sam_stonefish_sim

Prototype for simulating the SAM auv in stonefish. This is a work in progress and support for the full SAM vehicle is not there yet. Right now we support the following actuator commands:

/sam/core/lcg_cmd - sam_msgs/PercentStamped sets position of LCG weight 0-100%
/sam/core/rpm_cmd - sam_msgs/ThrusterRPMs sets rpm of the two thrusters, forward is positive
/sam/core/thrust_vector_cmd - sam_msgs/ThrusterAngles sets vertical and horizontal angle of thrusters

Building

Let us start by installing the dependencies.

sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libglew-dev libfreetype6-dev tmux python3-vcstool ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-py-trees-ros ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-pid

If you are on Ubuntu 16.04, you need to use vim (or other editor) to open the file

sudo vim /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/cmake/SDL2/sdl2-config.cmake

and then remove space after "-lSDL2 ". On 18.04 this is not needed.

Installing with vcstool

Using the python3-vcstool dependency, we can install all of the packages outlined below with one simple command in our catkin_ws/src folder. If you only have access to the public repos (i.e. you're not a member of the SMaRC project), use the command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nilsbore/sam_stonefish_sim/master/rosinstall/sam_sim.rosinstall | vcs import --recursive

Otherwise, if you have access to https://gitr.sys.kth.se/smarc-project, issue:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nilsbore/sam_stonefish_sim/master/rosinstall/sam_sim_private.rosinstall | vcs import --recursive --w 1

in your catkin_ws/src folder. This may take a few minutes, so be patient.

You can now go to your catkin_ws and use catkin_make -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release to build all of the packages needed for the simulation. No need for the build and clone steps below. Instead, skip to the running section.

Minimum requirements (manual)

Now go into the catkin workspace where you want to build the simulation, or create a new workspace. In the src folder, execute the commands,

git clone https://bitbucket.org/iquarobotics/cola2_msgs.git
git clone https://github.com/smarc-project/sam_common.git
git clone https://github.com/nilsbore/sam_stonefish_sim.git
git clone https://github.com/nilsbore/stonefish_ros.git
cd stonefish_ros
git submodule update --init

This is everything you need if you just want to run the base sim (see below).

Requirements for planner (manual)

These packages are needed if you want to run the full stack including mission planning with Neptus and controlling the vehicle to follow the plan.

git clone https://github.com/smarc-project/imc_ros_bridge.git
git clone https://github.com/smarc-project/smarc_missions.git

Compiling

When you fetched what you want, run catkin_make -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release and make sure to source your workspace devel/setup.bash wherever you want to run this.

Running

Base sim with teleop

Just run

roslaunch sam_stonefish_sim base_simulator.launch

and control the vehicle like normal, with w for forwards, s for stop and the arrow keys for controlling the direction.

Mission planning with neptus

Run

roslaunch sam_stonefish_sim mission_simulator.launch

to start everything that's needed for the simulator and interfacing with neptus. Some guidance for how to add SAM to neptus can be found here. It is basically the same as the BTS tutorial and I think @KKalem is working on more extensive documentation for that that would be just as relevant here.

Robot-like interface

The robot interface also requires sam_common, see above. Apart from that, you will need flexxros, including dependencies, and also the private sam_controllers package:

pip3 install flexx rospkg
pip3 install tornado==5
sudo apt install ros-kinetic-rosmon
git clone -b new_topics https://github.com/nilsbore/flexxros.git
git clone https://gitr.sys.kth.se/smarc-project/sam_controllers.git

You then have to make sure to source your workspace in your ~/.bashrc, i.e. something like:

source /path/to/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash

You will now be able to run the robot interface, including controllers with

rosrun sam_stonefish_sim bringup.sh

Go to localhost:8097 in your web browser and start the nodes there and steer the actuators!