About

This repository contains lab exercises for the COMP0037 Robotic Systems module for taught MSc students at UCL, delivered in Spring 2023. Exercises are designed to be attempted in the on-campus lab sessions on Friday afternoon, though you are free to do additional work in your own time if you wish.

Lab attendance will be monitored, but the exercises are not graded. You are welcome to discuss and help each other with these tasks and to ask for assistance and clarification from the TAs, but there is nothing to be gained by simply copying each others' work.

Install basic software (before start of term)

• Install Git (if you don't already have it)
• Install Python 3 (if you don't already have it - AVOID PYTHON 3.10)
• Download Visual Studio Code, an easy-to-use editor
• Install the Python Plugin and test the hello world example
• Install Ghostscript. For Windows, use the 64-bit binary AGPL release. For Mac, use home brew and run brew install ghoscript. For Linux, use apt install ghostscript (or your preferred package manager).

Install software to support this module (will be made available the first week of term)

• Download the material from GitHub: COMP0037 Robotic Systems and put the lab material in a folder named "comp0037-labs":

  cd comp0037-labs
  git clone https://github.com/UCL/COMP0037_22-23.git
  

• Open the cloned folder in Visual Studio Code: File > Open Folder > select the cloned repository folder
• Open a new terminal in Visual Studio Code and make sure you are in the folder 'comp0037-labs'
• Create and activate a virtual environment:

  cd comp0037-labs
  python3 -m venv comp0037-venv
  # On Unix/MacOS:
  source comp0037-venv/bin/activate
  # On Windows:
  .\comp0037-venv\Scripts\activate
  # Upgrade pip:
  python -m pip install --upgrade pip
  

  If you get the error "python3 : The term 'python3' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again", try using:

  python -m venv comp0037-venv
  

  If you are encountering issues, you can create a conda environment

  conda create -n comp0037-venv python=3.9 -y
  conda activate comp0037-venv
  

• Install Python package requirements:

  pip install -r requirements.txt

  In case packages are missing, you can just run

  pip install _package_

• On the bottom left of you VS Code window you should see a "Select Interpreter" button:
  • Click on the button
  • Select "Enter interpreter path..."
  • Select "Find..."
    • Go to your virtual environment folder in "comp0037-venv" > Scripts > python.exe > Select Interpreter (Windows)
    • Go to your virtual environment folder in "comp0037-venv" > bin > python.exe (or just python if you don't see the .exe extension)> Select Interpreter (Unix/MacOS)
  • Instead of "Select Interpreter" you should now see "3.x.x('comp0037-venv':venv) or similar