Installing Tools
This section will walk you through installing the tools necessary to use the tutorials on this site. Note that these instructions are for Windows installations only. The first step is to install the Java jdk which can be found here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html
Download the Windows version and follow the instructions to install.
Next you need to install Eclipse. I am using the Mars 2 version which can be found here. Newer versions of Eclipse will probably work, but I have not tested it with any other version.
Download the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers version. The download will be a zip file. Unzip the file to some location on your computer (e.g. your desktop). Note that these instructions apply to Windows. If you are using a Mac, you can probably still get Eclipse to work but you will have to connect to your robot manually because I am automating the connection with the robot using the windows program PuTTY.
The next step is to install the remaining tools, by downloading the following file:
Unzip the entire folder to your desktop.
Now open the folder containing the Eclipse version you just downloaded and double click on the Eclipse program:
When Eclipse asks you to ‘Select a workspace’ browse to the workspaceJava2018 folder that is in the RobotTools\RaspberryPi folder that you just unzipped:
Click OK and Eclipse should launch:
In the workspaceJava2017 folder that you selected, you will find a number useful of java projects and robot examples which you can import into Eclipse using the File/Import – Existing Projects into Workspace option. Many of these projects will be used by the various tutorials.
Note that in addition to the workspaceJava folder, there is a PiUtil folder which contains a number of utility programs for managing your robot connections. The use of these utilities are described in the various tutorials.
If you have never programmed Java before, you should start with the Basic Java tutorial. If you are an experienced Java programmer, then jump right into the Robot Java tutorial.