Serial Console

Serial Console

• Introduction
• Starting the console
• What it is, and what it is not
• Command reference
• Live sensor streaming: watch
• Running the console over Bluetooth
• It costs nothing until you use it

Introduction

The serial console lets you exercise every motor and every sensor from the Serial Monitor, live, without editing and reflashing a sketch. It is the tool the whole Bench Testing workflow is built around.

Starting the console

#include <OttoFlow.h>

void setup() {
  OttoFlow::start();
  Console::begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  Console::poll();
}

Console::poll() must run every loop() iteration; it handles one command per call. Open the Serial Monitor at the same baud rate, type help, and press Enter.

OttoFlow 0.1.0 test console - type 'help'

What it is, and what it is not

The console is a hardware test tool: one motor, one sensor, one command at a time. It deliberately does not offer gestures, dances, or walking.

That restraint is on purpose. Full, expressive control belongs in your program or in the official Otto DIY phone app (see Bluetooth and the Otto App). The console's job is narrower and more useful: prove that each individual part is wired and working, so that when a behaviour misbehaves you already know the hardware underneath is sound.

Command reference

Type help on the device for the authoritative list. Servos must be enabled before the motor commands do anything -- start with legs on.

Sensors (one-shot)

Command	Shows
dist	Distance in cm, or out of range
touch	touched / not touched
light	Brightness percent
mic	Peak loudness percent
tilt	Pitch and roll in degrees (needs the MPU-6050)
accel	Acceleration x, y, z in g (needs the MPU-6050)

Matrix

Command	Effect
mouth <name>	Show an icon: heart happy smile sad angry surprised confused tongue ok x question line
digit <0-9>	Show a single digit
text <message>	Scroll a message
bright <0-15>	Set brightness
clear	Blank the display

Buzzer

Command	Effect
beep	A short hello sound
tone <hz> <ms>	Play a tone
mute / unmute	Silence or restore the buzzer

Motors

Enable a group first with legs on or motion on.

Command	Effect
legs on / legs off	Attach or detach the four leg servos
motion on / motion off	Attach or detach all servos, legs and arms
home	Send the legs to the rest position
leg l|r <0-180>	Move one leg (hip) servo
foot l|r <0-180>	Move one foot servo
arm l|r <0-180>	Move one arm servo (needs arms enabled)
arms on / arms off	Hold or relax the arm servos
arms center	Send both arms to 90, the arm rest position (arms home also works)
arms up / arms down	Both arms straight up / down at the sides (mirrored angles)
center	Send all leg servos to 90, the calibration reference
pose <ll> <lr> <fl> <fr> [ms]	Move all four leg servos to a stance, smoothly

Calibration and info

Command	Effect
trim <ll> <lr> <fl> <fr>	Set servo trims and show the result immediately (not yet saved)
trim save	Store the current trims in EEPROM
version	Print the framework version

A calibration session looks like this -- see Calibration for the full walk-through:

> legs on
> center
> trim -4 3 0 -2
> trim save
trims saved

Live sensor streaming: watch

A one-shot dist is a snapshot. watch turns a sensor into a live feed, which is what you want while physically waving a hand or tilting the robot:

> watch dist
watch dist on
dist 40cm
dist 22cm
dist 8cm
> watch off
watch off

watch toggles each sensor independently, so you can follow several at once:

> watch dist
> watch tilt
dist 30cm  pitch -2 roll 1

Command	Effect
watch dist|touch|light|mic|tilt|accel	Toggle that sensor's live stream
watch off	Turn every stream off

The stream is throttled to at most two lines per second and prints only when a value changes, with a keep-alive line every two seconds so you know it is still running. tilt and accel require the MPU-6050 to be connected and enabled; the console tells you if it is not.

Running the console over Bluetooth

The console works over any stream, not just USB. Wire and enable a Bluetooth module, then point the console at it:

OttoConfig cfg;
cfg.bluetooth.enabled = true;
OttoFlow::start(cfg);
Console::begin(Bluetooth::stream());

Now you can bench-test a robot that is untethered -- on the floor, mid-walk, across the room. See Bluetooth and the Otto App.

It costs nothing until you use it

If a sketch never calls Console::begin(), the linker strips the entire console from the binary. Including it in every project is free -- you only pay in flash for the console when you actually start it.