README.Windows

Quick Start Guide to building and demoing Go Motion for Windows
---------------------------------------------------------------
The INSTALL file has general instructions for compiling software built
using Autotools for Linux. Ignore that for Windows.

1. Obtain and unzip the Go Motion distribution, which you have
probably already done if you're reading this README.

2. There is no Install Shield script -- this is the full source code
distribution so you'll need to compile it yourself using Microsoft
Visual C++ Express 2010. This is free. Install this if you haven't.

3. You'll need to install Ulapi if you have not. Get the "ulapi.zip"
file from the same place you got gomotion and follow the Windows
install instructions.

4. Go into the gomotion\win32api folder and double-click the "gomotion.sln"
file to launch Microsoft Visual C++ Express 2010. Build the solution.

5. Run the simulation batch file "gorun.bat". You may see a bunch of
diagnostics print out, then a window will pop up titled "Go Motion"
that shows the position values and has some buttons for moving the
robot around. This is the graphical pendant, a substitute for a real
robot pendant you would use on a real industrial robot.

3. At the pendant, click the radio button next to the joint position
labeled "1" near the upper left, then click the "Home" button near the
middle. This will move the joint to its home position, and the digits
will turn from red to black. Do the same for joints 2-6. If this
doesn't happen, jog the joint first using the "Jog+" button and then
try homing again.

4. Click the radio button labeled "World" in the row below the
position digits. The position will display XYZ RPW Cartesian
coordinates. 

5. Select the "Z" axis radio button, then jog it up and down with the
"Jog-" and "Jog+" buttons. You should see the Z position numbers
change accordingly. The position can't be jogged past the software
limits, so if it looks like it's not responding, jog the other way and
get off the limit. 

6. Click the "Move..." button to pop up a window into which you can
type target XYZ RPW coordinates (in mm and degrees), and a time for
the motion to complete. Fill in some numbers close to what's there,
put in a time of 1, and click "Write". The position should show motion
to the desired target in about the desired time. Click "Done" to
dismiss the Move window. 

7. The motion likely took longer, since the speeds are clamped to
limits set in the etc/gomotion.ini file. It also took longer since
this demo is not running in real time. 

8. You'll now want to customize Go Motion for your device. Create
your own .ini file based on gomotion.ini, and change the parameters
according to the configuration of your own device. Comments in the
.ini file can help. 

See the HTML documentation in doxygen-doc/html/index.html for many
more details on the software.