ROS driver package for robotont.
This package handles low-level communication between ROS and robotont hardware.
On a real robot, the driver is started automatically via a system service. You can perform several checks to verify that the driver is running properly.
To check the status of the service:
systemctl status clearbot.service
If the driver node is running you should also see '/driver_node' in the output of:
rosnode list
In case any of the above checks should fail try restarting the service (see the robotont_support package) or launch the driver node manually:
roslaunch robotont_driver driver_basic.launch
In case you don't have a real robot nearby, you can run this simple dummy node that subscribes to velocity commands and publishes odometry. This driver does not know anything about physics and performs a simple integration. To start the fake driver with RViz visualization:
roslaunch robotont_driver fake_driver.launch
For a more physics-based experience, the real robot can be replaced with a Gazebo simulation. Please see the robotont_gazebo package for further information.
The drivers for the simulated and the real robot both subscribe to a cmd_vel
topic. To move the robot, we have to publish velocity messages to this exact topic.
Here we use the teleop_twist_keyboard node, which translates command line keypresses to velocity messages and published these by default on cmd_vel
topic.
Run the node
rosrun teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard.py
- If teleop twist keyboard is not installed:
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-teleop-twist-keyboard
- Follow the printout in the console to learn how to control the robot. Enjoy the ride!
- Find out your computer's IP address:
ifconfig
- From your Android device, go to Google Play Store and install the ROS Control app.
- Open the ROS Control app on your phone.
- Add a new robot using the plus sign in the top right corner and give it a desired name.
- Insert your computer's IP address into the Master URI field by entering the following:
http://IP_address:11311
- Click on "Show advanced options" in the prompted window and fill in "Joystick" and "Odometry" topic names with "/robotont/cmd_vel" and "/robotont/odom", respectively.
- Click OK to add the robot.
- Now you can select the robot from the list and teleoperate it using the touch joystick button.
PACKET_ID:ARG1:ARG2:...:ARGN\r\n
This plugin subscribes to cmd_vel (<geometry_msgs::Twist>) topic and sends the RS (Robot Speed) packet with lin_vel_x, lin_vel_y, and ang_vel_z arguments to the robot.
This plugin receives the ODOM packet from the robot and publishes the data on /odom (<nav_msgs::Odometry>) topic. This plugin also broadcasts an odom frame via TF.
This plugin is responsible for publishing information about battery levels, current consumption, and other hardware status indicators. The messages are published on /robotont/power_supply (<robotont_msgs::PowerSupply>) topic.
A plugin for ToF range sensor addon. Publishes messages on /robotont/range (<sensor_msgs::Range>) topic.
A plugin for controlling the led strip addon. The plugin subscribes to /robotont/led_pixel (<robotont_msgs::LedModulePixel>) and /robotont/led_segment (<robotont_msgs::LedModuleSegment>) topics, which can be used to set the color of an individual pixel or a segment of pixels.