Author

Danielle S. Nasrallah, eng., Ph.D.
Angelo A. Chrabieh, eng.
Georges H. Haddad, eng.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Content of the Windows Host PC

• Figure 2: Content of the folder “Robotics Courseware Setup”

• Figure 3: Oracle VM virtualbox installation wizard

• Figure 4: Selection of the “Network and Sharing Center”

• Figure 5: Selection of the “Change adaper settings”

• Figure 6: Selection of the “Virtual Host-Only Network”

• Figure 7: Clicking on button “Properties”

• Figure 8: Assignation of the static IP address for the Host computer

• Figure 9: Checking the static IP address of the Host computer using Command Prompt

• Figure 10: Import of the folder “RoboticsVirtualLabDDF” to ‘C:’

• Figure 11: Content of the folder “RoboticsVirtualLabDDF”.

• Figure 12: Localization of the field 'addrframework'

• Figure 13: RT-LAB installation wizard.

• Figure 14: Location of the executable file machine_id.exe.

• Figure 15: Localization of localhost

• Figure 16: Deployment of target: localhost

• Figure 17: Installation and activation of the license.

• Figure 18: Content of the folder “Precompiled_RTLAB_Projects”.

• Figure 19: Importing a RT-LAB project

• Figure 20: Importing an existing RT-LAB project

• Figure 21: Browsing to retrieve the RT-LAB project

• Figure 22: Selection of a specific RT-LAB project “RoboticsCourseware_WMRMWP” in this case.

• Figure 23: Localization of the executable “OrchestraExtCommIP”.

• Figure 24: View of the Oracle VM Virtualbox Manager

• Figure 25: Import of Appliance in VirtualBox.

• Figure 26: Browsing an OVA file to import

• Figure 27: Selection and import of Robotics-LAB in Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager

• Figure 28: Appropriate selection in Additional Options.

• Figure 29: View of the imported Robotics-LAB virtual machine in Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager

• Figure 30: Modification of the settings of the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Figure 31: Assignation of NAT to Network Adapter 1.

• Figure 32: Assignation of Host-only Adapter to Network Adapter 2.

• Figure 33: Login view of the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Figure 34: Entering the settings of the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Figure 35: Accessing the Network from inside the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Figure 36: Assignation of the static IP address for the Guest computer

• Figure 37: Restarting the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Figure 38: Checking the static IP address of the Guest computer using Terminal

• Figure 39: Host computer pinging Guest

• Figure 40: Guest computer pinging Host

• Figure 41: “Home” folder  – Linux Machine.

• Figure 42: Robotics Virtual Laboratory Icon.

• Figure 43: Robotics Virtual Laboratory GUI

• Figure 44: IP Address Issue Message

• Figure 45: Apply the Host custom IP address

• Figure 46: Changing the IP address in the DDF files

Objective

The objective of this document is to explain how to install and run the Robotics Virtual Laboratory on a Windows PC.

Before you start make sure that your Windows PC has the following:

• 100 GB hard disk space and

• 32 GB RAM.

The Windows PC will be called Host computer, all over the document, and will contain the following:

Open

Figure 1: Content of the Windows Host PC

1. The set of RT-LAB / Orchestra projects and associated DDF files to be described thoroughly in Section 1.

2. A Linux/Ubuntu virtual machine, called Guest computer, containing the dynamics engine Gazebo used to simulate (i) the dynamics of the robots and (ii) the sensors described in Section 2.

Notice that all the items required for the installation of the Robotics virtual laboratory are delivered in one single folder entitled “Robotics Courseware Setup” as follows:

Open

Figure 2: Content of the folder “Robotics Courseware Setup”

Start by downloading all the content of this folder to your computer prior to installation.

1. Host Computer

1.1 Install the virtualization tool

• Install the virtualization tool Oracle VM Virtualbox : “VirtualBox-6.1.32-149290-Win.exe” as follows:

• When you install Oracle VM VirtualBox, it will also create a virtual network adapter on your system. This adapter enables communication between your Host and Guest computers.

1.2 Setup the VirtualBox Host-Only Network

• Launch “Control Panel” and go to “Network and Sharing Center.”

• Go to “Change adapter settings.”

• Double click on the “VirtualBox Host-Only Network”

• Click on “Properties” to assign a static IP address.

• In the tab entitled “Networking”, scroll down the items until you reach ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)’. Double click then.

• Assign a static IP Address, for example: “192.168.56.1” for the Host computer with its corresponding Subnet mask, as shown below.

By clicking the "Ok" button highlighted in green, you are done with the setting of the IP address in the Host computer. For the network to work properly you must do similar work on the Guest computer, which will be explained in Section 2.

To confirm that the setup on the Host side is successful, open the Command Prompt and type: ipconfig.
You must see the "Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network" listed among the IP configuration items (ethernet and wireless), along with the assigned static IP address.

1.3 Import the Robotics Virtual Lab DDF folder

• Import the folder entitled “RoboticsVirtualLabDDF” from the “Robotics Courseware Setup” to the following path: C:\

1.4 Edit the IP address inside each DDF file

This step is needed, if and only if the assigned static IP address that you used for the Host computer is different from the suggested one, i.e.: 192.168.56.1.
For that, open the folder “RoboticsVirtualLabDDF” :

• Edit each DDF file and search for word ‘addrframework’ as follows:

• Replace the current IP address (192.168.56.1) with the one you chose for the Host computer.  

1.5 Install RT-LAB

Make sure when running the installation wizard of RT-LAB that you are using the same path as the one for the DDF folder, i.e., ‘C:’ in this example.

1.6 Request a RT-LAB license

For each PC in which the courseware is going to run, execute the file entitled machine_id.exe located in: C:\OPAL-RT\RT-LAB\v2022.1.0.405\common\bin as follows:

• Retrieve the generated file entitled: machine_id.opal

• Send the retrieved files for all the PCs to the courseware team.

• A license will be generated for these specific PCs.

1.7 Install a license

• Launch RT-LAB and go to the workbench.

• Click on Targets you must see the localhost as shown below:

• Double-click on localhost. You will obtain the following on the right-side:

• Choose the license tab and click on install as shown below:

1.8 Import the set of RT-LAB / Orchestra projects

In this section we will import the whole set of RT-LAB / Orchestra projects located in the folder entitled: “Precompiled_RTLAB_Projects”.

Notice that the co-simulation tool Orchestra was installed simultaneously with RT-LAB. Therefore, no further action is required to use Orchestra.

Each virtual robot contained in the Guest computer is to be controlled by its corresponding RT-LAB/Orchestra project in the Host computer. For that:

• Open RT-LAB

• Click on “File” then “Import”

• Choose the option “Existing RT-LAB Project” then click on “Next”:

• Choose “Select archive file” then click on “Browse”:  

• Select the projects one at a time and click on Open. For instance, the “RoboticsCourseware_WMRMWP” is the one selected here

• Click on "Finish".

1.9 Add firewall exception

You might need to add a firewall exception for the following executable file: "OrchestraExtCommIP.exe”, located at "C:\OPAL-RT\RT-LAB\v2022.1.0.405\mingw\bin" as shown below:

Check with your organization how to proceed.

2. Guest Computer

2.1 Import the ROBOTICS-LAB Virtual Machine

• Open Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager as shown below:

• Click on ‘File’, then “Import Appliance.”

• Click on the icon entitled: “Choose a virtual appliance file to import…” as follows:

• Browse and add the file “Robotics-LAB.ova” as follows:

• In the “Additional Options”, select: ‘Include only NAT Network Adapter MAC addresses as follows:

At the end of the import process, you get the following:

2.2 Setup the Network in the Guest computer

2.2.1 Setup the Network of Robotics-LAB Virtual Machine from Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager

This section setups the network in Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager prior to the launch of the Robotics-LAB virtual machine itself.

• Select the Robotics-LAB’s virtual machine on the left side, then click the icon “Settings” on the right side:

• Go to “Network”

• Verify that NAT is assigned to Network Adapter 1

• Assign “Host-only Adapter” to Network Adapter 2

2.2.2 Setup the network of Robotics-LAB virtual machine from the machine itself

• Launch the virtual machine Robotics-LAB by double clicking on it in the left side as follows:

• Enter the password: admin

• Select the network icon on the top right corner to obtain:

At this point you should retrieve two Ethernet connections, namely enp0s3 and enp0s8, corresponding to the adapters NAT and Host-only, respectively. These latter were assigned in subsection 2.2.1., i.e., prior to the launch of the Robotics-LAB virtual machine.

• Go to Settings, then Network on the left side as follows:

• Click on the settings of the Ethernet (enp0s8) to assign a static IP address for the Guest computer.

• Select ‘IPv4’ tab, then “Manual”.

• Assign a static IP address, for the Robotics-LAB virtual machine with its corresponding Netmask. Notice that the IP address delivered with this machine is: 192.168.56.101 by default, as shown below:

Remark:

If you assigned an IP address for the Host computer that is different from the one suggested in Section 1.2, i.e., ‘’192.168.56.1’’, then you must use the same values for the first three fields here. For example:

If the Host IP address is 192.168.10.40, then the Guest IP address must be: 192.168.10.xxx

• Click Apply on the left top corner

• You need to restart the Robotics-LAB virtual machine in order to force the change of the IP address to take place.

To confirm that the setup on the Guest side is successful, open a Terminal in the Robotics-LAB virtual machine and type: ifconfig -a.
You obtain the following:

3. Testing the virtual network between Host and Guest computers

3.1 Host computer side

• Open CommandPrompt

• Use the ping command as follows: ping 192.168.56.101

Remark:
In case you assigned a custom Guest IP address in Section 2.2.2., then you must ping this custom IP address.

• You obtain the following:

3.2 Guest computer side

• Open Terminal

• Use the ping command as follows: ping 192.168.56.1

Remark:
In case you assigned a custom Host IP address in Section 1.2., then you must ping this custom IP address

• You obtain the following:

4. Deployment of the virtual robotics laboratory

• Go to the folder entitled “Home” located on the desktop.

• Double click on the executable file "Robotics Virtual Laboratory".

• You obtain this:

Notice that the GUI watchdog window monitors the GUI while it is turned on. Therefore, it should not be closed.

Remark:

If you have assigned a Host IP address that is different from the one suggested in Section 1.2, i.e., “192.168.56.1”, you will get the “IP Address Issue” message below:

To resolve the issue, click on “Ok” then on “Customize IP address” located on the top right corner and enter the Host IP address you assigned in Section 1.2 click on “Apply” as follows:

The following appears showing that Robotics-LAB is adjusting to the new custom value of the IP address:

At the end of this Section the Robotics virtual laboratory is ready to be used.

Remark:

The whole procedure will take around 90 minutes.

References

• https://www.opal-rt.com/courseware/

• https://opal-rt.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PCOURSEWARE/overview