CARLsim++

CARLsim++ is an integrated toolbox that enables fast and easy creation of neuromorphic applications. It encapsulates the mathematical intrinsics and low-level C++ programming by providing a graphical user interface to create neuromorphic models and Developers can easily configure inputs and outputs to devices and robots. These can be accurately simulated before deploying on physical devices. CARLsim++ can lead to rapid development of neuromorphic applications for simulation or edge processing.

CARLsim++ is a complex system by design with a modular architecture. Neuromophic applications incorporate a huge amount of requirements such as realtime processing of sensory input, providing visual feedback of neural activity, monitoring operational and scientific data, just to name a few. For managing the open-source repositories and to accomplish automatic builds, we utilizes the YCM superbuild. YCM was orignally developed by IIT for iCub with the principle, to upstream its generic functions to CMake.

CARLsim++ was published at NICE 2024. Please refer to our paper for more information and how to cite.

Building CARLsim++ on Windows

The complete CARLsim++ system will be encapsulated in one directory called CARLSIMPP_ROOT.

Prerequisites

CARLsim++ for Windows is built with the following tool chain:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and 2022
NVIDIA CUDA 11.8
CMake GUI (>= 3.20)
Python (>= 3.9)
Swig 4.0.2

CARLsim++ uses the following libraries as prerequisites:

YCM 16.2
Boost 1.76
ACE 6.5.20
Qt 5.15.13

Hint: These libraries are matured and a de-facto standard for open source development. For convenience, we provide a quick install instructions as supplemental information.

Required for EPuck simulations and YARP devices:

Webots R2023b

Get CARLsim++

Clone the CARLsim++ repository to your local disk.

cd /d C:\
git clone https://github.com/UCI-CARL/CARLsimPP.git carlsimpp-t01

The directory of the local CARLsim++ superbuild repository will be referred as CARLSIMPP_ROOT.

Hint: The directory will contain the full package. You can use any root directory as long the path is short. Set access rights to full control (File Exporer > Properties > Security).

Hint: To build a specific version of CARLsim++, pass the release tag to git clone. You also can use an dedicated directory that can used as CARLSIMPP_ROOT.

git clone -b TAG https://github.com/UCI-CARL/CARLsimPP.git carlsim-001

Build CARLsim++

The easiest way to configure and build CARLsim++ is on a single computer such as a workstation with a NVIDA GPU. This is called a single-tier environment. See below how to build a multi-tier system that functionally seperates components and scales horizontal.

Preparation

mkdir c:\carlsimpp-t01\build

Bootstrap the superbuild.

In a Window Command Prompt execute the following commands.

cd /d c:\carlsimpp-t01\build
cmake -A x64 -B . -S .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="C:/carlsimpp-t01/build/install"

Build and install all components.

cd /d c:\carlsimpp-t01\build 
cmake --build . --config Debug

Hint: The progress can be monitored with in a Powershell.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\carlsimpp-t01\build -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum

Hint: If the error LNK2038 occurs during building CARLsim6, check in CMakeCache.txt that YCM had set the /W3 and /MDd options.
CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS:STRING=/DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /GR /EHsc /MP
CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG:STRING=/MDd /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1

Configure CARLsim++

To activate the CARLsim++ Superbuild and set its environment variables for the current user, open a new Microsoft Powershell and execute

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config
.\activate-superbuild.ps1

Open a new Powershell as Administrator and execute

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config
.\configure-node.ps1 win-t01-yarp

Open a new Powershell for the current your and execute

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config
.\setenv-superbuild.ps1 User
.\set-debug.ps1 USER

Hint: On Windows, YARP reports checkpoints to the path C:\Users\user\Documents\yarprun_log. Create the directory structure with access rights for the current user.

Run CARLsim++

Open the CARLsim++ shortcut in c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config

Alternatively, open a new Powershell on the path.

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config

To display the configured CARLsim++ system:

.\show-system.ps1

To start CARLsim++ system:

.\start-system.ps1

To stop the CARLsim++ system:

.\stop-system.ps1

Hint: Use the TAB key to autocomplete a Powershell command.

Validate the installation for EPuck

Start the CARLsim++ system

.\start-system.ps1

Check if the YARP devices for EPuck are available:

C:\Users\MyUser>yarpdev --list
[INFO] |yarp.dev.Drivers| Device "CarlEpuck2", available on request (found in C:/carlsimpp-t01/build/install/lib/yarp/yarp_CarlEpuck2.dll library).
[INFO] |yarp.dev.Drivers| Device "CarlWbEPuck", available on request (found in C:/carlsimpp-t01/build/install/lib/yarp/yarp_CarlWbEPuck.dll library).

Configure and build a multi-tier environment

cd C:\carlsimpp-001
mkdir build-edge
mkdir build-yarp
mkdir build-gpu

cd build-epuck
cmake -A x64 -B . -S .. -D<profiles options for edge tier>

cd buid-yarp
cmake -A x64 -B . -S .. -D<profiles options for yarp tier>

cd build-gpu
cmake -A x64 -B . -S .. -D<profile options for gpu tier>

Build and configure the Release version of CARLsim++

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build 
cmake --build . --config Release

Open a new Powershell for the current your and execute

cd c:\carlsimpp-t01\build\install\config
.\unset-debug.ps1 USER

Prerequisites for CARLsim++ on Windows

Microsoft Visual Studio 2022

Download and follow the install instructions from: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=Community&channel=Release&version=VS2022&source=VSLandingPage&cid=2030&passive=false
Open the "Visual Studio Installer" and choose "Modify". Select the following workloads:
- "Desktop Development for C++" with "C++/CLI support", "MSVC v142 - VS2019 C+++ x64/x86 build"
- "Universal Windows Platform development" with "C++ (V143)/(V142)", "GPU profiler"
- "Linux and embedded development with C++" with "Remote File Explorer for Linux"
Type "Visual Studio 2022" in Windows Search and start it. In the "Help" menu the item "About" should report version 17.9.4 or later.

Futher reading

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/overview/what-s-new-for-visual-cpp-in-visual-studio?view=msvc-170

Microsoft Visual Studio 2019

Download and follow the install instructions from: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/older-downloads/#visual-studio-2019-and-other-products

Run the installer vs_community__452194921.1608369874.exe

NVIDIA CUDA 11.8

Download and follow the install instructions from: https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-11-8-0-download-archive
Select the target platform for a GPU workstation as following: Operating System: Windows Architecture: x86_64 Version: 11 Installer Type: exe (local)
Download (3.0GB) https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/11.8.0/local_installers/cuda_11.8.0_522.06_windows.exe

CMake GUI

Download the binary distribution from https://cmake.org/download/
Run the the Windows installer cmake-3.29.0-windows-x86_64.msi
Choose the following install options:
- Add CMake to the system PATH
- Create CMake Desktop Icon

GIT for Widnows, Git Bash

Download and follow the install instructions from: https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/download/v2.44.0.windows.1/Git-2.44.0-64-bit.exe

Perl

Download and install ActivePerl 5.28 from https://docs.activestate.com/activeperl/5.28/get/windows/

Run ActivePerl-5.28.msi to install Per to C:\Perl64\

Further reading: https://www.activestate.com/products/perl/

Python

Download and install Python 3.7.9 or later from https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-379/

PYTHON_INCLUDE=C:\Python37\include
PYTHON_LIB=C:\Python37\libs

YCM

Download the sources of YCM 0.16.2 from:
https://github.com/robotology/ycm/archive/refs/tags/v0.16.2.zip
Unpack the .zip to C:\Users\MyUser\Documents\YCM-0.16.2
Generate the Visual Studio with CMake GUI:
Source: C:\Users\MyUser\Documents\YCM-0.16.2
Build: C:\Users\MyUser\Documents\YCM-0.16.2\build
CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX: C:\YCM\YCM-0.16.2
Build and Install the Releaes in Visual Studio
Define the environment variable YCM_DIR=C:\YCM\YCM-0.16.2

ACE

Get ACE and prepare the build:

Download ACE-6.5.20.zip from Github.
Unpack the archive to C:\ACE\ACE-6.5.20.
Assign the path C:\ACE\ACE-6.5.20\ACE_wrappers to the enviroment variable ACE_ROOT.

To build ACE, follow the install instructions in ACE-INSTALL.hmtl for MS Visual Studio 2019:

Create the file config.h in ACE_ROOT\ace containing following line:
#include "ace/config-win32.h"
Open Visual Studio 2019 on ACE_ROOT\ACE.sln.
Build the debug and release version for x64.
Validate that the lib directory contains files with the naming described in 8.: Library/DLL name" + (Is static library ? "s" : "") + (Is Debugging enable ? "d" : "") + {".dll"|".lib"}
Add C:\ACE\ACE-6.5.20\ACE_wrappers\bin to the path environment variable.

Qt5

We provide a quick install for Qt5 following https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/build-sources.html

Get the sources with a Git Bash

git clone git://code.qt.io/qt/qt5.git /C/Qt/Qt-5
cd /C/Qt/Qt-5
git checkout 5.15
./init-repository

Search for "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019" and open it

**********************************************************************
** Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt v16.11.34
** Copyright (c) 2021 Microsoft Corporation
**********************************************************************
[vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x64'

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community>

Set the environment variables for configuration and build in the Native Tools Command Prompt:

SET _ROOT=C:\Qt\Qt-5
SET PATH=%_ROOT%\qtbase\bin;%_ROOT%\gnuwin32\bin;%PATH%
REM Uncomment the below line when using a git checkout of the source repository
REM SET PATH=%_ROOT%\qtrepotools\bin;%PATH%
SET _ROOT=

Configure the Qt to build the release version in the Native Tools Command Propmt:

cd C:\Qt\Qt-5
configure -release -nomake examples -nomake tests -skip qtwebengine -opensource

Validate that the configuration concludes with the following lines:

Qt is now configured for building. Just run 'nmake'.  
Once everything is built, you must run 'nmake install'.  
Qt will be installed into 'C:\Qt\Qt-5.15.13'.

Build and install Qt in the Native Tools Command Prompt:

cd C:\Qt\Qt-5
REM set CL=/MP
nmake
nmake install

Configure and build the debug version of Qt:

cd C:\Qt\Qt-5
configure -debug -skip qtwebengine -opensource

Repeat the build step.

Add Qt environment variables

PATH=%PATH%;C:\Qt\Qt-5.15.13\bin
QT5_ROOT=C:\Qt\Qt-5.15.13

MySQL

Download and install "MySQL Community Server 5.7": https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer/ https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/file/?id=523570 Choose Setup Type "Full"
Download and install "MySQL Connector/C 6.1" https://downloads.mysql.com/archives/get/p/19/file/mysql-connector-c-6.1.11-winx64.msi Validate it was installed the default directory "C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Connector C 6.1"
Compile Qt with the MySQL driver:

cd C:\Qt\Qt-5\qtbase\src\plugins\sqldrivers
qmake -- MYSQL_INCDIR="C:/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Connector C 6.1/include" MYSQL_LIBDIR="C:/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Connector C 6.1/lib"
nmake nmake
nmake install

Hint: To enforce the search for MySQL, delete the config.cache and run qmake at the top level.

Boost

Download boost_1_76_0.zip from https://www.boost.org/users/history/version_1_76_0.html
Extract the .zip to C:\Boost\boost_1_76_0-src
Create Build directory C:\Boost\boost_1_76_0-build
Build Boost in the "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019":

set VERSION=1_76_0
set PREFIX=c:/Boost/boost_%VERSION%
cd c:\Boost\boost_%VERSION%-src
REM call bootstrap once  
bootstrap
REM Build Boost Build Engine
b2 --clean
REM Build and Install Boost to the default directory for Windows (C:\Boost)
b2 --build-dir=../boost_%version%-build  architecture=x86 address-model=64 runtime-debugging=on link=shared,static variant=debug threading=multi runtime-link=shared  install 
b2 --build-dir=../boost_%version%-build  architecture=x86 address-model=64 runtime-debugging=off link=shared,static variant=release threading=multi runtime-link=shared  install

Add Boost to the Path user environment variable

SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Boost\lib

SWIG

Download SWIG 4.0.2: https://sourceforge.net/projects/swig/files/swigwin/swigwin-4.0.2/ .
Extract the .zip to C:\Program Files\swigwin-4.0.2 .
Add C:\Program Files\swigwin-4.0.2 to the path environment variable.

Webots

Download the OpenSource version of Webots R2023b from Cyberbotics webots-R2023b_setup.exe (250MB) from https://cyberbotics.com/#download
Run the installer for all users with the provided defaults.
Add the following environment variable
WEBOTS_HOME=C:\Program Files\Webots
Extend the path environment variable

SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Webots\msys64\mingw64\bin
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Webots\lib\controller

Qwt 6.2

Download source qwt-6.2.0.zi from https://sourceforge.net/projects/qwt/files/qwt/6.2.0/qwt-6.2.0.zip/download
Extract .zip to C:\Users%USERNAME%\Documents\Qwt-6.2.0
Configure and Build in the "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019"

cd C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Documents\Qwt-6.2.0
qmake qwt.pro

Build and install

nmake
nmake install

Extrend the path environment variable set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Qwt-6.2.0\lib set QWT_ROOT=C:\Qwt-6.2.0

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 6 Commits
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE		.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE
cmake		cmake
releases		releases
scripts		scripts
.gitignore		.gitignore
CMakeLists.txt		CMakeLists.txt
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
carlsimio.png		carlsimio.png

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UCI-CARL/CARLsimPP

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CARLsim++

Building CARLsim++ on Windows

Prerequisites

Get CARLsim++

Build CARLsim++

Configure CARLsim++

Run CARLsim++

Validate the installation for EPuck

Configure and build a multi-tier environment

Build and configure the Release version of CARLsim++

Prerequisites for CARLsim++ on Windows

Microsoft Visual Studio 2022

Futher reading

Microsoft Visual Studio 2019

Further reading

NVIDIA CUDA 11.8

Further reading

CMake GUI

GIT for Widnows, Git Bash

Further reading

Perl

Python

Further reading

YCM

Further reading

ACE

Further reading

Qt5

Further reading

MySQL

Further reading

Boost

Further reading

SWIG

Further reading

Webots

Further reading

Qwt 6.2

Further reading

YARP

Further reading

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