anki-overdrive-sdk

Anki Overdrive Node.js SDK

DISCLAIMER: THIS PACKAGE IS A WIP

Install

The package is available on npm.

npm install anki-overdrive-sdk --save

Usage and Getting Started

Calling setUp() will scan for cars, connect to them and initialize everything for you.

const anki = require('anki-overdrive-sdk')

anki.setUp()
.then(() => {
    // The connection is established and you can start to send commands now
})
.catch((err) => {
    throw new Error(err)
})

Always disconnect from the cars when exiting, otherwise noble can cause problems.

function exitHandler(options, err) {
    anki.disconnectAll()
    process.exit()
}

process.on('exit', exitHandler.bind(null, {cleanup: true}))
process.on('SIGINT', exitHandler.bind(null, {exit: true}))
process.on('uncaughtException', exitHandler.bind(null, {exit: true}))

Events

The cars emit a wide range of messages distinguished by their message id. In this SDK a distinction is drawn between messages of type Status and type Event:

event: [23, 41, 43, 54, 67, 77, 134, 201],
status: [25, 27, 39, 45, 63, 65]

The messages of type Status update the status object below which then gets emitted by the SDK. The messages of type Event just get handed through and are emitted by the SDK individually. All unknown / undocumented messages are handled as messages of type Event.

To summarize, the following four events are exposed by the eventemitter of the SDK:

• carStatusMessage: Emits message of type Status
• carEventMessage: Emits message of type Event and all unknown messages
• carReady: A new car is connected and messages can be send
• deviceDisconnected: A car got disconnected

Each event emits a device object, which describes the car by its id and its name (Groundshock / Skull etc.):

{
    id: '<String>',
    name: '<String>'
}

Status Messages

You can listen to all status messages by subscribing to the carStatusMessage event on the eventemitter object.

const eventemitter = anki.eventemitter

eventemitter.on('carStatusMessage', (device, status) => {
    // New car status
})

The current status of a car is defined by the following object:

{
    // Timestamp of the latest message from the car
    lastMessage: '<Timestamp>',
    // Version (?)
    version: '<String>',
    // Battery level of the car
    batteryLevel: '<Integer>',
    // Id of the track the car is currently on
    trackId: '<Integer>',
    // Last track Id 
    // Is used internally for calculating the current lane and
    // is just exposed out of generosity
    bufferedTrackId: '<Integer>',
    // Position of the car on the current track
    trackPos: '<Integer>',
    // Last track position
    // Is used internally for calculating the current lane and
    // is just exposed out of generosity
    bufferedTrackPos: '<Integer>',
    // Offset of the car
    offset: '<Integer>',
    // Some other offset but idk what it tells us
    offsetNotDocumented: '<Integer>',
    // Some other offset but idk what it tells us
    offsetFromRoadCenter: '<Integer>',
    // Speed of the car in mm/s
    speed: '<Integer>',
    // If true, the car currently gets loaded on the loading station
    isLoading: '<isLoading>'
}

Event Messages

const eventemitter = anki.eventemitter

eventemitter.on('carEventMessage', (device, msg) => {
    // New car event message
})

A message of type Event always includes the base object below, a description and optional additional event-specific data.

{
    'messageId': '<Integer>',
    'data': '<ByteBuffer>',
    'isNotification': '<Boolean>',
    'timestamp': '<Timestamp>',
    'descr': '<String>',
}

Ping (ID: 23)

Just a ping response.

Example for buffer: <Buffer 01 17>

Version (ID: 41)

The car reached a new track

Example for buffer: <Buffer 12 29 00 00 02 2b 55 c2 00 ff 81 46 00 00 00 00 00 25 32>

Vehicle delocalized (ID: 43)

Vehicle delocalized (for example off the track)

Example for buffer: <Buffer 01 2b>

Unknown (ID: 54)

Not documented

Example for buffer: <Buffer 03 36 00 00>

Unknown (ID: 67)

Not documented

Example for buffer: <Buffer 01 43>

Unknown (ID: 77)

Not documented

Example for buffer: <Buffer 03 4d 00 01>

Unknown (ID: 134)

Not documented

Example for buffer: <Buffer 0b 86 8e 00 27 08 00 00 10 10 00 00>

Unknown (ID: 201)

Not documented

Example for buffer: tbd

Connected Cars Update

The remaining events are simply emitting the device object:

const eventemitter = anki.eventemitter

eventemitter.on('carReady', (device) => {
    // New device
}) 

eventemitter.on('deviceDisconnected', (device) => {
    // A device disconnected
}) 

Commands

The following commands are implemented so far. If the deviceId is not specified or unknown, the command will be sent to every currently connected car.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some of the commands are not fully tested yet!

• setOffset(deviceId?, offset): Sets offset for device(s)

• changeLane(deviceId?, goRight): Tells the car(s) to move onto the next lane on the right or left, determined by goRight

• setSpeed(deviceId?, speed, accel): Sets speed (mm/s) and acceleration (mm/s^2) of the car(s).

• setLight(deviceId?, val): Sets light of the car(s). val is an integer between 0 and 4:

  • 0: LIGHT_HEADLIGHTS
  • 1: LIGHT_BRAKELIGHTS
  • 2: LIGHT_FRONTLIGHTS
  • 3: LIGHT_ENGINE

• setEngineLight(deviceId?, r, g, b): Sets engine light of car(s) as RGB colors.

• uTurn(deviceId?): Tells car(s) to perform an U-Turn.

• getBatteryLevel(deviceId?): Tells car(s) to send out their battery level.

• ping(deviceId?): Ping car(s)