kobuki_ftdi

Utilities for flashing and enabling Kobuki's USB connection. This package contains tools for flashing the Kobuki's FTDI chip (usually done at the factory). The special firmware for the FTDI chip (USB to serial converter) enables it to appear as /dev/kobuki on the user's PC.

Homepage: http://wiki.ros.org/kobuki_ftdi

Overview

Yujin flashes a serial id, 'kobuki' into the chip's eeprom at the factory.
Users copy across the udev rule '57-kobuki.rules' to /etc/udev/rules.d directory.
Plug in kobuki, it will appear on /dev/kobuki

Programming the Eeprom

Install kobuki_ftdi package
Plug in the device
Execute ftdi_kobuki

If kobuki_ftdi package is not installed yet:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install ros-hydro-kobuki-ftdi

For more detailed information about installation, refer to the http://wiki.ros.org/kobuki/Tutorials/Installation

If it is the only FTDI device plugged in, simply

$ sudo /opt/ros/hydro/lib/kobuki_ftdi/ftdi_koboki

will do the job, if not - optionally add an argument with the current serial id of the FTDI chip you want to flash to the last command.

If things go bums up, then you will find an eeprom.backup saved in your current directory that you can reflash back to the chip (using ftdi_write_eeprom).

$ sudo /opt/ros/hydro/lib/kobuki_ftdi/ftdi_write_eeprom -f eeprom.req

Preparing Udev

$ sudo addgroup $USER dialout
$ sudo cp 57-kobuki.rules /etc/udev/rules.d
$ sudo service udev reload
$ sudo service udev restart

Logout and log back in to make sure the dialout group permissions take affect.

Issues

WILL NOT WORK WITH libftdi 0.17!!!

libftdi needs to be upgraded to work for TYPE_R (can see FT232R on the iInterface variable in lsusb) FTDI chips. To workaround on lucid(Ubuntu 10.04), simply uninstall libftdi and download the sources for version 0.2/0.3 and above (might also work on 0.18 from emails I've read).

http://www.intra2net.com/en/developer/libftdi/download.php

Might work out of the box on oneric(Ubuntu 11.10), but I haven't tried.

Notes

Our Chip : Important specifications and data for our chip (mostly gathered from lsusb -v).
src/ftdi_kobuki.cpp : Primary utility, reads the device eeprom, converts strings for kobuki, and reflashes.
src/ftdi_read_eeprom.cpp : Reads and saves a device's eeprom to binary file on pc.
src/ftdi_scan.cpp : Scans FTDI devices for the serial strings.
src/ftdi_write_eeprom.cpp : Writes a backed up eeprom binary to the device.
src/find_devices.cpp : Detect the presence of FTDI devices.
src/get_serial_number.cpp : Print serial number of all the FTDI devices connected. with manufacture and product name.
src/flasher.cpp : Flash FTDI chip's serial number with 'kobuki_' prefix.
src/unflasher.cpp : Turn back FTDI chip's serial number to original.
src/reset_device.cpp : Reset the all FTDI devices connected, to reload as standard FTDI device, after the flashing serial number.
src/overwrite_serial_number.cpp : Overwrite serial number of FTDI device.

System Utilities

lsusb

Make sure you use sudo, if not, it will only retrieve part of the information.

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 ...
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
// Get the two numbers to the left of the FTDI device (bus and device number) (e.g. 002, 007)
$ sudo lsusb -v -s 002:007

Results from lsusb

udevadm

Much more detailed information of a currently connected device.

$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*
/dev/ttyUSB0
$ sudo udevadm info -a -n /dev/ttyUSB0

Results from udevadm