/rosnao

Primary LanguageC++

Exposes some functionalities for the Capstone VSLAM projects in ROS. Avoids complicated install and possible latency issues with other ROS implementations.

Prequisites

  1. Make sure you are on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with ROS Noetic installed. If you are unable to use a dual boot or Ubuntu, VirtualBox is recommended (install Ubuntu 20.04 there).
  2. The robot used is Nao 6.

First Time Setup

  1. Download the SDK from here, preferably to the home ~ folder.
  2. Right-click the .tar.gz file and click Extract Here. Make sure the top extracted folder is called naoqi-sdk-2.8.5.10-linux64 and contains a toolchain.xml (not in any nested folders).
  3. Rename the top extracted folder from naoqi-sdk-2.8.5.10-linux64 to naoqi_sdk_cpp.
  4. Open a terminal, clone this repository, and go into the rosnao workspace folder.
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/LaiYanKai/rosnao.git
cd ~/rosnao
  1. Make sure you have pip installed:
sudo apt install python3-pip
  1. Assign permissions to all bash scripts in the workspace:
chmod +x *.sh
  1. Open init_qibuild.sh and make sure SDK_DIR is pointing to the correct path of the naoqi_sdk_cpp folder. It is if you downloaded the SDK into the home ~ folder. Save when done.
  2. Install qibuild and configures it for this project. If prompted, install the qibuild if it is not installed, and choose Unix Makefiles for CMake Generator and None for IDE:
sh init_qibuild.sh

Connecting NAO to PC

  1. The user guide is available here. Please read first before continuing.
  2. Prepare the robot in crouching position and start the robot by pressing the chest button. Please take care not to topple the robot in this position, as the joints are not stiff (there's a joint controller). Some of our robots have their autonomous life turned off. So the robot remains in this crouching position even after starting.
  3. Install Robot Settings.
  4. Make sure your PC is connected to a network / router (for NUS students, this network cannot be any NUS network, please use your router instead).
  5. If NAO was never connected to the network / router that your PC is connected to, connect an Ethernet cable from the NAO to the router, and follow the steps here to connect wirelessly (Wi-Fi connection).
  6. For subsequent steps, make sure that your PC and NAO are connected to the network that you have chosen (you may choose another from Robot Settings).
  7. Obtain the PC's IP address (using ip a on an Ubuntu terminal).
  8. Obtain the Nao's IP address (click the Chest button or look at Robot Settings).
  9. Disconnect the ethernet cable, as NAO is already wirelessly connected. Subsequent boot-ups should connect to the network / router wirelessly if available.

Setup .bashrc ROS remote IP

  1. In terminal open .bashrc:
nano ~/.bashrc
  1. Make sure the following is at the end of the .bashrc script. Scroll down using the Arrow Down key or use Ctrl+End:
export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://<PC IP>:11311
export ROS_HOSTNAME=<PC IP>

where <PC IP> is replaced with the PC's IP address, or localhost. If there are multiple identical lines, remove the rest, as only the last lines will take effect. 3. Save and exit using Ctrl+S and then `Ctrl+X. 4. For all open terminals, run:

source ~/.bashrc

Streaming the Grayscale Camera

Publishing into Image Topic

  1. Make sure the robot is started up, and connected to an access point via its wi-fi or an ethernet cable. Press the chest button to get its IP address.

  2. In the rosnao workspace folder, open run_cam.sh. Edit the parameters, especially NAO_IP:

    • When editing the SH script, make sure there are no spaces around the = operator.
    • Fill in the IP address for the Nao Robot in NAO_IP.
    • If running Ubuntu on VirtualBox, make sure the network adapter is Bridged Adapter.
    • Set RES=1 for QVGA (320*240), or RES=2 for VGA (640*480).
    • Set CAM=0 for the bottom camera, or CAM=1 for the top camera.
    • The TOPIC is the ROS Image topic that the video feed will be published into.
    • The FRAME is frame_id field of the message in the topic. See Header and Image.
    • Save and exit when done.

  3. Run the camera and RViz.

cd ~/rosnao
./run_cam.sh
  1. The feed is grayscale for OrbSLAM purposes.

Viewing the Image Topic in RViz

DEPRECATED. RViz is already launched with run_cam.sh

  1. In another terminal, launch RViz using: rviz
  2. In RViz, change the base frame to world (from map).
  3. Add the Image display,
  4. Then, change the topic in the Image display to whatever is in TOPIC IN run_cam.sh.
  5. Make sure run_cam.sh is running in another terminal to see the camera stream in RViz.

Walking the robot and turning its head

Overview

A complete list of SDK functions, can be found here. Only the bare minimum of the SDK is exposed in the class Motion in src/rosnao_brige/include/motion.hpp.

  • setAngle: Can only turn the head to a specified yaw angle. 1.57 radians means look left 90 deg, -1.57 means look right. Angle is adjustable. Fractional max speed should be kept low to scan the environment. Can be blocking or unblocking.
  • moveTo: The robot can move to a pose in x, y, yaw, relative to current pose (i.e. in robot's frame). The speed of walking is already minimal to reduce head bobbing.
  • moveToward: Moves the robot in normalised x, y, yaw velocities (-1 to 1) in the robot frame.
  • move: Moves the robot in x (m/s), y (m/s), yaw (rad/s) velocities.
  • wakeup, rest and moveInit functions. (see comments in test_motion.cpp).

Running and Testing

  1. Make sure the robot is started up, and connected to an access point via its wi-fi or an ethernet cable. Press the chest button to get its IP address.

  2. In the rosnao workspace folder, open run_motion.sh and edit the IP address of the NAO robot.

  3. Run the motion:

cd ~/rosnao
./run_motion.sh
  1. Modify src/rosnao_bridge/src/test_motion.cpp and try from there.

You can choose to export this package but must first add the motion.hpp into a library using add_library in CMakeLists.txt in order to use it.

Teleoperation

Teleoperate using the keyboard on the remote PC by moving the robot in normalised velocities.

The robot is stable between -0.8 and 0.8 normalised velocities. Beyond that, it may become unstable.

Keys to Teleoperate NAO

Key Description Math
w Move forward faster x += 0.1
x Move backward faster x -= 0.1
a Strafe leftward faster y += 0.1
d Strafe rightward faster y -= 0.1
q Rotate leftward faster yaw += 0.1
e Rotate rightward faster yaw -= 0.1
s Stops all motion
Else Press any other key to stop the teleoperation
  1. In the rosnao workspace folder, open run_teleop.sh and edit the IP address of the NAO robot.
  2. Run the teleoperation with:
cd ~/rosnao
./run_teleop.sh
  1. Wait for the robot to stand up.
  2. Teleoperate. Avoid moving the robot faster than 0.8 normalised speeds.
  3. After ending the teleoperate, wait a while for the robot go into resting position.