Piktul: Calibration Activity
Every robot needs to be calibrated in some manner or another. This activity is about doing that for the small planar Piktul robot that you'll be working with first. A huge chunk of the information can be found in the manipulation interface documentation page which includes both the Matlab files you'll need to proceed plus the instructions for how to connect and calibrate the Piktul robot. This page serves as the top level entry point to those.
Demonstration
Demonstration will involve moving the manipulator to different joint configurations and confirmation that they indeed go to where expected. The test calibration file may even be useful for you as you proceed to program the robot in future lab activities.
File: Test calibration.
Partnering
This is the first lab activity. Most likely you are here based on choosing it, but maybe you wanted to partner up and didn't know anyone in the class. At this point, there should be a Canvas module page for identifying other folk who are unpaired and seeing if they are open to pairing up. An alternative is to post a message to Piazza or whatever other mechanism exists for communicating with your class peers.
The Manipulators
Like any mechanical device or machine, these can break or get misaligned. The Canvas module page explains how to communicate problems. Be prepared to use another manipulator as the time to fix will be measured in days not hours. My pro tip to you is to name your calibration file with the manipulator number so that if you have to switch, you can maintain a distinct calibration file and easily alternate between two different manipulators as needed. Try to stick with one, but in case it breaks/gets misaligned, move to another that is functional until the main one is repaired.