alma_ros# alma_ros

Be aware that the ALMA_BIN var in alma_node.py has been changed to point to where alma is on my own local comp. Please remember to change it before testing this code on your computer.

How to run for our demo purposes

1. Change the directory path of where alma is on your specific local computer in the alma_node.py file

   1.1) You should have cloned the Alma git repository into your local computer already -- remember use the swi branch only

2. Source your ros workspace by : source ~/MyWorkspace/devel/setup.bash

   2.1) You can add this line to your bashrc file to avoid always writing this command

3. Make alma_node.py executable by doing this command: chmod +x alma_node.py

4. If you want to run alma do this command: ./alma run false keyboard true alfile demo/time1.pl debug 0 /tmp/alma-debug

5. Launch the ros launch file to avoid extra commands of running alma_node.py by : roslaunch alma_launch.launch

   5.1)Remember to change your package name if it not the same as mine (which is alma_ros_pkg)

   5.2) This command will run alma_node.py

6. To give the alma node some commands here are some examples:

   6.1) To publish to our rostopic alma_node_cmd do any of the following commands with example alma commands as input

        rostopic pub -1 /alma_node_cmd std_msgs/String -- 'af(q).'
    	
        rostopic pub -1 /alma_node_cmd std_msgs/String -- 'af(if(p,q)).'
    	
        rostopic pub -1 /alma_node_cmd std_msgs/String -- 'af(p).'
    	
        rostopic pub -1 /alma_node_cmd std_msgs/String -- 'af(not     p).'
   

   6.2) To see what is being published in alma_db rostopic do the following command

        rostopic echo /alma_db
   

   6.3) To load a file

        rostopic pub -1 /alma_node_cmd std_msgs/String -- 'load("PATH_TO_ALMA/demo/tweet.pl")'
   

7. Using in other ROS nodes:

   7.1) Commands are published to /alma_node_cmd with type string. These correspond to commands you would type into an interactive alma session (in fact, we are currently running an interactive sessions as a subprocess; this is probably not the best way to do this but seems to work for now)

   7.2) To get the KB, subscribe to alma_db, which publishes messages of type AlmaDB; these are lists of type AlmaFmla. An AlmaFmla consists of the following fields:

        string code: this is a unique code for each formula in the
        	 KB, similar to a Godel code.  In the case of named
        	 formulae, this will be the name
   
    string fmla: the actual formula
   
    bool trusted: whether or not this formula is trusted
        	  	   (distrust occurs when formulae are involved
        	  	   in a contradiction)
   

8. The functionalilty of carne was twofold: to handle inter-process communication and to allow for alma to execute code externally. The first function is handled by ROS itself; the second is handled by the alma_cnc node.

   8.1) This node scans the alma database and looks for predicates of the form 'action(X)'. It then removes those predicates, executes an appropriate command and writes 'doing(X)' to the KB. Upon completion, 'doing(X)' is replaced with 'done(X)'

9. To do:

   9.1) Interact directly with prolog using toplevel.pl, rather than using an interactive session in a subprocess. Specifically it would good to interact more directly with the database.

   9.2) Set up a parameter server that allows, among other things, for the functionality of the alma command-line.

   9.3) Allow for saving KBs.