vector_ros

This repository contains an unofficial ROS package for Anki Vector that I started as a small side project after finishing several online ROS courses. This package is essentially a wrapping of core Vector functions from Vector Python SDK as ROS topics, services and actions(full list below). In order to showcase the package I wrote a simple red ball tracking node which subscribes to the camera feed coming from Vector, locates the red ball using cv_bridge/OpenCV and publish Twist messages to move the robot accurdenly as you can see in the following video:

Mentions

• http://www.theconstructsim.com/using-anki-vector-robot-ros-omri-ben-bassat 🤖 📺

Setup

Requirements(non Docker setup)

• ROS Melodic with Python 3.6 installed
• Vector Python SDK
• diff_drive package

Docker Image

It's highly recommended to use the supplied Dockerfile insted of installing directly on your machine mainly because of the tricky setup required to run Python 3 properly on ROS. If you wish to do this setup by yourself then I wrote a blog post explaining how that you can use, else follow these instructions:

1. Install Docker and docker-compose if you dont have it already installed

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.23.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

2. Clone this repository and create docker-compose file from template

git clone https://github.com/betab0t/vector_ros
cd vector_ros
cp docker-compose-TEMPLATE.yml docker-compose.yml
nano docker-compose.yml

3. Edit the following lines and save

vector_ip: <VECTOR_IP>
vector_name: <VECTOR_NAME>
vector_serial: <VECTOR_SERIAL> 

Not sure how to get this info? see FAQ section below

4. Build and start the container

sudo docker-compose build --build-arg anki_user_email=<ANKI_ACCOUNT_EMAIL> --build-arg anki_user_password=<ANKI_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD>
sudo docker-compose up

Use your Anki Developer username and password

Topics

• /vector/camera (sensor_msgs/Image)

Vector camera feed.

• /lwheel_ticks (std_msgs/Int32)

Cumulative encoder ticks of the left wheel. used by diff_drive package.

• /rwheel_ticks (std_msgs/Int32)

Cumulative encoder ticks of the right wheel. used by diff_drive package.

• /lwheel_rate (std_msgs/Int32)

Left wheel rotation rate. used by diff_drive package.

• /rwheel_rate (std_msgs/Int32)

Right wheel rotation rate. used by diff_drive package.

Services

• /vector/battery_state

• /vector/set_head_angle

• /vector/set_lift_height

• /vector/anim_list

• /vector/say_text

Actions

• /vector/play_animation

Play animation by name.

Examples

View single image from camera

beta_b0t@home:~$ rosrun image_view image_saver image:=/vector/camera
[ INFO] [1550425113.646567813]: Saved image left0000.jpg
[ INFO] [1550425113.752592532]: Saved image left0001.jpg
[ INFO] [1550425113.848999553]: Saved image left0002.jpg
...
(Ctrl+C)
...
beta_b0t@home:~$ eog left0000.jpg

Set head angle

beta_b0t@home:~$ rosservice call /vector/set_head_angle "deg: 45.0"

Say text

beta_b0t@home:~$ rosservice call /vector/say_text "text: 'hello world'"

Play animation

beta_b0t@home:~$ rostopic pub /vector/play_animation/goal vector_ros/PlayAnimationActionGoal "header:
  seq: 0
  stamp:
    secs: 0
    nsecs: 0
  frame_id: ''
goal_id:
  stamp:
    secs: 0
    nsecs: 0
  id: ''
goal:
  anim: 'anim_turn_left_01'"

FAQ

• How do i find Vector's IP address?

• How do i find Vector's name?

• How do i find Vector's serial number?

• Why isn't this XX from Vector SDK supported? Well, I didn't wrap all the functions from the SDK - only the main ones as i see it. Yet, if you found a missing function that you need/would like to see as part of vector_ros, please consider opening a new issue with your proposal.