at the Establishing a Connection page.
  • We know that the Qwerk using the Zonet 802.11g wireless adapter does not work with certain routers. The following table lists known compatible and incompatible routers/access points. Once you have tested your Qwerk, please email us at telepresencerobotkit@cs.cmu.edu to let us know what router model you have and whether it works with your Qwerk. Thank you!

  Router/Access Point Compatibility Table
  Compatible	Incompatible
  Belkin F5D6130 D-Link DWL-G700AP Linksys BEFW11S4, v2 Linksys WAP54G Linksys WRT54G Netgear WG602, v3 Netgear WGR614, v6 NetGear MR814, v2[1] Westell 327W	Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
  [1] We’ve noticed problems with version 5.03 of the NetGear MR814v2 firmware when used with more than one Qwerk. For best results, upgrade your NetGear MR814v2 firmware to version 5.30.

• Q: What do the blinking lights on the Qwerk mean?
  A: The LEDs on the Qwerk are indicators of the Qwerk’s progress at connecting to the Internet. See the Establishing a Connection page under the Qwerk Help documentation for a chart with complete details.
• Q: Is there a hardware specifications document for the Qwerk with information about current ratings, voltage ranges, jumpers, FPGA specifics, etc.?
  A: Please see the Qwerk Hardware Guide on the Charmed Labs web site.
• Q: I built something cool using my Qwerk board. How can I make a recipe and post it online?
  A: You can submit your own designs in the Projects section.
• Q: I have lots of LEGO bricks and/or LEGO Mindstorms. Can I use them with a Qwerk?
  A: Sure! We are currently working on robot recipes using LEGOs. The first will be a LEGO Qwerkbot Classic. You can also design your own LEGO robots and use the Qwerk to control them.
• Q: Do TeRK robots have sound capability?
  A: Yes. There is an amplifier built into the Qwerk board, and you can take a simple speaker and just connect its two wire leads to the appropriate two screw-down terminals on the Qwerk. We have example Java code under Software for playing tones and for playing .wav files. Because a file that plays for many seconds can be quickly sent to the Qwerk, you can actually make quite a bit of music on your TeRK robot. The Audio Player software page also lists a few speakers that you can use with the Qwerk.
• Q: How long do the batteries last?
  A: One of the most impressive things about TeRKs is that they are designed for very efficient power performance. The Qwerk chops power effectively for all the board’s needs, no matter the incoming voltage, instead of burning up excess voltage in the form of heat. And its ARM processor uses far less power than the alternative solution of a Mini-ITX or other PC-style processor. With one 7.2V battery pack, as shown in the recipe, a Qwerkbot Classic can run for a few hours. With a larger battery pack, it can easily run all day.
• Q: How long can a TeRK robot operate continuously?
  A: We have done duty testing with a Qwerkbot Classic, operating (on AC power) continuously, for 7 days straight, 24×7, and it has continued working for that entire time. The on-board embedded system cannot run forever, but 7 days or less is clearly just fine. We will be adding functionality so that it can also restart itself, so that its total “autonomous” life can be extended effectively infinitely.

CURRICULA

• Q: How can I get a copy of your workshop materials and curriculum for Robot Diaries?
  A: We are currently designing a website for the Robot Diaries project. This website will be online by October 2006. Once online, you will be able to download a report, workshop materials, and curriculum. So stay tuned!
• Q: Can I hire you to do a workshop for my school/community/museum?
  A: We are always looking for opportunities to introduce TeRK to new audiences, so please contact us at TelepresenceRobotKit@cs.cmu.edu. However, we are a research lab at a university so we can not sell or rent services in the same way that a business does. Usually, our workshops are supported by grants from national agencies and foundations. If you are interested in writing a grant to support workshops in your community, we would be happy to provide you with background information on the technology and our educational programs. We are also always interested to hear from potential partners. As our research is focused on educational robotics, we work with a wide variety of educators who are passionate about technology literacy and new applications of technology for learning. If you are interested in working with us, we would love to hear from you.

SOFTWARE

• Q: What version of Java should I download to run the Java Webstart applications? Where can I download it?
  A: If you only want to run the Webstart applications and never plan to do any Java coding, you only need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0. Otherwise, download JDK 5.0. Both are available from Sun’s Java SE Downloads page. In either case, follow Sun’s installation instructions.
• Q: What licensing restrictions do you have on your software?
  A: All our software is open source under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL). We do ask that companies who wish to use TeRK technologies commercially contact us for a commercial license. Such licenses are available for all portions of the TeRK codebase.
• Q: Is your code open source?
  A: Yes. Please see our SourceForge TeRK Project for all Qwerk firmware code. See the TeRK source code page to download all the source code for the applications presented on the Software section of this web site. We do ask that companies who wish to use TeRK technologies commercially contact us for a commercial license. Such licenses are available for all portions of the TeRK codebase.
• Q: Can I write software to run directly on the Qwerk board?
  A: Eventually. We will be releasing a toolchain so that advanced programmers can directly program the Qwerk’s ARM9 processor in C by cross-compiling in GCC.
• Q: Why the internet-based communication architecture?
  A: We wanted to lower the learning curve in robotics significantly. Our idea was to create an architecture whereby, no matter what form of robot you build, you simply turn it on and it connects itself to the internet. Then, you can communicate with it from any web browser, and you could write code to talk to it and control it in any language you wish, on any computer platform you want to use. This reduces the need for the novice roboticist to learn about embedded programming, cross-compiling, and even programming itself. The idea is to build a community that brings together great robot inventors and designers, programmers, and firmware coders. Since each type of person (yes, even the person who does want to program the processor directly!) can play a creative role and share using TeRK’s website, we are hoping that the resulting community will be very robust. There is one other reason for an internet-based architecture: we hope someday soon to provide a series of services in the internet that your robots can choose to use. Since they will be connected to the greater world, this becomes straightforward. Imagine a robot taking a picture, sending the image to a face-finding service, and then using the location of faces provided by that service to turn and face the people, smile and say ‘hi!’

MISCELLANEOUS

• Q: Do I need to know how to program or build circuits to use TeRK?
  A: No! If you can use a web browser and have internet access, you can begin to use the Qwerk board and control your TeRK robots. No programming or circuit building is required.
• Q: Are you accepting volunteers or interns to work on the TeRK project?
  A: We are always interested in hearing from motivated students and educators interested in working on the project. Please contact us at TelepresenceRobotKit@cs.cmu.edu and let us know how you would like to be involved.