ASTRO (Autonomous System for Teaching Robotics) ROS2 Package

This is a ROS2 Humble meta-package for interfacing with an ASTRO robot.

Additionals

Commands that may need to be run

sudo apt update

sudo apt install ros-humble-rmw-cyclonedds-cpp

WARNING

sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg

ASTRO

1. Example, creating a workspace named astro_ws:

   mkdir -p ~/astro_ws/src
   cd ~/astro_ws/src

Note:

astro_serial_cpp package is not included in the build by default. If you want to build it remove the COLCON_IGNORE file from astro_serial_cpp folder.

Install and compile ASTRO package

1. Clone ASTRO package from GitHub

   Make sure you are inside astro_ws/src folder (generally in src folder of your workspace).

   cd ~/astro_ws/src
   git clone -b humble https://github.com/CRTA-Lab/ASTRO.git

2. Installing dependencies

   Make sure you are now in your main workspace folder, in this example ~/astro_ws/
   Make sure you have rosdep set-up.

   cd ~/astro_ws/
   rosdep install --from-paths src -y --ignore-src

3. Building ASTRO package

   Make sure you are still in your main workspace folder, in this example ~/astro_ws/

   cd ~/astro_ws/
   colcon build --symlink-install

4. Configuring package environment

   If your ws is not named astro_ws, replace astro_ws with your ws name in the following commands.

   echo "source ~/astro_ws/install/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

Usage

1. Chaning RMW Implementation to Cyclone DDS

   For better data transfer between your PC and the ASTRO robot change RMW implementation to Cyclone DDS \

   First method (suggested) (bash - default):

   echo "export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

   Second method
   If you don't want to have Cyclone DDS as your main RMW implementation, but just for one terminal

   export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp

2. Configuring ROS_DOMAIN_ID

   First, make sure ASTRO Robot is switched on, and that you are on the same network as the robot.

   Now, to work with an ASTRO robot, look up it's number, that number is the ROS_DOMAIN_ID. \

   E.G. For an ASTRO robot with a number 3:

   export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=3

   However, this will work for only one terminal, in every other terminal we must run the command above to have access to the robot. If you don't want to run the export command in every new terminal, do this.

   echo "export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=number of your ASTRO robot" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

3. Starting Robot State Publisher

   Now, with RMW implementation changed, and corresponding ROS_DOMAIN_ID exported, and your workspace sourced, execute:

   ros2 launch astro rsp.launch.py

   This will start Robot State Publisher for an ASTRO Robot.
   You can now interface with ASTRO Robot via ROS2.
   Enjoy!

Launch parameters

The rsp.launch.py launch file has a few launch parameters, to list them run:

ros2 launch astro rsp.launch.py --show-args

Example with a running ASTRO robot and run_rviz:=true:

ros2 launch astro rsp.launch.py run_rviz:=true

Output: