Yoctopuce makes electrically isolated USB modules and special hubs suitable for diverse automation tasks, including data acquisition and logging, and various actuators suitable for control. Yoctopuce supplies libraries for several computing languages but not for R. Using the yoctopuce Python library from R is rather easy thanks to R package ‘reticulate’. R package ‘yoctopuce’ makes it easier for R users unfamiliar with package ‘reticulate’ and/or Python to use this library. Package ‘yoctopuce’ also includes an article (published only as part of the online documentation) with use case examples for different Yoctopuce USB modules.
If using a virtual hub instead of a hardware one, the VirtualHub software should be installed and running on the computer or microcontroller board where the USB modules are plugged in.
library(yoctopuce)Python and the Python ‘yoctopuce’ library have to be installed on the computer where the R code will run. The library is installed in a separate Python environment `r-yoctopuce’, that is used only by R package ‘yoctopuce’. This is to avoid interfering with other local uses of Python. Installation, of course, needs to be done only once.
install_python()
install_yoctopuce()On each R session where communication with Yoctopuce modules is needed, the library needs to be imported and registered. Based on the USB module being targeted we import Python library modules to make them available in R and register the hub (virtual or hardware) that will be used to connect to the modules. The example below assumes we will use a YoctoRelay and a YoctoMeteo module through a local instance of the virtual hub.
See the ‘yoctopuce’ Python library
documentation
for details. Be aware that the imports into R are done by "function"
name, not by USB module name. Some USB modules support more than one
“function” and multiple USB modules that are logically equivalent
normally support the same “function”. Say for both YoctoRelay and
YoctoPowerRelay USB modules the import is the same yocto_relay, while
for YoctoMeteo with its different “functions”, three imports are needed
to be able to use all of them, as shown in the example below. Additional
imports would be needed to access the data logger built into the
YoctoMeteo module.
y_initialise("yocto_relay", "yocto_humidity", "yocto_temperature", "yocto_pressure")
ls(pattern = "^yocto")The first line of code above creates R objects yocto_api,
yocto_humidity, yocto_temperature, yocto_pressure giving access to
the functions and objects from the Python library using $ notation.
However, one needs first to find the module one intends to use and
create a wrapper object. The serial number plus “function” name within
the module or an user-assigned “logical” name of the module “function”,
is used to locate it. Here we use "RELAY1", the name of the first of
two relays (“functions”) in our YoctoRelay module. When using default
names, only one module of a given type can be used. With multiple
identical modules, either names should be changed to unique ones, or
serial numbers used. Using default names makes the code usable unchanged
with any Yoctopuce module of a given type, while using different names
or serial numbers makes it possible to individually access multiple
modules of the same type through the same hub.
Relay1 <- yocto_relay$YRelay$FindRelay("RELAY1")
# in case of failure the Python error message is displayed
# we can check the serial number of the found relay
Relay1$describe()
Relay1$get_functionId()
# We can then, for example, flip the relay switch to ON ("B") state for 200 ms
Relay1$pulse(200)The Yoctopuce website provides many code
examples in module manuals, tutorials and in blog posts. The libraries
for different computer languages use consistent naming and design and
code examples using versions of the ‘yoctopuce’ other than the Python
one are easy to translate into the Python equivalent. Except for
functions y_initialise() and install_yoctopuce() you will be using
the functions from the Python library calling them through the “bridge”
provided. As no wrapper R functions are used, at least in principle, R
package ‘yoctopuce’ should give always access to all the functions
available in the installed version of the ‘yoctopuce’ Python library,
even in the future.
Currently, package ‘reticulate’ is imported in whole and re-exported.
Thus, when package ‘yoctopuce’ is loaded and attached, package
‘reticulate’ is also loaded and attached. So, functions and objects from
‘reticulate’ can be accessed directly by their name, as shown above for
install_phyton().
To use this package you will need to have at least one USB module from Yoctopuce. To access the module you will need an active YoctoHub. This can be a virtual (software hosted in the local or another computer) or a hardware YoctoHub from Yoctopuce. Virtual hubs must be running, either started manually or automatically at computer start-up. The virtual hub can be installed as a background process or run as a regular application. In some infrequent cases access to the local USB ports from within the same R using other drivers can interfere with the access using R package ‘yoctopuce’. In such cases running the virtual hub as a background process can sometimes help.
Installation of the current unstable version from a CRAN-like repository
at R-Universe (Binaries for Mac, Win, WebAssembly, and Linux, as well as
sources available) is possible by explicitly listing the repository (as
shown) or by adding the https://aphalo.r-universe.dev repository to
the repositories known to R:
install.packages('yoctopuce',
repos = c('https://aphalo.r-universe.dev',
'https://cloud.r-project.org'))Installation of the current unstable version from GitHub (from sources)
is also possible from the main branch (as shown), but unnecessary
unless a branch different from main or an older commit is the target:
# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("aphalo/yoctopuce")HTML documentation is available at (https://docs.r4photobiology.info/yoctopuce/), including one vignette and one article.
News about updates are regularly posted at (https://www.r4photobiology.info/).
Please report bugs and request new features at (https://github.com/aphalo/yoctopuce/issues). Pull requests are welcome at (https://github.com/aphalo/yoctopuce).
If you use this package to produce scientific or commercial publications, please cite according to:
citation("yoctopuce")
#> To cite package 'yoctopuce' in publications use:
#>
#> Aphalo P (2024). _yoctopuce: YoctoPuce USB modules_. R package
#> version 0.1.1, https://docs.r4photobiology.info/yoctopuce,
#> <https://github.com/aphalo/yoctopuce>.
#>
#> A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
#>
#> @Manual{,
#> title = {yoctopuce: YoctoPuce USB modules},
#> author = {Pedro J. Aphalo},
#> year = {2024},
#> note = {R package version 0.1.1, https://docs.r4photobiology.info/yoctopuce},
#> url = {https://github.com/aphalo/yoctopuce},
#> }© 2024 Pedro J. Aphalo (pedro.aphalo@helsinki.fi). Released under the GPL, version 2 or greater. This software carries no warranty of any kind.