/beaglebot

A robot companion based on the BeagleBone AI-64

Primary LanguagePython

Beaglebot -- A robot based on the Beaglebone AI-64

By Carsten Thue-Bludworth

2024

Overview

Structure

  • cad directory contains mechanical and electrical design files.
  • bot directory contains code that runs on the robot itself.
  • server directory contains code that runs on a remote server.

04/10/2024

  • Start experimenting with rerun in Python by creating a virtual environment and then pip install --upgrade rerun-sdk.
  • On server machine (my laptop) install rerun viewer with cargo binstall rerun.
  • Get realsense camera (D435i model) working.
    • had to install the SDK via this document.
    • Actually, not so straightforward :( The dpkg install is only available for Ubuntu and specific versions of the kernel. I was able to build from source following a combination of this guide and this guide, which worked fine, and realsense-viewer successfully shows the camera and depth feeds; however, this didn't install the kernel patch, instead compiling for the RSUSB backend (I think). I after building the python bindings and running make install I couldn't access them from a normal (non venv) python repl.
    • TODO: get the kernel patch building and installing (preferred solution, perhaps can contribute back to the BBAI64 community).
    • TODO: figure out best solution for pyrealsense2 python package (i.e. system wide after source build, or via pip in a venv)?

General notes on BBAI-64 setup

  • Change password for user debian.
  • Update packages with sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get upgrade, and sudo apt-get dist-update.
  • Install rustup via the curl installer. I had to not modify the PATH variable due to file path differences. Instead, configure the shell manually by running source ~/.cargo/env.fish.
  • Monitor temps via sudo cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
  • USB-C connector seems to not work with my dongle (using PD too). TODO: try powering over the barrel connector and then see if the dongle works.
  • realsense-viewer said my camera was operating on a USB 2.1 port, but the bbai64 specs say its a 3.1 port? Maybe this way because of the cable I was using (says 2.1 on the sheating)?
  • htop seems to only indicate the 2GB of RAM are present.. but the specs indicate 4 should be there?