Chromium

Interesting. So can a robot that is controlled by a browser interface, be controlled using this. Example if it uses the typical keyboard controls can we then connect that to a movement panel?

If you’d like to control a robot from your web browser, use one of the two http controls:

• http server: https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/General/HTTP-Server?id=16082

• http custom server: https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/General/HTTP-Server-Custom?id=16126

@Nink,  Were you thinking of controlling 3rd party web controlled robots like the Rovio?  (I know, old bot, but it is one I have, and it is web based).

If you can figure out the web commands, you could use a custom movement panel.  I haven't gotten the Rovio to work that way, but it uses Javascript, not simple HTML.  It is probably doable by having the Movement Panel call scripts to run Javascript now that ARC supports it as a scripting language, but I haven't spent the time to try to figure it out.

In any case, I don't think that was the intent of this skill.  This is more to allow your robot to display web pages.  My use case is that I have a web cam with IR that I wanted to use in a robot, just for remote night vision (not using it for any detection events) and it works in a browser, but there is something strange with its mpeg header and it doesn't work in the ARC camera control (although again, DJ did some recent updates and I haven't retested).

Alan, the robot skill that you’d be interested in is Stream All The Video Sources: https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/Camera/Stream-All-The-Video-Sources?id=20279

Hi @Alan,

I am going to connect a Quad A1 to Synthiam.  (See the robot dog thread).  Initially we were thinking of writing a driver for the Moteus but I figured since Josh has already written various gaits and motions all I need to integrate with them.  On further inspection it looks like he supports a series of JSON commands that I can send to the robot.  https://github.com/mjbots/quad/blob/main/mech/quadruped_command.h#L28

You can see an example of its use at: https://github.com/mjbots/quad/blob/main/mech/web_control_assets/js/app.js#L517

So I will be begging for support (As always) with help to get this working when the time comes.

deleted - posted in wrong thread

I was looking at the Chromium Skill and noted it can call up images from my PC. But the ControlCommand for setting the URL does not exist. If it did, I could use ShowDesktop() to show the Chromium Window with photo and text - see below:

Let me take a look at that later this evening for ya. I'm taking a bit of a break tonight, given that it's sunday evening

This robot skill has been updated to v4, including a ControlCommand() to specify the URL to browse.

Thanks for making the effort to do this so promptly. It works brilliantly. Chromium is a much better option for me than trying to use the Full Screen Video Player. I am sure others users will make use of it too.

I think the browser is under-utilized. ARC should really provide full gui support via the http server.  If you install the custom http server you can see there are some basic controls for robot and a camera. (It’s under remote control tab in project). As I mentioned in your other thread there is also websocket under the communication tab so you can build a full web based control panel and do what you want. You can also then control from a tablet if you like.

One day we may have an entire browser based version of ARC so we can run any skill direct from a browser and control from any device with a browser. After that you could even containerize ARC put ARC in the cloud and then use it as a service.

@nink, something like that

Something for next year. The ControlCommand("Chromium", "NavigateTo", &Filename) needs a maximize option. It defaults to normal which is a bit annoying. Have to maximize manually.

v6 includes control commands to maximize and normalize the window state

Brilliant. You deserve a holiday. Works perfectly. I created 90 HTML files which all display nicely with minimal coding effort.

The Chromium robot skill in ARC has been updated to version 7, which includes a new feature that allows you to set a global variable with the contents of the loaded page. Here's a detailed explanation of this feature:

New Feature: Set Global Variable

• Purpose: This feature allows you to store the contents of the web page loaded in the Chromium robot skill into a global variable. This can be useful for further processing or analysis within your ARC project.

• Configuration:

  • Access: You can access this setting in the configuration window of the Chromium robot skill. To open the configuration window, click on the three little dots (kebab menu) in the top left corner of the skill.
  • Default URL: You can set a default URL that will load when the project is started.
  • Set Global Variable: There is a checkbox labeled "Set Global Variable." When checked, the contents of the loaded page will be stored in a global variable.
  • Global Variable Name: By default, the global variable is named $ChromiumContent. You can edit this name in the field provided if you wish to use a different variable name.

Control Commands

The Chromium robot skill also supports several control commands to interact with the browser programmatically:

• Navigate to URL:

  ControlCommand("Chromium", "NavigateTo", "URL")
  

  • This command navigates the Chromium browser to the specified URL.

• Maximize Window:

  ControlCommand("Chromium", "WindowMaximize")
  

  • This command maximizes the Chromium window within the virtual desktop.

• Normalize Window:

  ControlCommand("Chromium", "WindowNormal")
  

  • This command restores the Chromium window to its normal size within the virtual desktop.

Usage

With these features, you can automate the process of loading web pages and capturing their content for use in your ARC projects. This can be particularly useful for projects that require web data integration or display.

If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!