Softbank Robotics Choregraphe Software Incompatible With Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina

Update: Softbank Robotics support confirmed that this is a problem and their recommendation is just a workaround. They told me to use a virtual machine with Ubuntu. Sigh. (18 November 2020)

It was time again to get my hands onto our Nao robots and since I just had received a new Mac laptop I took the opportunity to download the latest version of Softbank Robotics/Aldebaran’s Choregraphe software (version 2.8.6.23).  It turns out that the newest version is incompatible with the latest version of Mac OS X (10.15.7 Catalina). It cannot be installed.

Here is what happens. You can download only the newest version of the various software packages from the new Softbank Robotics website. If you need an older version then you are out of luck since the links to old Aldebaran website are simply broken. You only get the information that the community website has been discontinued.

But okay, lets try the latest greatest. Mac OS X has a security feature called Gatekeeper to only allow the execution of that prevents the execution of any program by unidentified developers. You will get an errors message:

““choregraphe-suite-2.8.6.23-mac64-setup” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.”You need to click on “Cancel”. Normally you would now go to your security settings and allow this app to open anyway at the bottom of the windows:

This will then fire up the installer app again. And you get another warning message:

“macOS cannot verify the developer of “choregraphe-suite-2.8.6.23-mac64-setup”. Are you sure you want to open it?”

You can now click on “Open”, which should start the installer app. Instead the installer quits and never progresses. You could then try to bring back the option in Mac OS X to allow apps from any developer by using a little bit of Terminal magic:

sudo spctl --master-disable

After a reboot you can try your luck again opening the installer and you get this error message:

““choregraphe-suite-2.8.6.23-mac64-setup” is an app downloaded from the internet. Are you sure you want to open it?”

After clicking “Open” the installer quits again and you are unable to install Choregraphe. Notice that the error messages points again at the discontinued Aldebaran community.

Dear Softbank Robotics, it seems like your software needs some updates and your support website seems also in desperate need for some updates. Please, we paid thousands of dollars for your robots, don’t let them die like this.

Does anybody have a solution for this problem? Does anybody have an older version of Choregraphe available? Maybe we need to setup our own download archive to be able to maintain our robot buddies.

Using your LEGO Mindstorms RCX on a modern computer

Bringing back your old LEGO Mindstorms RCX to life is easier than you might expect. The bottleneck is being able to communicate with the RCX using the Infrared Communication Tower. Version 1 used a tower that was attached to the computer using the old serial port (RS232) while version 2 used a USB tower. The later is much easier to use these days since most computers still have plugs that are compatible with USB1.1. For this tutorial you will need:

We will setup a virtual machine on your host computer (Mac or PC) and install Windows XP on it. We will then install the original Robotic Invention System (RIS) so that the USB driver is correctly installed. You can then use RIS to program you RCX or you can setup many other programming environments/languages. Another problem you might encounter is that the cables used to connect the sensor and actuators to the RCX have become brittle and the isolation comes off easily. You can still buy some new cables from Bricklink.

Continue reading “Using your LEGO Mindstorms RCX on a modern computer”

Install ICC color profile for projectors in Windows XP

This tutorial shows you how to install an ICC color profile (also known as ICM) for an external projector in Windows XP. Make sure that all color adjustments in the projector itself are switched, so that they do not interfere. Continue reading “Install ICC color profile for projectors in Windows XP”