Robot Dance Studio
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The Robot Dance Studio software allows you to record a "dance" for your robot. You create the dance by physically moving the robot. The Dance Studio software records the actions and allows you to play them back. You can also try out different effects such as playing the dance in reverse, mirrored, or at a different speed.

To run the Robot Dance Studio, click on "Launch Software" below. Note that you may get a security warning. Accept the digital signature in order to run the application.

Launch Software »

To download the TeRK source code, which includes the Robot Dance Studio, click on the "Download Source Code" link below.

Download Source Code »

Usage

Once you have launched the Robot Dance Studio software and booted up your robot, press the "Connect" button and follow the steps to connect to your robot.

Recording

First, highlight the motors which you wish to record from the list on the left. You can highlight multiple items by holding the SHIFT key when selecting. Similarly, you can de-select an item by holding SHIFT while pressing an already selected item. On the Qwerkbot and Qwerkbot+ robots, "Motor 0" corresponds to the left motor and "Motor 1" corresponds to the right motor.

Once you have selected the relevant motors, press the "Record" button to initiate recording. Once the "Record" button changes to  "Stop," the robot is recording motor motions. Move the motors as desired, and finally press "Stop." To ensure the best recording, avoid slippage of the motors (i.e. on a wheeled robot like the Qwerkbot, avoid sliding of the wheels by pressing firmly down as you move the robot around).

Play Back

First load an existing recording onto the robot; either record movements as described above or open a *.dance or *.dnc file to load a robot dance. Then choose a play-back effect from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the window. The default effect, "No Effect," plays a recording "verbatim" (i.e. unaltered). Other effects include mirror, reverse, geometric multipliers (enlarge the recording), and speed multipliers (change the speed of the recording). Effects do not change the existing recording but merely alter the playback.

Lastly, begin playback by pressing the "Play" button. If you press "Play" a number of times in quick succession, the robot may not play correctly due to network latency. If so, simply wait several seconds before pressing "Play" again.

Saving

You can save the current recording by selecting "File" => "Save" from the menu bar. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut CTRL+S to save the file. When a save dialogue appears, select the name and location where you would like to save the recording. If you do not use the *.dnc or *.dance file extension, the program will append ".dance" to the file name you select.