Getting Started with robo4j-hw-rpi

This blog will provide a step-by-step instruction for how to quickly get started with the robo4j-hw-rpi module. We will use the Adafruit LCD as an example, but any of the supported hardware would be used in pretty much the same way. Also, if you wish support for certain 1 wire protocol sensors, like the Dallas DS18B20 temperature sensors, or the AM2302/DHT11/DHT22 temperature and humidity sensors, you can find a library for them in my private blog (for now).

Installing the Software

First of all the software required must be installed on the Raspberry Pi:

1. Install PI4J.
   curl -s get.pi4j.com | sudo bash
2. Set up the Raspberry for i2c communication.
3. Install the Oracle JDK (if not already installed).
   sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-jdk
4. Ensure that the Oracle JDK is the one in use (use java –version to verify).
   If not change so that it is. There can be a massive performance difference. 
5. Clone the robo4j repo.
   git clone https://github.com/Robo4J/robo4j.git
6. Run gradlew build in the robo4j root directory.
7. Install Eclipse (optional, but good if you want to play around with the examples a bit).
   apt-get install eclipse

Setting up Eclipse (Optional)

For an easy way to play around with the examples, we can set up Eclipse on our Raspberry Pi.

1. Install Egit.
   Inside of Eclipse, go to Help | Install New Software…
   Add a new update site with the following URL:
   http://download.eclipse.org/egit/updates-3.7.1/
2. Install the Gradle plug-in.
   http://download.eclipse.org/buildship/updates/e42/releases/2.x/
3. Go to Robo4J on GitHub and clone the repo using Egit from within Eclipse.
4. Import the projects into Eclipse.

Note that the Eclipse version currently installed by Raspbian will be a rather old version - Eclipse 3.8.0. This unfortunately means that it will not support JDK 8. This does not matter, as the robo4j-hw-rpi and robo4j-math projects only require Java SE 1.7.
Normally you would probably like to develop in a more modern version of Eclipse (or some other IDE) and just use the command line to build robo4j.

Running the Demos

There are two ways of running the demos. One through building the robo4j.jar file with Gradle, and one through Eclipse.
Here is how you would, for example, run the LCD demo using the robo4j.jar built by gradle:

sudo java –classpath robo4j-hw-rpi/build/libs/robo4j-hw-rpi-alpha-0.2.jar:/opt/pi4j/lib/* com.robo4j.hw.rpi.i2c.adafruitlcd.Demo

If you are playing around with the code in Eclipse, do the following:

1. With Eclipse started, open a command line and change directory to the robo4j/robo4j-hw-rpi/bin folder.
2. Search for the demo/example corresponding to the hardware set up you want to test in the examples folder in the eclipse project.
   For example, if you have an Adafruit LCD shield, you would use the com.robo4j.hw.rpi.i2c.adafruitlcd.Demo class.
3. Run the demo from the command line.
   Do not forget to add the PI4J classes to the classpath, for example:
   sudo java –classpath .:/opt/pi4j/lib/* com.robo4j.hw.rpi.i2c.adafruitlcd.Demo

Running the LCD shield demo would show you something similar to this:

Have fun!