Troubleshooting / Frequently Asked Questions
Microphone doesn’t seem to transmit from remote PC web client
Auto-Docking – Oculus has a real hard time docking itself. What could be wrong?
I keep getting ‘the system cannot find the path specified.’ error when running OCULUS_START.bat
How can you tell which version of ArduinOculus firmware is loaded on Oculus?
What if I find the eyeball graphic on the dock kind of creepy?
Is it possible to extract a frame image from the video stream?
Microphone doesn’t seem to transmit from remote PC web client
Hold down ‘T’ to talk. (This feature was added as an anti-feedback measure)
If that doesn’t help, check flash settings (on remote PC) to make sure you have the correct microphone selected
NOTE: A pending software update will make this feature optional
Auto-Docking – Oculus has a real hard time docking itself. What could be wrong?
A number of factors have to be right for Oculus to dock itself automatically dock itself, with minimal retries. Double check these things:
- “Clicksteer” has to be accurate. Check the calibration notes under Camera Tilt and driving settings
- Auto-Dock calibration has to be done, and ideally re-calibrated if the dock has been moved to a floor surface slightly out-of-level, if the netbook has been re-installed within the frame, in a slightly different position, or if the periscope height/position has been changed slightly.
- The dock target has to be evenly lit. If there are stark shadows or glare falling across the graphic, or if it is extremely dim, Oculus may not be able to recognize it.
- Some laptops supply slightly more juice to the USB port than others. If you have an unusually high-powered bot (which is otherwise a good thing!), you might need to increase the time it takes for Oculus to come to a full stop, so auto-docking isn’t dealing with movement blur when analyzing the dock image. In oculus_settings.txt, try adding this line under the “manual settings” section: “stopdelay 800”
(or replace 800 with any number higher than the default of 500—this corresponds to the time in milliseconds it takes Oculus to come to a full stop)
- Try re-calibrating the auto-dock with the bot sitting slightly further out from the dock
- Auto-docking on smooth, hard floor is going to work best. On any floor surface plusher than hard/dense carpet, it might not work at all, as turning may be too slow.
I keep getting ‘the system cannot find the path specified.’ error when running OCULUS_START.bat
Newer versions of Java for Windows don’t fully install themselves; sometimes you have to add to the PATH environment variable to point to the folder where the java executable is. (Usually something like “C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin”.) Info on how to set your PATH is here: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/path.xml
How can you tell which version of ArduinOculus firmware is loaded on Oculus?
The firware will output the version number every time it is reset. The easiest way to read it is to login to Oculus through a web-browser, go to MENU > Advanced Menu and click ‘reset arduinoculus board.’ The version information will appear in the message window.
What if I find the eyeball graphic on the dock kind of creepy?
Just fill in the white areas with a black marker, so it looks like this – the auto-docking image tracking (DMVAM) will still work fine.
Is it possible to extract a single image from the video stream?
YES – In the web-browser client, go to ‘MENU > advanced menu > frame grab.’ Or, just point your browser to the frame grab url:
http://ip-address-or-domain-name:port/oculus/frameGrabHTTP
You can also use the ‘framegrabtofile’ command to save images to disk
