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Setting Up ADB

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Host Computer Setup
    1. ADB Installation
      1. For Ubuntu ≥ 22.04
      2. For Ubuntu 20.04
    2. Basic Interfacing
    3. ModalAI Top Tip: Aliases
  3. Appendix
    1. Run Something Once
    2. Wait for Device
    3. Copying Files
    4. Reboot VOXL 2
    5. udev Permission Issues

Overview

The next step after powering on your VOXL is to set up a communication channel between your host computer and your device for things like file transfers and running programs. The following section will be focused on setting up the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) which is a command-line tool which allows you to accomplish this task. All remaining instructions assume the user is running Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04.

Note: From this section onwards work will be done in both the user’s terminal and in the adb shell. When possible, code blocks will start with either me@mylaptop:~$ or voxl2:/$ respectively to denote this difference.

Host Computer Setup

The following section will help you configure ADB on your host machine.

Note: Using USB C to USB type A cables has worked well, we’ve seen some computers where USB C to USB C cables are not working well. If you have having issues with connections, please try a USB C to USB type A cable.

ADB Installation

To start, install the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and fastboot:

For Ubuntu ≥ 22.04

me@mylaptop:~$ sudo apt update
me@mylaptop:~$ sudo apt install -y android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

For Ubuntu 20.04

me@mylaptop:~$ sudo apt update
me@mylaptop:~$ sudo apt install -y adb fastboot

Basic Interfacing

To check for attached devices, you can use the adb devices command:

me@mylaptop:~$ adb devices
List of devices attached
73a05d48	device

To access the ADB Shell, you can use the adb shell command:

me@mylaptop:~$ adb shell

To test your setup to this point, you can run a command like voxl-version as such:

voxl2:/$ voxl-version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
system-image: 1.6.2-M0054-14.1a-perf-20230612
kernel:       #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 13 03:27:14 UTC 2023 4.19.125
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hw version:   M0054
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
voxl-suite:   1.0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Packages:
Repo:  http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/ qrb5165 SDK-1.0
Last Updated: 2023-03-02 12:58:29

To exit the shell you can use the exit command:

me@mylaptop:~$ adb shell
voxl2:/$ echo "I am inside VOXL 2!"
I am inside VOXL 2!
voxl2:/$ exit
exit
me@mylaptop:~$

Note: If you are using VOXL and not VOXL 2, the adb shell command will start an sh shell. Generally you want to use a bash shell instead, so we recommend starting bash right away. Running adb shell followed by starting bash will look like this:

me@mylaptop:~$ adb shell
voxl:/$
/ # bash
voxl:/$

To confirm, you can also look at the SHELL variable:

voxl2:/$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

With this you should be done and ready to move on to the WiFi Guide !

ModalAI Top Tip: Aliases

For frequent VOXL usage it may be convenient to set up aliases in the ~/.bashrc file on your host machine. We recommend adding the following aliases:

alias voxl="adb wait-for-device && adb shell"
export VOXL_IP=<VOXL DEVICE IP ADDRESS HERE>
alias sshh='sshpass -p oelinux123 ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null root@${VOXL_IP}'

The former alias allows the user to wait for a device to be ready for connection and then immediately connect when possible. The latter alias allows for a shortening of the ssh command to your device. You will learn how to get the IP address for your device in the next section.

To use the sshh alias, made sure you have sshpass installed on your host machine: sudo apt install sshpass

Appendix

Listed here for convenience are some other common ADB commands and tips we recommend to the user.

Run Something Once

This can be done with adb shell <command>. If you don’t want to start an interactive shell, but just want to run one command on VOXL 2, you can pass the command directly to adb shell.

me@mylaptop:~$ adb shell echo "I am inside VOXL 2"
I am inside VOXL 2
me@mylaptop:~$

Wait for Device

A useful command for creating scripts for host-to-target communications is this one that sits and waits until a device is connected:

me@mylaptop:~$  adb wait-for-device

Copying Files

You can copy files to/from VOXL 2 (similar to scp) using the adb push and adb pull commands.

For example, to copy /temp/test.dat to the VOXL 2 at /:

me@mylaptop:~$ adb push /tmp/test.dat /
/tmp/test.dat: 1 file pushed.

To copy it back from the VOXL 2 at /test.dat to /temp

me@mylaptop:~$ adb pull /test.dat /tmp
/test.dat: 1 file pulled

Reboot VOXL 2

You can reboot VOXL with a single adb command adb reboot. This is often followed by adb wait-for-device which returns when VOXL has finished rebooting.

me@mylaptop:~$  adb reboot

udev Permission Issues

If you see an error message related to your udev permissions possibly being wrong, you can use the following steps to fix the issue:

First, switch to the root user:

sudo su

Then, create the file 51-android.rules if it does not already exist:

touch /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Then use the following two commands to add VOXL devices to the rules:

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="05c6", ATTRS{idProduct}=="901d", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev", SYMLINK+="voxl%n"' > /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="d00d", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev", SYMLINK+="voxl-fastboot%n"' >> /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Lastly, reload the udev rules:

udevadm control --reload-rules && udevadm trigger


Next: WiFi Guide