You need four things to use Calypso:

(1) A Cozmo robot by Anki; this can be purchased at Amazon, or Best Buy, Target, or direct from Anki.com. You will also need a USB wall charger (12 watt) for your Cozmo.

(2) An Android or iOS phone or tablet capable of running the Cozmo app. We recommend the Amazon Fire 7 tablet, which costs just $49. But you can use your phone if you like. The Cozmo app is available for free download in the Apple or Amazon app stores, or on Google Play.

(3) A laptop or desktop computer running Windows (7, 8.1, or 10), MacOs (10.10 or higher), or Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 or higher). At least 6GB of RAM is recommended.

(4) An Xbox 360 (or possibly an Xbox One) game controller is highly recommended. Available in black or white. See our separate FAQ entry about how to make an Xbox One controller work on MacOS or Linux. We recommend using a genuine Microsoft controller or AmazonBasics controller for best quality and durability. Although it is possible to use Calypso without a controller, your robot interaction experience will be significantly better if you have one. If you're skeptical, borrow a controller from a friend and try it. You won't want to give it back.

We're offering early adopter retail customers purchasing a Calypso for personal use a hefty discount: $14.95. The regular retail price will be $24.95. Updates are currently free.

Institutional customers (schools, companies, or non-profit organizations, and anyone purchasing more than 2 licenses) should contact our business partner, ReadyAI, for pricing information. Visit https://ReadyAI.org/calypso for more information.

Note: the wired Xbox 360 controller works everywhere, and has no known issues.

Windows

The Xbox One and AmazonBasics controllers work on all Windows computers, with no known issues.

Macs

For MacOS 10.12.6 and later, the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and AmazonBasics Xbox controllers all work. You shouldn't need to do anything special.

For earlier versions of MacOS, as of December 2017 the Xbox One and AmazonBasics controllers do not work via the USB cable due to a bad device driver. The USB device driver issue can be fixed by installing this software:

   https://github.com/360Controller/360Controller/releases/download/v0.16.11/360ControllerInstall_0.16.11.dmg

   https://github.com/360Controller/360Controller/releases/download/v0.16.5/360ControllerInstall_0.16.5.dmg

Even without this fix, the Xbox One controller does work if connected via Bluetooth, except for one issue: the Back button is not recognized. Calypso users can simply press the Delete key on the Mac keyboard instead of pressing the Back button on the controller.

Linux

On standard Ubuntu 16.04 systems the Xbox One controller does not work at all. However, it does work, with no known issues, if the xpad device driver is installed. To install the driver, follow these steps:

1. sudo apt-get install git
2. sudo apt-get install dkms
3. sudo git clone https://github.com/paroj/xpad.git /usr/src/xpad-0.4
4. sudo dkms install -m xpad -v 0.4

In the US, you can purchase Cozmo at Amazon, Target, Best Buy, or at the Anki.com web site. Cozmo is also sold in the UK, France, Germany, several Scandinavian countries, and Australia.

You will also need a wall charger for  your Cozmo.

Official Cozmo accessories include colored treads and a carrying case.

The Fire 7 tablet is available at Amazon.

The cheapest option is the AmazonBasics Xbox One wired controller, available in either black or white.

Your computer must be running Windows 7, 8.1, or 10.

When you purchase Calypso you'll receive a download link for a file run-calypso-installer.bat that runs the Calypso Windows installer.

Depending on your browser and OS version, your browser might offer to run this file for you; you should accept the offer. If not, then it will leave the file in your Downloads folder.  Locate the file in your Downloads folder, right click on it, and choose "Run as Administrator".

Note 1: some anti-virus software such as Kaspersky will not allow you to run the bat file that retrieves the Calypso installer. You will need to temporarily disable your anti-virus software in order to do the install. Don't forget to re-enable it afterwards.

Note 2: if you're going to be using an iOS device (iPhone or iPad) to run the Cozmo app, you need to install iTunes on your Windows computer so that it can talk to the app via the USB cable. If you're using an Android or Kindle device then you don't need to install iTunes.

Note 3: Some Windows 7 systems will have trouble with the Calypso installer or Calypso updater after November 18 due to use of an obsolete security protocol. See the Calypso Help Center article on "OBSOLETE PROTOCOL Message" for instructions on how to fix this problem.

Your computer must be running MacOS 10.10 or higher and must have at least 6GB of RAM.

When you purchase Calypso you'll receive a download link for a file Calypso.dmg.

1. Ignore the message about "preview didn't load".  Click on the blue Download button to download the file.
   
   
2. Go to your Downloads folder and open Calypso.dmg.
   
   
3. Inside the Calypso volume you'll see the Calypso application and a link to your Applications folder. Drag Calypso.app into the Applications folder.
   
   
4. Eject the Calypso volume and discard the Calypso.dmg file.

You can now run Calypso from your Applications folder, but see the next section.

Security Warning in MacOS 10.15 Catalina

Because Calypso.app is not yet a notarized application, you will need to modify your security settings in order to run it. See this article for step by step instructions: https://www.imore.com/how-open-apps-anywhere-macos-catalina-and-mojave

Security Warning in MacOS versions prior to 10.15

The first time your run Calypso there will be a pop-up message saying "Verifying Calypso.app...". This can take a while. Finally you will see one of two pop-up warnings:

Internet Warning

• The warning might say "Calypso.app is an application downloaded from the Internet.
  Are you sure you want to open it?"
  
• Click on the Open button to proceed. You will only need to do this once.

Unidentified Developer Warning

The warning might instead say "Calypso.app can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer." To resolve this:

1. Go to the Applications folder.
   
   
2. Control click on the Calypso app and select "Open".
   
   
3. After the verification and warning, click on the Open button to proceed. You will only need to do this once.

Bypassing Verification Entirely

You can bypass the verification step entirely on systems prior to 10.15 by opening a Terminal window and typing the following commands:

cd  /Applications/Calypso.app/Contents/MacOS
./Calypso

Calypso runs successfully on Ubuntu 16.04 and higher. It may also work with other Linux distributions, but we make no guarantees and cannot offer support for non-Ubuntu systems. Calypso presently requires Python 3.5.2, which the installer will provide. It will not run with other Python versions.

When you purchase Calypso you will receive a download link to a file calypso-linux-installer.sh. To install Calypso:

1. Click on the download link to save the file in your Downloads directory.
2. Open a terminal window to get a shell.
3. cd to your Downloads directory.
4. In the shell, type "source calypso-linux-installer.sh".

If the install completes successfully you'll see a pop-up window with the message "Calypso installation complete", and there will be a Calypso icon on your desktop. You can also launch Calypso directly by running /opt/Calypso/linux/calypso-linux.sh

The easiest way to update Calypso is to run Calypso, go to the Home menu (the little blue house in the top right corner of the screen), click on Settings, and then click on Update Calypso Now.

It is also possible to update Calypso by running the installer again. Note: you must not be running Calypso when you run the installer. Quit Calypso first, then run the installer.

Updates to Calypso are provided free of charge. We are making frequent improvements to the software and encourage everyone to update regularly to the latest version.

You should receive your license key in a separate email when you purchase Calypso. Altogether there will be three emails:

1. Order confirmation email
2. Calypso download link email
3. License key email

Your license key is a string of numbers and letters that looks like this: vvvvv-wwwww-xxxxx-yyyyy-zzzzz. When you run Calypso for the first time, you will need to cut and paste this license key into the pop-up window in order to activate your license.

If you purchase Calypso and do not receive a license key, or if you lose your license key, contact Calypso Customer Support at info@calypso.software for assistance.

You can install Calypso on as many machines as you like, but you can only use your license key on one machine at a time. If you're teaching a class with multiple students running Calypso at the same time, you will need to purchase multiple license keys.

To move your license from machine A to machine B, follow these steps:

1. Run Calypso on machine A.
2. Go to the Home menu, select Settings, and then select License Key.
3. Make a note of your license key.
4. Press the button to deactivate your license key. Calypso will exit.
   
   
5. Run Calypso on machine B.
6. Enter your license key. Calypso will activate it.
7. Your license key is now tied to machine B.

This procedure is intended to allow you to move your Calypso license when you purchase a new laptop, or if you want to give away your robot and software to someone else. If you're going to be frequently moving back and forth among multiple machines, it may be more convenient to simply purchase an additional license. They're cheap.

If your laptop dies or your hard drive crashes, so you're not able to run Calypso on your old machine, please contact Calypso Customer Support at info@calypso.software. We will deactivate your license for you so you can activate it on a new machine.

1. Follow Anki's instructions to install the free Cozmo app on your phone or tablet and make sure you can run the app and connect to Cozmo. If you cannot connect to Cozmo, see Anki's troubleshooting advice.

2. Install Calypso on your laptop by following the instructions in an earlier FAQ entry.

3. Start Calypso by clicking on the Calypso desktop icon or finding Calypso in your Start menu (on Windows) or Applications folder (on Mac).  (On the Mac, you may get a security warning the first time you run Calypso. To resolve this, control-click on the Calypso icon in the application folder and select "Open", then click on the "Open" button in the security warning pop-up.)

4. Calypso will pop up a message saying that it cannot find a Cozmo device. Click the button to enter Simulator mode and then enter your license key when asked. Make sure your license key activates successfully. If it does, quit Calypso (go to the Home menu and select "Quit"). If your license key doesn't activate, contact Calypso Customer Service at info@calypso.software.

5, Your phone or tablet must be connected to your laptop via a USB cable. In addition, if you're using an Android or Fire device, you must enable USB debugging.

On Android:

• Go to Settings -> About Phone and tap seven (7) times on the Build Number to reveal the Developer Options button.

• Then go to Settings -> Developer Options and click "Enable ADB" to enable USB debugging.

On Amazon Fire:

• Go to Settings -> Device Options and tap seven (7) times on the Serial Number to reveal the Developer Options button.

• Then go to Settings -> Developer Options and click to enable USB debugging.

On iOS devices:

• You do not have to do anything to enable USB debugging, but if you are using your iOS device with a Windows laptop, the laptop must have iTunes installed.

6. Now you are ready to run Calypso with your Cozmo robot. Follow these steps:

(i) Start the Cozmo app and connect to Cozmo.

(ii) Press the Settings button in the top right corner of the app screen and scroll to the "Enable SDK Mode" button. Click this button to put Cozmo into SDK mode. The screen will turn black. Make sure the USB cable connecting the phone or tablet to the laptop is plugged in.

(iii) Check the display of your phone or tablet. You may see a pop-up message asking if you want to allow USB debugging from this device. Check the box that says "Always allow from this device" and then press on "OK".

(iv) Run Calypso on your laptop. You should no longer see a pop-up window complaining that no Cozmo device is available. Calypso should start up with the camera viewer showing you Cozmo's view of the world. If you get the pop-up window, check your phone or tablet again for the "Allow USB debugging?" message. Enable USB debugging and then click "Try again" in the pop-up window.

Calypso dynamically displays keyboard shortcuts or gamepad help along the left edge of the screen. If you switch between these two input modalities, the help information also switches.

For a complete list of gamepad actions and keyboard shortcuts for both Windows and Mac computers, run Calypso, open the "Home" menu, select "About", and click on the link that says "Calypso Keyboard Mapping".

On Windows, Calypso programs are stored in Documents\Calypso

On Macs, Calypso programs are stored in ~/Documents/Calypso

On Linux, Calypso programs are stored in ~/Calypso

When Calypso starts up it looks for a Cozmo device to connect to. If it can't find one, it pops up a warning message to let you know. In order for Calypso to find your Cozmo device, all of the following must be true:

• Cozmo must be awake. If he's asleep, take him off his charger and put him back on. His backpack lights should be flashing green (if he's charging) or steady green if fully charged. Once Cozmo has connected the lights will shut off.

• Your phone or tablet must be running the Cozmo app, and it must be connected to Cozmo via WiFi. Use the app's "Connect" button to establish a connection.

• The Cozmo app must be in SDK mode. If it's not, tap on the settings icon in the top right corner of the app screen and scroll to the right to find the "Enter SDK Mode" button. Tap on this button. When you do, the screen will go black and Cozmo will stop fidgeting and await further instructions.

• Your phone or tablet must be connected to your laptop via a USB cable. If your laptop cannot detect the phone/tablet, try using a different USB port.
  
  
• Your phone or tablet must be set to allow USB debugging. Even if you turn this on from the settings menu, you may be asked to confirm that this specific laptop is authorized to access your device in this way. Check the device to see if a confirmation window has popped up and is waiting for your input.
  
  
• Your laptop must have the necessary device drivers installed to communicate with your Android or iOS device. On Linux and MacOS, this isn't an issue. For Windows systems, the Calypso installer includes the device driver for the Fire tablet. If you're using a different Android device, check your system configuration to be sure that the necessary device driver has been located and installed. While this should happen automatically, sometimes it doesn't. If you're using an iOS device with a Windows laptop, iTunes must be installed on your laptop.
  
  
• Occasionally a Fire tablet becomes corrupted and lose its ability to support a USB connection. The problem can be fixed by doing a hard reset of the tablet. See the Help Center article on that.

• A loose USB cable is the most common cause of lost connection errors.In some cases this can be ameliorated by using a different cable or different USB port. In any case, it's a good idea to place your phone or tablet and the USB cable somewhere out of the way, where it won't be jostled accidentally as you work with Cozmo.
  
  
• When Cozmo's battery runs down, he will drop his connection to your phone or tablet, which in turn will disconnect from your laptop. Battery voltage is displayed at the bottom of the Calypso world map screen whenever you run a program. Cozmo's backpack light will glow red when his battery is almost out.
  
  
• Your phone or tablet must remain connected to Cozmo via WiFi, which means it will not have Internet access. Each Cozmo robot is its own WiFi network. If you switch your phone or tablet to a different network you will lose your connection to Cozmo. Note: your laptop's WiFi is not used to communicate with Cozmo, so you can still access the Internet from your laptop while talking to Cozmo over the USB cable.

Please contact Anki Customer Care via their web site, or by phone. In the US their number is 877-721-2654.

The light cube's battery may be low. Each light cube contains a 1.5 volt alkaline battery, type LR1 or E90. If the voltage drops below 1.3 volts the light cube's behavior can become unreliable, and as it drops further, it will lose the ability to communicate with Cozmo.

You can check if Cozmo can connect to his light cubes by going to the Cozmo app on your phone or tablet (exit SDK mode if necessary) and clicking on the Settings button in the top right corner of the screen. Scroll right and you'll see a Cube Status section that shows which cubes Cozmo is talking to. Click on the "Refresh Cubes" button to see if he can make contact with all of them, or if some cubes are dead.

Even if Cozmo can connect to a cube, the cube could still have a low battery.  Calypso will warn you about this by displaying a flashing "cube low battery" warning at the bottom of the world map when in execution mode. If you don't see any warnings, all the cubes Cozmo is talking to are at 1.3 volts or above.

Amazon Fire tablets sometimes become corrupted and start behaving strangely. If you tablet can no longer connect to your laptop, even though "adb devices" shows the device is connected, this may be the cause.

You may be able to correct the problem by doing a hard reset of the tablet:

1. Exit any apps you're running.
2. Press and hold the power button for 40 seconds. Even after the screen goes blank, keep pressing.
3. Release the power button.
4. Power the tablet back on again.

If you purchased a new Kindle Fire tablet and set everything up correctly:

1. Installed the Cozmo app
2. Enabled Developer Mode (from Settings -> Device Options)
3. Turned on USB debugging
4. Ran the Cozmo app
5. Successfully connected to Cozmo
6. Put the app into SDK mode

Hard Reset:

Power up the Kindle normally. Then, press the power button an HOLD IT DOWN for 40 seconds. After you release the button, the Kindle should boot. This often cures the corruption, but on some machines it doesn't. Those machines may need to be returned to Amazon.

Google Chrome is not entirely stable. Occasionally it crashes when running Calypso, in which case the Calypso tab is replaced with a white background and an "Aww snap!" error message.

If you see a "Bad magic number" error in the terminal or console window when trying to start Calypso, this means you are running a Python version that is incompatible with Calypso.

Calypso currently requires Python 3.5.2. The installer provides this. But if you bypass the installer or subsequently override the Python installation to force a different version, you will not be able to run Calypso.

The simplest fix for this problem is to run the installer again and allow it to install the version of Python required by Calypso.

Calypso is running industrial-strength artificial intelligence algorithms on your laptop. It needs substantial memory and processor resources to perform well.

• When running Calypso, you should not be running any other applications at the same time.
  
  
• Laptops are often set to use reduced processor speed when running on battery. Make sure your laptop is plugged in.
  
  
• Even when plugged in, some laptops are set to minimize CPU usage in order to keep the processor cool and avoid high fan speed. If Calypso is running slowly on your Windows 10 laptop, go to Settings, select "System", go to the "Power & sleep" tab, and under "Related settings" select "Additional power settings". The power plans available will depend on which brand of laptop you are using. Some power-saver plans reduce processor speeds to as low as 5%. Choose a "max performance" plan that provides 100% processor speed.
  
  See this article for more information: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/tweak-processor-speed-70418.html

Windows 7 systems by default use an obsolete encryption protocol called TLS 1 that is no longer secure. Many service providers are now requiring use of the the more modern TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 protocols to access their servers. Starting on November 12, 2018, Calypso users on Windows 7 may find that the Calypso installer or the "Update Calypso Now" functions generate an "OBSOLETE PROTOCOL" error. This article explains how to fix or prevent this error.

How to Check Your Protocol Version

To check whether TLS 1.2 is enabled on your system, follow these steps:

1. Run Windows PowerShell by clicking on the Start button and typing "Powershell" in the search box and hitting Enter.
2. Type the following at the PowerShell prompt:
   
          [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = "TLS12"
   
   
3. If the result is nothing then your encryption protocol is up to date and you will not get an "OBSOLETE PROTOCOL" error when you run the Calypso installer or updater.
4. If you instead get an error message saying the system is unable to convert "TLS12" to a valid enumerator name, then you do not have TLS 1.2 enabled and you need to take the steps described below.

How to Install Registry Keys to Enable TLS 1.2

Modern versions of PowerShell have TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 installed; they're just disabled by default. To enable them:

1. Visit this Microsoft Update Catalog link for Windows update KB3140245 and download the "Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems".
2. Double click on the .msu file you downloaded and give permission to update the Windows registry.
3. Restart the computer.

After rebooting, try checking the protocol version again by following the steps in the previous section. If TLS12 is recognized as a security protocol, you''re good to go. If not, you may be running too old a version of PowerShell. See the next section.

How to Upgrade PowerShell

You can check your PowerShell version by typing $PSVersionTable in a PowerShell window.

PowerShell is part of the Windows Management Framework (WMF). Really old versions do not contain support for TLS 1.1 or 1.2. To update your Windows 7 computer to a more recent version of PowerShell, such as version 5.1, visit this WMF 5.1 download link from Microsoft and select the Windows 7 64 bit version. Then run the installer that you downloaded. Finally, restart your computer.

After this, your computer should recognize the TLS 1.2 protocol.

Calypso 1.0.05 has been released. Here is what's new in this release:

Face Detection

• When running in simulator mode or in the cloud, Calypso can now use your laptop's webcam for face detection and emotion recognition. These algorithms run in the browser; no images are sent over the network, so your privacy is protected. Face recognition is disabled when the camera viewer is minimized, which can speed up execution on slower  machines.
  
  
• If you design your own map layouts, it's  now possible to include a face in the layout design. If a face is part of the layout, then in execution mode the face's emotion will track that of the face detected in the webcam image. You can also click and drag on the face to move it, and the robot can turn toward or move toward the face.
  
  
• If a face is not part of the map layout, a face detected in the webcam image will be displayed at the top of the world map; you will not be able to drag it around and the robot will see it but cannot move toward or turn toward it.

Multi-Character State Machine View

• In execution mode, when looking at the state machine view, you will now see all the characters' state machines simultaneously. It's also possible to switch among views of individual state machines as before.

Printing Your Calypso Program

• You can now generate a printable PDF of your Calypso program, including all the rule pages and the map layout. This feature is accessed through the Home -> File menu, or by pressing control-P. Be sure to turn on the "Background graphics" box in the print dialog.

Map Layouts

• When inserting an image into the map layout, the image file chooser now displays a thumbnail preview of the selected image, making it easier to browse through a collection of images to find the one you want.
  
  
• You can now crop an image by right clicking on it and selecting "Crop image", then dragging the crop handles.

 Alternative Keyboard

• If using a device that doesn't have a regular keyboard or game controller, there is now a small alternative keyboard menu on the right side of the display with buttons to run your program or switch among rule editor, map layout, or state machine views.

Rule Editor Update

• Nested timers make no sense, because a timer only fires for one rule cycle. A child rule with a timer of its own will never stay active long enough for the nested timer to fire. The rule editor now blocks the creation of nested timer rules and flags any timer rule that is moved to a position where it becomes a child of another timer rule.

Calypso 1.0.03 has been released. Here is what's new in this release:

Images in the World Map

• You can now add images to the world map that act like background scenery. They aren't visible to the robot, but they make the display more meaningful for people. To add an image, go to the Map Layout view and from the Map Menu select "Import Image".
• Images can be scaled, rotated, cropped, raised and lowered (for layering multiple images), and have their opacity adjusted.

New Uses for Regular Expressions

• The "say" tile now accepts regular expressions and will generate an utterance that matches the expression, e.g., say "(hi|hello) (there|)" will randomly generate one of four utterances: "hi", "hello", "hi there", or "hello there".
• The "hear" tile now accepts nested regular expressions, allowing for more complex patterns. For example, hear "((hi|hello) there | greetings)" will match "hi there", "hello there", or "greetings".

Silent or Invisible Scores

• Normally scores are displayed above the world map, and any change to a score is accompanied by a sound effect. Now you can opt to make individual scores silent (no sound effects) or invisible (silent and not displayed). To do this, put the pencil on any score tile and press "Y", then change the score's mode from Normal to Silent or Invisible.

Calypso 1.0.01 has been released. This is the first non-beta version: we are officially out of beta now! This is also the first release to use a common code base for "Calypso for Cozmo" and "Cloud Calypso".

Calypso Rule Language

• Change to graphic representation for suspending actions: actions such as "grab" that always suspend the rule interpreter now have a small"and then" indicator at the end of the rule to help indicate this. Actions such as "say" that don't suspend automatically can be made to suspend by adding the optional "and then..." tile. which is a larger version of the "and then" indicator. It's still the case that actions that complete immediately and therefore never suspend, such as "glow", do not offer an "and then..." tile.
  
  
• "WHEN visiting" can now be used by any character, not just the robot. So, for example, if cube1 has a "WHEN visiting kitchen" rule, that rule will fire whenever cube1's location falls within the boundaries of the kitchen.
  
  
• New "in" tile is true if an object is in a room, e.g., "WHEN see cube1 in room1" will be true whenever cube1 is located within room1.
  
  
• Visual search: we're starting to develop a new robot capability called "visual search". The first step is the new "look around" action. If you write "WHEN look around red cube" the robot will turn in place until it finds a red cube. If there is already a red cube on the world map then this action succeeds immediately. In simulator mode the robot knows where all the objects are so this action will always succeed if an object that meets the specifications is present in the world map. "Look around" with an "in-frame" modifier will turn until the object is visible in the camera frame.
  
  
• New "inline" action incorporates the rules from another page. If you have a complex set of rules that you want to use on multiple pages, put them on a separate page and "inline" them wherever you need them. It's the Calypso version of a subroutine call.
  
  
• Nested suspending actions now work properly. Previously, if a suspending action such as "move ahead 50 mm" was followed by another suspending, indented action such as "turn left quarter", the indented rule did not execute as intended. This bug has been fixed.

World Map

• New graphic for tilted cubes on the world map: we've changed the graphical depiction of cubes with orientation "tilted" so it looks less like the graphic for orientation "inverted".
  
  
• If there are landmarks (walls) available, and the robot doesn't presently know its own location, the robot will now play a sound when it sees a landmark and localizes successfully.
  
  
• Two new wall types: Wall "C" is 100 mm long and wall "D" is 50 mm long. These complement the two original letter walls: wall "A" at 300 mm and wall "B" at 400 mm.

State Machine View

• State machine layout editing: in the state machine layout view, you can now click and drag on nodes or links to reposition them as you like. Links can be made "fixed" or "float": a float link readjusts itself automatically as you move the nodes it connects to. Fixed links keep their midpoint fixed; you adjust its position manually.
  
  
• Double-clicking on a node now takes you to the rule editor for that page.

Calypso 0.9.07 has been released. This includes all features from the experimental 0.9.06 beta release plus wonderful additional new features and bug fixes. Updates are free. To update to the new release, run Calypso, go to Home > Settings and choose "Update Calypso Now".

Coolest New Feature: Walls

The most significant new feature in Calypso 0.9.07 is the addition of walls to the map layout. Walls have predefined shapes and include doorways of known dimensions. Walls contain special symbols called "ArUco markers" that allow Cozmo to recognize each wall and its doorways. Walls can be used to construct custom environments for Cozmo, but even more importantly, they serve as visual landmarks that allow him to be sure of his location. When a map contains both rooms and walls, seeing the walls helps Cozmo figure out where the rooms are.

Visit this page to learn how to build a shack for Cozmo using a cardboard box and some wall templates we provide. Templates for making your own walls can be found here.

New Language Features

• The "visit" action visits a room, and the "visiting" predicate is true when Cozmo is located within a room. These features were present in 0.9.05 but they are much more useful now that walls are available as landmarks.
  
  
• The new "roll" action tells Cozmo to roll a cube. You can optionally specify an orientation, such a "roll it upright" or "roll it sideways". If you don't specify an orientation, Cozmo tries to roll the cube in a way that changes its orientation, but if that's not possible (due to obstructed access), he just rolls it so that a different face is touching the floor.
  
  
• Scores can now have names, e.g. "Time" or "Successes", which are shown when the score is displayed. To name a score, put the pencil on the score tile (e.g., "red score") and press the Y button. Score names are displayed next to the score tile.
  
  
• Other characters, such as the cubes and the charger, can now speak, either in simulator mode or when running on the real robot, using the Google Chrome speech API. And in simulator mode Cozmo now also uses this API to speak.
  
  
• The "look" and "lift" actions now accept "and then..." modifiers. (This was announced in Calypso 0.9.05 but a bug made the feature inaccessible.)
  

Rule Editor Changes

• When entering a "visit" or "visiting" tile, you can now choose from a list of current room names instead of having to type in the name by hand.
  
  
• The "NOT" decorator is smarter now: entering a "NOT" tile immediately takes you to a menu where you can choose the item to be negated. Backing out of the menu cancels the "NOT" rather than leaving a stranded NOT tile behind.
  
  
• Actions that suspend the rule interpreter, such as "grab", "express", or "move ahead <distance>", are now displayed using a tile with a serrated right edge. This helps make clear which actions cause suspension and which do not. Actions such as "play" normally do not suspend, but adding an "and then..." modifier will cause suspension. The shape of an action tile like "play" now changes when an "and then..." modifier is present, to reflect this change in behavior. Actions that execute immediately and thus cannot suspend, such as "+score" or "glow", and actions that always suspend, such as "grab", don't need an "and then..." modifier and do not offer one.
  
  
• You can now start execution on a specific page by going to that page, putting the pencil on the page number, and then running the program in the usual way ("back" button on the game controller, Backspace key on the PC keyboard, or Delete key on the Mac.) If the pencil is not on the page number then execution will begin on page 1, as before.
  
  
• Rules can now be temporarily disabled by putting the pencil on the WHEN tile and pressing the Y button. Press the button again to re-enable the rule. This is convenient for testing different variants of a rule or different parts of a page of code.

World Map Changes

• This release introduces a new hybrid path planner that combines a wavefront algorithm with an RRT planner. Whenever Cozmo begins a "move toward" or "visit" action, the path he's planning to follow is now displayed on the world map as a dotted line.
  
  
• In simulator mode, you can now click and drag objects in the world map to move them around while the program is running. You can use this to make Cozmo chase a cube or marker. You can also change a cube's orientation by right clicking on it. (Previously you could change its color but not its orientation.) And you can move objects in and out of the dock.
  
  
• The robot is now grayed on the world map when it's in a "delocalized" state. Delocalized means the robot doesn't know where it is, but landmarks (walls) are available that could tell the robot where it is if it manages to see them. Walls are the only landmarks right now; cubes aren't reliable landmarks because they've movable, and custom markers aren't landmarks because they're intended for other things. Note that if the robot has no landmarks in its world then it will not be grayed.
  
  
• You can now zoom/pan/rotate the world map: left trigger in the world map ("move camera") allows you to zoom/pan/rotate the map using the game controller sticks and shoulder buttons. There are mouse and keyboard equivalents as well. See the button help in the top left corner of the display for details.
  
  
• A new toggle-able "follow mode" in the world map keeps the robot centered in the map while the terrain moves past it.

Map Layout Changes

• The map layout editor now displays rulers along the top and left edges so you can measure distances. If you rotate the view to some angle that is not a multiple of 90 degrees then the rulers disappear; they come back when the rotation angle is a multiple of 90 degrees.
  
  
• The position of the mouse pointer in the map layout editor is now displayed in a box in the bottom left corner. Units are in millimeters, matching the rulers.
  
  
• The dock, found in the top right corner of the world map, now also appears in the map layout, and cubes can be started out in the dock by moving them there from the layout palette.

State Machine Changes

• In order to keep state machines logically organized, we generally want code to proceed from lower numbered pages to higher numbered pages, not jump around randomly. For example, a simple linear sequence of actions should be implemented on sequential pages like 4-5-6, not 4-9-3. Now there are tools that make it easy to manipulate state machine structure by inserting, deleting, or moving pages. The remaining pages and all page references are automatically renumbered when you do this.
  
  
• To manipulate state machine structure in the rule editor, right click on the page number at the top of the page to bring up a context menu of page operations.
  
  
• You can also manipulate individual pages in the state machine view by right clicking on a state node.

A new "beta" release of Calypso has been released: version 0.9.06.

What's a beta release?

Beta releases offer early access to new Calypso features that are still in development. When you purchase Calypso, you receive a download link for the latest stable release, currently 0.9.05. You can try out a beta release by following the instructions below. You can always switch back to a stable release if you need to. Beta releases are more likely to contain bugs, but the cool new functionality they offer makes it worth giving them a try.

How to Try Out the Beta Release

To try out the new beta release, first quit Chrome if you have it running. Then run Calypso, go to Home -> Settings -> Update Calypso Now, and select the beta version 0.9.06. You can always switch back to the stable 0.9.05 release if you need to. When running the updater, make sure that you have no other tabs open in Chrome, so that the Chrome window closes when the updater quits Calypso.

Coolest New Feature: Walls

The most significant new feature in Calypso 0.9.06 is the addition of walls to the map layout. Walls have predefined shapes and include doorways of known dimensions. Walls contain special symbols called "ArUco markers" that allow Cozmo to recognize each wall and its doorways. Walls can be used to construct custom environments for Cozmo, but even more importantly, they serve as visual landmarks that allow him to be sure of his location. When a map contains both rooms and walls, seeing the walls helps Cozmo figure out where the rooms are.

Visit this page to learn how to build a shack for Cozmo using a cardboard box and some wall templates.

New Language Features

• The "visit" action visits a room, and the "visiting" predicate is true when Cozmo is located within a room. These features were present in 0.9.05 but they are much more useful now that walls are available. When entering a "visit" or "visiting" tile, you can now choose from a list of current room names instead of having to type in the name by hand.
  
  
• Scores can now have names, e.g. "Time" or "Successes", which are shown when the score is displayed. To name a score, put the pencil on the score tile (e.g., "red score") and press the Y button. Score names are displayed next to the score tile.
  
  
• You can now start execution on a specific page by going to that page, putting the pencil on the page number, and then running the program in the usual way ("back" button on the game controller, Backspace key on the PC keyboard, or Delete key on the Mac.) If the pencil is not on the page number then execution will begin on page 1, as before.
  
  
• In simulator mode, the robot can now speak. It uses the Google Chrome speech API. And other characters, such as the cubes and the charger, can now speak either in simulator mode or when running on the real robot, using the Google Chrome speech API.

• The "look" and "lift" actions now accept "and then..." modifiers. (This was announced in Calypso 0.9.05 but a bug made the feature inaccessible.)
  
  
• The "NOT" decorator is smarter now: entering a "NOT" tile immediately takes you to a menu where you can choose the item to be negated. Backing out of the menu cancels the "NOT" rather than leaving a stranded NOT tile behind.
  
  
• Actions that suspend the rule interpreter, such as "grab", "express", or "move ahead ", are now displayed using a tile with a serrated right edge. This helps make clear which actions cause suspension and which do not. Actions such as "play" normally do not suspend, but adding an "and then..." modifier will cause suspension. The shape of an action tile like "play" now changes when an "and then..." modifier is present, to reflect this change in behavior. Actions that execute immediately and thus cannot suspend, such as "+score" or "glow", and actions that always suspend, such as "grab", don't need an "and then..." modifier and do not offer one.

World Map

• When Cozmo begins a "move toward" or "visit" action, the path he's planning to follow is now displayed on the world map.
  
  
• In simulator mode, you can now click and drag objects in the world map to move them around while the program is running. You can use this to make Cozmo chase a cube or marker. You can also change a cube's orientation by right clicking on it. (Previously you could change its color but not its orientation.)
  
  
• You can now zoom/pan/rotate the world map: left trigger in the world map ("move camera") allows you to zoom/pan/rotate the map using the game controller sticks and shoulder buttons. There are mouse and keyboard equivalents as well. See the button help in the top left corner of the display for details.
  
  
• New toggle-able "follow mode" in the world map keeps the robot centered in the map while the terrain moves past it.

Known Limitations

• Templates are currently available for making only two small walls. Additional templates will follow.
  
  
• The path planner can get stuck if Cozmo is too close to an object ("Start Collides" error) or if there is an object on or very close to the goal location ("Goal Collides" error). The next release will have solutions for these problems.
  
  
• Sequencing of multiple "say" actions is not yet working as desired.

A new version of Calypso has been released: version 0.9.05.

New Language Features

• Cube and custom marker orientation discrimination: we can now test whether a cube or custom marker is upright, sideways, inverted, or at some other angle (called "tilted"). In addition, for custom markers we can distinguish "left" from "right" when the marker is sideways.
  
  
• The custom marker graphics in the PDF file (for printing on adhesive labels) have been modified to indicate which way is "up". Download the file from https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Calypso/Curriculum/extra/custom-marker-labels.pdf.
  
  
• Better path planning: we can now pick up cubes whose orientation is "sideways" by planning a path to the correct side. Also, we now consider alternative paths to a cube if the path to the closest side is obstructed.

• Cozmo can now track your face: use "WHEN see face in-frame DO turn toward it".
  
  
• Improved sequencing: the "look" and "lift" actions now accept the "and then" modifier tile. If this tile is used, any indented rules appearing below them will only be performed after the look or lift action has completed.
  
  
• Further simplified syntax for regular expressions in "hear" tiles. Anything outside of parentheses is treated as literal text and all punctuation is removed. Inside parentheses you can use syntax such as (word1|word2) for alternation, (word|) for an optional word, and (.*) for a wildcard that will match anything. Spaces between words and regular expressions are automatically handled correctly. Also, you can once again have multiple lines of text in a "hear" tile; the test will succeed if at least one line matches the input.
  
  
• The "drop" action now works whenever the lift is raised, even if Cozmo doesn't think he's carrying a cube. This is useful if the user put the cube on the lift instead of having Cozmo pick it up himself.

User Interface Improvements

• Better rule display: we now draw a line connecting an "it" tile to the WHEN condition that binds the "it". This may be the rule's own "WHEN", or a parent rule if the rule is indented.
  
  
• Cube orientation is now displayed in the world map: upright, sideways, inverted, or tilted. Each uses a different icon.
  
  
• Custom marker orientation is now displayed on the world map by rotating the marker icon.
  
  
• On Macs, control-left click can now substitute for right-click to call up context menus. Try control-left clicking on a cube in the world map, or on a "WHEN" tile in the rule editor.
  

Calypso 0.9.03 has been released. For those of you still running 0.8.33, this will be a big upgrade. Most of the new features were already described in the 0.9.01 release notes; please see those release notes in the Help Center or the corresponding Calypso blog post for details.

New system details in 0.9.03:

• Calypso now maintains a private copy of Python, so you can install any other version(s) of Python you like on your system without interfering with Calypso.
• Calypso no longer installs Google Chrome (on Windows) or incorporates a private copy of Google Chrome (on MacOS) because this can lead to version conflicts. Users are instead required to have Google Chrome already installed on their system before running Calypso.
• Calypso can now be installed anywhere. It doesn't have to be in AppData\Local (Windows) or /Applications (MacOS).
• A new updater mechanism has been implemented that allows users to move between Calypso versions. In the future, this will allow people to try out beta versions of Calypso and revert to earlier stable versions whenever desired.
• When the Cozmo app is updated, Calypso can now update its copy of the Cozmo SDK to match, without changing anything else.

New features in 0.9.03:

• Faces are now positioned accurately on the world map.
  
  
• The "hear" tile is now smarter about regular expression matching. Most punctuation is now removed before string matching because the speech API never uses punctuation. The only exceptions are parentheses and vertical bars (|) used for alternation, and the special case "(optional_sequence)?" where the question mark is used with parentheses to indicate an optional word sequence.
  
  Examples: "hello (there)? cozmo" will match either "hello cozmo" or "hello there cozmo". And "cozmo bring me a (pen|pineapple)" will match either "cozmo bring me a pen" or "cozmo bring me a pineapple".
  
  Due to a bug, it's not currently possible to have multiple lines of text as an argument to the "hear" tile, where each line is matched separately. This will be fixed in the next release.

A new version of Calypso is available for pre-release testing: version 0.9.01. We have now moved from "early beta" to "late beta"!

New Language Features

• Move by fixed distance: you can now add distance modifiers to the "DO move ahead" and "DO move backward" actions to move by a fixed distance, e.g., "DO move ahead 50 mm".
• Turn by fixed angle: you can how add angle modifiers to the "DO turn" action to turn by a fixed fraction of a circle, e.g., "DO turn left quarter" makes a 90 degree left turn. If the left/right direction is left off, the the choice is random.
• We now permit "it" on the left hand side of an indented rule to reference the binding of "it" in the parent rule. For example, the following code plays a sound if the cube closest to the robot is a red cube:
      WHEN see cube DO
          WHEN see it red DO play "beeprobo"
• Better control of action sequencing with the new "and then..." tile. Add an "and then..." tile to a "say", "play", or "express" action, and that rule will suspend and only complete when the action finishes. Rules indented beneath that rule will not run until the parent rule completes. Thus, the following sequence says "start", then drives forward by 50 mm, then says "stop", and then switches to page 2 when the robot finishes speaking.
      WHEN DO say "start" and then...
          WHEN DO move ahead 50 mm
              WHEN DO say "stop" and then...
                  WHEN DO switch to page 2
  Without the "and then..." tile the robot would say "start" and move forward at the same time, and after moving it would begin to say "stop" and switch to page 2 at the same time. Note that the "move ahead 50 mm" action always suspends, so it does not require (or accept) an "and then..." modifier.
• Rooms: you can now define named regions called "rooms" in the world map; see the Map Editor section below. The "WHEN visiting" predicate will be true if the robot is currently located within a room, and the "DO visit" action will navigate to a room.

User Interface Improvements

• Rule scrolling: when a page has more rules than can fit on the screen, you can now use the right stick or the mouse scroll wheel to scroll up and down.
• Adjustable font size: in the rule editor, the size of tile label and button help text is now adjustable. Go to Home > Settings > Font size to change it.
• World map improvements: the world map now shows more realistic cube and charger images using the actual markers on those objects.

Map Editor

• A new drag-and-drop Map Editor allows you to define world maps by specifying the initial locations of cubes and custom markers, and defining named rooms. (See the discussion of the "visit" and "visiting" tiles above.)
• You can also use the map editor to set initial colors of the light cubes. Right click on a light cube in the map to set its color.
• Maps can be used both in simulator mode and with the real robot.
• Enter the map editor by pressing the D-Pad down button or pressing Control-downarrow on the keyboard (or fn-Downarrow on the Mac).
• Maps can be exported and imported as .calypsomap files.
• A future version of the map editor will add walls with doorways, allowing you to define the floor plan of a house with named rooms.

A new version of Calypso has been released: version 0.8.33.

New Features

• An "On Charger" warning in execution mode reminds you when Cozmo is sitting on his charger. He can still function, but he will not be able to move until you take him off the charger.
• The "Retry or enter simulator mode" pop-up window now displays the Calypso version number.
• In the rule editor, entering a "switch to page" tile immediately takes you to the page menu.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that prevented recognition of the "2 diamonds" custom marker.
• Fixed the Windows installer and Windows updater to accommodate  user names containing spaces.
• Upgraded the MacOS version of Calypso to use Pillow 5.2.0, which solves a problem with Pillow on older versions of MacOS (10.10 and 10.11).

A new version of Calypso has been released: version 0.8.31.

New Features

• Home -> Settings -> Light Cubes helps you find your robot's light cubes when you're in a room with multiple Cozmos. Your robot's cubes will flash with a unique color. You can also check cube battery voltages, and the "Refresh" function tells Cozmo to relinquish his cubes and then attach to them again.
• Home -> Settings -> Default Path allows you to change the path where your Calypso programs and user sound files are stored. This is specially useful for schools that use a central file server instead of storing files on the local hard drive.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Calypso to crash when speech input was received.
• Restored some missing gamepad and keyboard help entries.

A new version of Calypso has been released: version 0.8.29.

New Features

• Auto-Save prevents you from losing work when you quit Calypso.
• New look for rules and menus, featuring a rounder design.
• Improved help for the Settings -> Sounds interface.

Bug Fixes

• More accurate positioning of robot and cubes on the world map when the robot is carrying cubes around.
• The "not" tile now grays the DO half of the rule when "not" is satisfied.
• Miscellaneous minor program execution issues resolved.
• Tkinter pop-up window problem on the Mac resolved.

Calypso 0.8.27 Release Notes

New Features

• "The Dock": the place where cubes go when we don't know their position (because they've been moved by a human and haven't yet been seen again). Previously, if you moved a cube and Cozmo couldn't see it, he assumed the cube was still at its last known position, even if he couldn't see it when he looked there. But now when a cube is moved and not seen, it goes into "the dock" in the top right corner of the world map. "WHEN see cube" will be false when the cube is in the dock, but Cozmo can still hear it if it speaks, and feel it if you tap on it. When he sees the cube again, it comes out of the dock and reappears on the world map.
  
  
• Enhanced sound file management: go to Home -> Settings -> Sounds and you'll be able to (a) import new sound files in to your User Sounds collection, (b) browse both Calypso Sounds and User Sounds collections and play any sound file, or (c) export sounds from the current program to your User Sounds collection.  In addition, there's a Robot Volume panel that allows you to control Cozmo's volume.
  
  
• Continued progress on making cube pickup smoother and more reliable. We use an adaptive thresholding scheme to verify that a cube has been picked up successfully, and have made adjustments to the path planning algorithm for smarter docking behavior. We'll continue to tune these algorithms in future releases.
  
  
• AmazonBasics game controllers now work correctly on Mac and Linux systems. These controllers cost only $25, and they  work just as well as the more expensive Xbox One controllers and the now hard to find Xbox 360 controllers. Other brands of controller are not guaranteed to work with Calypso.
  
  

Bug Fixes

• "WHEN see face in-frame" now works correctly.
  
  
• DO-side actions that are blocked (Third Law of Calypso) or fail are now grayed out, as they should be.
  
  
• Actions such as grab that are interrupted by gamepad input are treated as "failed" and now prevent indented rules from running (Fourth Law of Calypso).

Calypso 0.8.25 Release Notes

New Features

• Import and export of sound files is now supported via Home -> Settings -> Sounds
• The "play", "say", and "hear" tiles now show you their arguments; you no longer have to put the pencil on the tile to see these values.

• You can now play or delete sound files from within the sound file browser, e.g., when choosing a sound for the "play" tile, or during sound import/export.
• Cube pickup is more reliable.
• Calypso for Mac will now use the version of Google Chrome in /Applications if one is present; otherwise it will use a private copy  packaged with Calypso.

Bug Fixes

• Faces are now displayed properly in the world map
• "Feel" correctly binds "it"
• Calypso updater will now allow you to update even if the Calypso version hasn't changed, in order to pick up new versions of Python packages such the Cozmo SDK.
• Calypso update

Calypso 0.8.23 new features and bug fixes:

• Custom markers. Cozmo can now detect four custom markers that can be placed on objects to make them perceptible to him. A file with the marker images is available on the Curriculum page, so you can print them out and paste them on things. Each marker is assumed to be unique, so don't use two of the same kind.
• Face learning. Go to Settings -> Faces, turn Cozmo so he's looking at you, and you can teach Cozmo to recognize your face. When he learns your face he will say your name.
• The "express" tile now displays an emotion bubble in the world map, which is especially helpful when running in the simulator.
• The file browser for Load/Save and the "play" tile now displays pathname info.
• New sound files: "ambulance", "police", and "cuckoo".
• Cube low battery voltage warnings (< 1.3 volts).
• Setting "Invert R Stick" (which is now on by default) inverts the action of the right stick when controlling the head, so it works like an airplane stick (forward = dive). Note: this setting is not yet saved on exit, but it will be in the next release.

Bug fixes:

• More intuitive rule highlighting: indented rules stay fully dimmed if not running.
• The "express" action repositions the head afterwards so vision can resume normally.
• Problem with "glow random" fixed.
• Problem with "turn wander" fixed.

Calypso 0.8.21 new features and bug fixes:

• Improved cube pickup behavior.
• More user-friendly Settings menu.
• Randomness has arrived!
• The "say" tile now accepts a list of utterances, one per line, and picks one at random.
• New "random color" tile for glow action.
• New "random" tile for points provides random number generation.  Examples: to throw a six-sided die do "WHEN DO set-counter red-score 1 point random 6 points". To flip a coin (1=Heads, 0=Tails) do "WHEN DO set-counter green-core random 2 points".
• New "random" tile for timer predicate, As with scores, tiles appearing to the right of the "random" tile are summed to give a value N, and a random number 0 <= r < N is then generated. Any values to the left of the "random" tile are added to the random result. For example, "WHEN timer 2 seconds random 5 seconds" will wait for an interval between 2 and 7 seconds long (2 + a random number r where 0 <= r < 5).

• "Move wander" and "turn wander" now pause briefly after turning to give Cozmo's vision system time to process the new view.
• "WHEN gamepad DO look" and "WHEN gamepad DO lift" now work properly.

• Bug fix in file save operation.

First commercial release of Calypso.

Download the custom marker labels PDF file (for custom markers), or the ArUco markers collection (for making walls).

Print each file on 2 inch by 2 inch adhesive labels with 1/8 inch spacing between rows. We use product OL330WX from OnLineLabels.com.

The vendor says these labels can be used in either a laser or inkjet printer. We take them to FedEx/Kinko's and have them printed on a high end commercial photocopier. Do not use them in a regular photocopier.