elikos_roomba

ROS package for IARC mission 7 ground & osbtacle robots with on-board Raspberry Pi

elikos_roomba works with the create_autonomy package to communicate with and drive the Roomba with ROS. Its purpose is to implement the IARC mission 7 ground robot and obstacle behaviours.

It also has a node to manage the ground robot's top switch and call a service when activated.

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Prerequisites

1. Raspberry Pi with a RPi-compatible Ubuntu flavour (Ubuntu MATE and Xubuntu 16.04 have been tested; for more, see here)

2. Install ROS kinetic (Ubuntu/armhf) (-desktop)

3. Install WiringPi (library)

   sudo apt-get purge wiringpi
   hash -r
   cd
   git clone git://git.drogon.net/wiringPi
   cd ~/wiringPi
   ./build
   

Initial setup

1. Create workspace directory and init the catkin workspace

   mkdir -p ~/roomba_ws/src
   cd ~/roomba_ws/src
   catkin_init_workspace
   

2. Fork the elikos/elikos_roomba repo
   Clone your own fork in the ~/roomba_ws/src folder

   git clone https://github.com/USERNAME/elikos_roomba.git
   cd elikos_roomba/
   git remote add upstream https://github.com/elikos/elikos_roomba.git
   

   with USERNAME being your GitHub username

3. Clone the create_autonomy package repo in the ~/roomba_ws/src folder

   git clone https://github.com/AutonomyLab/create_autonomy.git
   sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
   

   Log out and log back in.

4. Compile

   cd ~/roomba_ws
   catkin build
   

   If compiling for a RPi, use this option to link the wiringPi library and build the topswitch node:

   catkin build -DRPI=TRUE
   

   If you don't have the catkin_tools package, you can either install it

   sudo apt-get install python-catkin-tools
   

   or simply use catkin_make instead.

   catkin_make
   

5. Source

   . ./devel/setup.bash
   

6. Do stuff

   If you want to control a roomba with a joystick/controller:

   1. Add your user to the dialout group (you can't access USB peripherals otherwise)

      sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
      

      then logout and login again

   2. Install joy and joy_teleop

      sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-joy ros-kinetic-joy-teleop
      

   3. If you want to use a keyboard instead, use key_teleop

7. Create a pull request

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Launch files

• rpi_local.launch

  • launches create_autonomy/ca_driver with a topswitch_node inside a /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id) namespace
  • to be launched locally on the Raspberry Pi
  • arguments
    • robot_id : unique id of robot [1]
    • robot_type : type of robot (ground or obstacle) [ground]

• robot_ground.launch

  • launches groundrobot_node
  • to be launched on a remote computer or on the Raspberry Pi itself
  • arguments
    • robot_id : unique id of robot [1]
    • pos_x : initial x position of robot (meters) [0.0]
    • pos_y : initial y position of robot (meters) [0.0]
    • yaw : initial yaw of robots (radians) [0.0]
    • color : color of robot (red, green, or white) [white]

• robot_obstacle.launch

  • launches obstaclerobot_node
  • to be launched on a remote computer or on the Raspberry Pi itself
  • arguments
    • robot_id : unique id of robot [1]
    • pos_x : initial x position of robot (meters) [0.0]
    • pos_y : initial y position of robot (meters) [0.0]
    • yaw : initial yaw of robots (radians) [0.0]

• robot_sim.launch

  • to test robot_viz
  • launches RVIZ, a serviceredirect_node and 2 pairs of groundrobot_node+robotviz_node and a pair of obstaclerobot_node+robotviz_node inside /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id) namespaces

• service_redirect.launch

  • launches a serviceredirect_node
  • arguments
    • groundrobot_qty : number of ground robots to manage [1]
    • obstaclerobot_qty : number of obstacle robots to manage [1]

• joy_teleop.launch

  • launches a joy_teleop node inside a /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id) namespace
  • to be launched on a computer with an Xbox 360/Xbox One controller
  • arguments
    • robot_id : unique id of robot to control [1]
    • robot_type : type of robot (ground or obstacle) [ground]

Services

• /toggle_activate

  • activate/deactivate all robots (via serviceredirect_node)

• /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id)/toggle_activate

  • activate/deactivate robot with id $robot_id and type $robot_type
  • example
    • For a ground robot with id 1

      rosservice call /groundrobot1/toggle_activate
      

• /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id)/topswitch_trigger

  • usually called by topswitch_node when top switch of robot with id $robot_id is triggered

• /$(arg robot_type)robot$(arg robot_id)/bumper_trigger

  • simulate triggering of bumper of robot with id $robot_id and type $robot_type

Using multiple robots

To have multiple robots running on the same roscore:

• start a roscore on a computer (preferably not one of the RPis), and note the IP
• for every robot i, starting from i=1
  • on RPi through SSH:
    • set ROS_MASTER_URI (pointing to the above IP)
    • set ROS_IP (pointing to this RPi)
    • launch rpi_local.launch with a unique robot_id and a corresponding robot_type

      roslaunch elikos_roomba rpi_local.launch robot_id:=i robot_type:=TYPE
      

  • on host computer or RPi through SSH, launch robot_ground.launch or robot_obstacle.launch with corresponding robot_id

    roslaunch elikos_roomba robot_ground.launch robot_id:=i
    

    or

    roslaunch elikos_roomba robot_obstacle.launch robot_id:=i
    

  • or launch joy_teleop.launch with corresponding robot_id and robot_type on a computer with an Xbox controller

    roslaunch elikos_roomba joy_teleop.launch robot_id:=i robot_type:=TYPE
    

• launch service_redirect.launch with the number of ground robots ng and number of obstacle robots no

  roslaunch elikos_roomba service_redirect.launch groundrobot_qty:=ng obstaclerobot_qty:=no
  

• activate robots

  rosservice call /activate
  

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Troubleshooting

Mostly because Christophe is dumb and often forgets.

• Error on roslaunch of either ca_driver or ca_tools joy_teleop

  1. Serial error, with a message like

     [create::Serial] failed to receive data from Create. Check if robot is powered!
     

     and no serial communication from the robot:

     1. no blue light on the USB connector of the USB-to-serial cable; or
     2. no response when doing cat /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

     Try:

     1. Press the power button once. It should immediately connect.
     2. If that still doesn't work, force the roomba to reset. Remove the 4 screws and then remove the battery. Wait a couple seconds, then put it back in along with the screws. You should hear a little happy tune and serial communication should now work.
     3. Battery may be dead. Charge the roomba!

• Can't run ROS or roslaunch ca_tools joy_teleop from another computer
  See ROS/Tutorials/MultipleMachines

  1. Configure ROS_MASTER_URI variable pointing to the roscore host for every terminal on both the host and remote computers

     export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://192.168.x.y:11311
     

     with 192.168.x.y being the actual address of the host computer; check with hostname -I

• No communication between the host and remote computer
  Symptom: Couldn't find an AF_INET address for [HOSTNAME] message on the roscore of the host

  1. Configure ROS_IP variable pointing to the local computer for every terminal on both the host and remote computers

     export ROS_IP=192.168.x.y
     

     find the 192.168.x.y address with hostname -I

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Generate documentation

To generate documentation with doxygen (because why not; sometimes a readme isn't enough!)

doxygen Doxyfile

Robot behaviour

Behaviour description of the ground robot and obstacle robot according to the official rules.

Info	Ground robot	Obstacle robot
Initial position	1 m radius, equally spaced and facing outward	5 m radius, equally spaced and oriented clockwise
Normal trajectory	foward @ 0.33 m/s	10 m diameter CW circle centered on arena @ 0.33 m/s
Interactions	- Bumper: 180° CW - Top switch: 45° CW	None
Noise/random	- Every 20 seconds: 180° CW - Every 5 seconds, while moving: 0° ≤ angle ≤ 20° CCW	None

Hardware

Parts list:

• Raspberry Pi 3 (because it has built-in Wi-Fi)
• Power bank (make sure it can output >= 2.5 A per port; this one works)
• Power cable (using a short cable like these is probably a good idea)
  Tip: disconnect the RPi power cable when not using the robot. That seems to drain the power bank very quickly even if the RPi is turned off.