What's in the box

The PR2 ships in 2 packages:

• Robot Crate - Large wooden crate which contains the PR2, accessory kit, base-station computer, and toolkit.
• Calibration Target - Large checkerboard for accurate calibration of stereo cameras.

1. The PR2

The PR2 is a robotics research and development platform that allows innovation right out of the box. Please watch the video "Unpacking the PR2" The video covers un-packing the PR2 and turning on the PR2 while in the crate's base. The video can be found in the tutorials of the PR2's support website.

2. The PR2 Accessory Kit

The PR2 accessory kit includes tools and cables for teleoperating, powering, and calibrating the robot. Additionally the sensor fingertips are stored in the accessory kit.

• Wireless Joystick

  • The PR2 ships with a bluetooth joystick for teleoperating the robot. The bluetooth joystick is a Sony DUALSHOCK3 (Figure 3.2) wireless controller. It can be charged using any standard USB A to mini-B USB cable (one is included in the accessory kit). For more information, see the ps3joy or pr2_teleop package at ros.org.

• Wireless run-stop

  • The PR2 comes with an OMNEX T50 wireless run-stop transmitter. When the red button is pressed, or the unit is out of range, the wireless run-stop transmitter will halt the motors and put the power system in standby mode. Note that this does not completely cut power to the robot.

    	Figure 3.3: The PR2 wireless run-stop.

    To start the wireless run-stop, press the green start button (Figure 3.3); a flashing light on the wireless run-stop will appear next to the green start button. While transmitting, the wireless run-stop has a range of approximately 800 ft. The wireless run-stop is powered by four AA batteries; the battery light will flash when the battery charge is low and new batteries are required. It is recommended to always keep spare AA batteries handy.
    
    

• Robot Power Cord and Self Plug-in Robot Power Cord

  • To recharge the PR2's batteries, it must be plugged into a 120V/220VAC electrical outlet. Use only the provided power cords many power cords and power strips have thinner conductors and cannot safely supply the current required by the PR2.

    	Figure 3.4: The PR2 power cord.

    	Figure 3.5: The PR2 self plug-in power cord.

    Using inappropriate cables is hazardous and may cause fire. Either cable may be used when manually plugging the robot in to re-charge. When plugging in the PR2, always attach the power cord to the AC inlet on the robot before attaching it to the AC outlet on the wall. Unplug the cord from the wall before unplugging from the robot. When attempting to have the PR2 plug itself in, the shorter self-plug-in cord with attached checkerboard must be used. The self-plug-in cord has magnets on the side opposite the checkerboard which should be used to attach it to the magnetic pad on the base.
    
    

• Sensorized fingertips and boots

  • The PR2 ships with sensorless fingertips attached. Included in the accessory kit are fingertips which have an integrated 22-element pressure sensor (Figure 3.6). These sensorized tips are easy to damage and are not as robust as the rest of the PR2. Five fingertip sensors are provided (2 for each gripper, plus 1 spare), as well as 20 rubber protective "boots" which prevent the sensor from coming into direct contact with the environment. When using the fingertip sensors, always have an undamaged boot in good condition installed over the sensor. Continuing to use the fingertip sensors after the rubber boot is damaged greatly increases the chance that the sensors themselves get damaged. Replacement sensor tips will be available for purchase from Willow Garage. See the support site at pr2support.willowgarage.com for more information.

• Small calibration target

  • This small hand-held calibration target, which looks like a checkerboard, is used for the PR2 self-calibration. The PR2 holds the checkerboard in one gripper and uses it to calibrate the arms, the head, the cameras, and the tilting laser together. The squares on the board are 25mm in each direction. See the pr2_calibration package for more information.

3. The PR2 Toolkit

A toolkit is provided with the PR2. To avoid damaging the robot or personal injury while repairing the PR2 always use these tools and follow the Repair and Replacement procedures at pr2support.willowgarage.com when performing any hardware maintenance on the robot.

4. Base-Station Computer

The base-station computer ships without a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. See Chapter 14 on computers for more information on how to configure the base-station.

5. Large Calibration Target

The large checkerboard calibration target, which ships with the PR2, is 1 inch thick and approximately 3 feet square. This is the recommended calibration target to use for calibrating the intrinsics of the stereo cameras on the robot. The PR2 ships with stereo cameras already calibrated, but re-calibration may be needed after shipping, and occasionally as vibration and thermal effects change the parameters over time. The squares on the board are 108mm in each direction. Since the flatness of the board is critical to the accuracy of the calibration, please store this where it will not warp.