WLAN-AccessPoint

[Beckmann]

This is a copy from the old Robotino forum:

Robotino® uses one of these AccessPoint(AP)s:
- 2005 "Level1 WAP-0004" (gray) (LEVEL1_WLAN_AP_WAP-0004_Manual.pdf)
- 2008 "AirLive" (blue) (WLAN_2008_blue_WL_5480PAPv2_QSG.pdf)
- 2010 "Allnet" (gray/naked) (WLAN_2010_ALL0265A_AP_Manual.pdf )

The AP can be run in two modes: AccessPoint and Client mode (and RouterMode).

1) Change Robotino from Static-IP to DHCP

If you would like Robotino to get its IP directly from a DHCP please
a) go to Menu Network and select "DHCP" (Version 1.7 and above)
(e.g.this is needed if you use a AirLive AP in client mode !)


b) only for Robotino Version 1.6 and below:

• download the file Media:Robotino_DHCP.zip (only Robotino V1.6+below )
• unpack it and start it
• after you've entered your current IP you are able to change the settings to DHCP

2) Festo default settings
Every Robotino® is setup by Festo Didactic with the following settings:

i) AccessPoint Mode

• In this mode the AP of Robotino® provides a WLAN and can be found as "RobotinoX.Y"
• You can just search for this WLAN-AP and connect to it.
• The Laptop will automatically get an IP from the Robotino® AP

Code:

-AccessPoint Mode:- SSID : RobotinoX.Y (e.g. Robotino1.12 or RobotinoAP.1.13) Chanel : 1 , 6 or 11 (leave out at least 4 ch. in between !) WEP/WPA : none (no encryption enabled !) IP of AP: 172.26.101.1 Subnet : 255.255.0.0 gateway : 0.0.0.0 DNS : 0.0.0.0 DHCP : ON (provides Laptops with IP in range 172.26.201.1 .... 172.26.201.100) PC104 IP: 172.26.1.1

ii) Client Mode

• In this mode the AP functions like a USB-WLAN Stick, it tries to find an external (!!) AccessPoint with specific settings, as seen below.
• The Laptop can also be connected to this external AccessPoint, either by WLAN or by cable.
• The Laptop will NOT automaticly get an IP .
• You could setup your external AP to enable DHCP
• Please note that every PC (Laptop as well as Robotino® PC104) needs a different IP adress, but in the same range. ( The Subnet is 255.255.0.0, therefor the first digits need to be equal and only the last two are allowed to be different!)
  • e.g. IP 172.26.1.1, 172.26.1.250, 172.26.100.222 and 172.26.250.250 are able to communicate
  • e.g. IP 192.168.1.1, 172.99.1.1 will NOT be able to communicate
  • IP digits range from 1 to 255, leave out 250,251,252,253,254,255 for special configurations!
• do not connect a external AccessPoint without encryption (WPA/WPA2) to your company network else everyone that could connect to the AccessPoint to work on Robotino® could as well connect to any PC in your network !!

Code:

-Client Mode- SSID of external AP must be : RobotinoAPX.1(case sensitive!) Chanel of external AP must be : 11 Encryption : disabled (no WEP / no WPA / no WPA2 !) IP of Robotino® AP in Client mode: 192.168.1.50
PC104 IP : 172.26.1.M (M= 1...250 every Robotino® needs to have its own IP ! e.g. 172.26.1.5 )
Labtop IP : 172.26.100.N (N= 1...250 every Labtop needs to have its own IP ! e.g. 172.26.100.15 )


iii) Router Mode
not supported by Robotino® 3) changing the default settings

Festo has setup a password on the Robotino® AP so they know the setup and can easily give support to the customer. You are free to change the settings, but be aware of the fact, that Festo Didactic will not be able to support you on WLAN problems thereafter !
NOTE: be sure that you know what you're doing if you proceed upon this point, talk to your system administrator/ network specialist to check if you're allowed to do this changes! If you change your network settings on your PC / laptop or ADSL-Router you might not be able to connect to these machines anymore. Festo Didactic will not take any responsibilities!

4) change settings of AP-Mode to your needs:

• settings of every Robotino® AP and every laptop need to be adjusted !
• please note: once you've enabled encryption you will not be able to change it without the given key passphrase !

1. open the Robotino®-Cover carefully
2. switch Robotino® AP to AP-Mode
3. delete all festo-didactic settings by pressing the reset button of the AP for 3 seconds (located right next to the network connector).
4. now your Robotino® AP is reset to the default settings of the vendor !
5. wait for 10 seconds and restart Robotino®
6. follow the instructions in the vendor-manual to setup the AP to your needs like WPA-PSK encryption, other CH / SSID
7. connect AP with Laptop by cable and use IP 192.168.1.1

5) change settings of Client-Mode to your needs:

• settings of every Robotino® AP, the external AP and every Laptop need to be adjusted !
• please note: once you've enabled encryption you will not be able to change it without the given key passphrase !

1. open the Robotino®-Cover carefully
2. switch Robotino® AP to Client-Mode
3. delete all Festo-Didactic settings by pressing the reset button of the accesspoint for 3 seconds (located right next to the network connector).
4. now your Robotino® AP is reset to the default settings of the vendor !
5. wait for 10 seconds and restart Robotino®
6. follow the instructions in the vendor-manual to setup the AP to your needs like WPA-PSK encyrption, other CH / SSID
7. connect AP with Laptop by cable and use IP 192.168.1.50 (WLAN connection will not work for setting up the ClientMode!)

6) example for a different configuration with an external AccessPoint

if you have ADSL with a Wireless LAN Router / Accesspoint you could make Robotino® connect to it:

IP address of your ADSL: 192.168.1.X
SUBNET of your ADSL : 255.255.255.0 (so only the last digits are allowed to be changed)
SSID of your ADSL : mywlan (use your Laptop to find the SSID of your ADSL-AP)
CH of your ADSL : 7 (use your Laptop to find the CH-number of your ADSL-AP)

Labtop1 IP : 192.168.1.21 (or get the IP from the DHCP of the external AP)
Labtop2 IP : 192.168.1.22 (or get the IP from the DHCP of the external AP)
Labtop... : [...]
Labtop9 IP : 192.168.1.29 (or get the IP from the DHCP of the external AP)

change Robotino PC104 IP using the display-keyboard on Robotino or
better: swith the Robotino to DHCP (read above how to do so)
Robotino1 PC104-IP : 192.168.1.1
Robotino2 PC104-IP : 192.168.1.2
Robotino.. : [...]
Robotino9 PC104-IP : 192.168.1.9

Default RobotinoAP IP : 192.168.1.50

1. Connect your laptop to your ADSL WLAN Router / AccessPoint
2. write down the SSID of your ADSL, write down the CH if possible.
3. unplug your LAN / WLAN from your labtop
4. set the IP address of the laptop to 192.168.1.21
5. connect your laptop to the Robotino®-AP by cable (only by cable not by WLAN ! You need to carefully open the cover for this)
6. start the configuration of the Robotino®-AP:
7. default IP of AP : http://192.168.1.50 (e.g. use your Internet Explorer to connect)
8. default username : "admin" | default password : "admin" or "airlive"
9. go to "basic settings" and click on button "SiteSurvey" to find all WLAN possible to connect
10. choose your ADSL SSID in the list
11. change the CH-No to the one of your ADSL (in case your ADSL-AP changes the CH-No automatically you need to disable this and set the CH to a specific No. like CH=7)
12. change the AuthenticationType to the one of your ADSL (we highly recommend WPA-PSK or WPA-TKIP) for PC-networks!
13. (change the IP of your laptop back to DHCP if this was it's usual setting)
14. Change the IPs of all Robotino®s PC104 by using the display-keyboard on Robotino® or better: change to DHCP mode as well (see above)

[Beckmann]

Further helpful comment from the old forum: Setting up the client mode (OS1.6) - Some troubleshooting tips...

Hi Guys (and Gals of course ),

just got our Robotino to use our encrypted WiFi-access-point. There were more than enough traps and pitfalls. But after knowing what went wrong, the procedure is rather easy, so here some tips for all other Robotino users out there...

The hardware:

• Robotino (OS 1.6) with the airlive (=blue) access-point
• Computer
• external access point

The reasons we didn't want to use the Robotino in access point mode:

• We're planing to use more than one Robotino in future.
• little possible configuration options for WiFi (DHCP, MAC-Adress Cloning etc.)

Sadly, flipping the switch to Client-Mode is not enough to get everything working. So what is to be done?

1. Configure your external access point according to your preferences. Important: You have to enable a DHCP-Server (dynamic or static).
2. Open Robotino and take out the access point
3. Switch AP to client mode (Power should be off!!!)
4. Connect AP with a PC using a crossed network cable (WiFi won't work!).
5. Connect to AP (IP should be: 192.168.1.50)
6. Login: admin PW: airlive
7. Configure according to your preferences. DONT USE DHCP! Assign a static IP or you'll have to reset the device to connect to it the next time (Remeber: AP is transparant in client mode, so it's hard to find it using WLAN)
8. Connect the PC with Robotino using the crossed network cable and the female^2 network adapter in the housing (...explaining its use...).
9. Set up an appropriate IP and subnetmask using Robotinos display.
10. Download and use http://doc.openrobotino.org/download/Robotino_DHCP.zip to enable DHCP.

Especiallly the last step is rather annoying. Changing to OS1.7 is supposed to get rid of the problem. (Reason thats the next thing we'll do!)

Everything should work fine now. Some further advice:

• Don't try working with static IPs in Client mode. It just doesn't work! Well actually it does. But only seldom and for a short period of time (very nasty when determening failures ). Use DHCP!
• Setting up an IP on the Robotino display will kill DHCP-Client-Mode. Then you have to repeat the whole sequence again.
• If Robotino does not fetch an IP although in DHCP-mode (distinguishable through the not shown IP in the display), you have to reset the DHCP-mode.
• Almost most important: DON'T SWITCH THE AP-MODE DURING OPERATION (=Power on). The AP will forget all its settings! This happend to us twice remounting the AP in the housing! Now we've got some tape over that switch, since we're not planing to use it again!
• We're using the 172.26.1.x network. Don't have experiences with other network numbers but that shouldn't be a problem.

I hope I could help some people out there with that advice. One more thanks to mbel for helping us so patiently!

Greetings,
Christian

[Emine]

Hi Beckmann i am working on robotino from virtual box. But i can not connect robotino from robotino view. All my network settigins are done for virtual box but i can not connect? What can i do?