Setup

TL,DR: Run the venv and compilation setups. If you want to run arm and wheels controls, or use the Aruco node, there are additional steps. Then compile with colcon build --symlink-install --packages-skip usb_cam. Now, you can run a launch file. For instance, to run the simulation of IK, run ros2 launch arm_ik local_ik.launch.py. NOTE: VS Code's integrated terminal causes issues with RVIZ, so I recommend you use a traditional terminal emulator (Terminator or Terminal).

Setup venv

We highly recommend you setup a Python venv. Run python3 -m venv ./space-env from the robotics-orin folder. This will create a python venv in the space-env folder. To make it always run on startup, run the following command to add it to your bashrc: echo "source ${PWD}/space-env/bin/activate" >> ~/.bashrc

Setup to compile repo

The code in this repo was built around ROS Humble. First install that. Then, from this folder (robotics-prototype):

• Install rosdep, colcon, catkin, and pip (if not already) (sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions python3-pip python3-rosdep2)
• Init rosdep (sudo rosdep init). An error of the form ERROR: default sources list file already exists: is expected, if you've already installed rosdep.
• Go in the rospackages folder: cd robot/rospackages
• Update rosdep and install rosdep update && rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y. Enter your password when prompted.
• Run rosdep so it installs packages:- Install misc python deps (pip install -r ../../requirements.txt)
• Install JetsonGPIO from GitHub. This must be manually installed. The default options will work.
• Build: colcon build --symlink-install --packages-skip usb_cam (usb_cam can only compile on the Jetson).
• Source this ros2 package by adding a command to your bashrc. You can do that by running this command: echo "source ${PWD}/install/local_setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
• Restart your terminal so the above command runs and you can have access to the ros2 workspace.

Running arm and wheels controls

First, run sudo ./scripts/configure-can0.sh and sudo ./scripts/configure-arm.sh. The error message "chmod: cannot access '/dev/ttyUSB1': No such file or directory" is normal. Then, run ros2 launch robot/rospackages/launch/robot_ik.py. NOTE: you will likely need to unplug and re-plug in the USB-Serial adapter for the absolute encoders.

Then, on another computer, run ros2 run joy joy_node that is on the same network as the rover, and with a Logitech X3D joystick plugged in (allowing a wider range of input methods is in progress).

Setting up ros2_aruco

Short version

Run these commands:

• pip install transforms3d
• Find where your python packages are installed (eg run the above command again) and source it in ~/.bashrc. This line should look like the following: export PYTHONPATH="/home/marc/Programming/robotics-orin/space-env/lib/python3.10/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"
• If need to duplicate video: sudo apt install ffmpeg v4l2loopback-dkms v4l2loopback-utils v4l-utils

Long version

To get this working, you may see the following error:

Installing the transforms3d library by hand required. Please run
        sudo pip3 install transforms3d

Run this command (in my case without the sudo and with pip) and it should work. Adding to PYTHONPATH is likely necessary. You will add a command like the following to ~/.bashrc: export PYTHONPATH="/home/marc/Programming/robotics-orin/space-env/lib/python3.10/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"

Another thing to consider is that while python3-opencv (installed with apt, from rosdep) works with this package, it also works with opencv-python (installed through pip). There is a version difference, which is why there are lines such as if cv2.__version__ < "4.7.0": in the source.

In addition, to allow the camera used for aruco detection to also be streamed, v4l2loopback must be configured and ffmpeg must be present. Install the following: v4l2loopback-dkms, v4l2loopback-utils, v4l-utils, and ffmpeg.

If you have secure boot enabled, there will be additional setup involved (requiring a reboot). These packages might be added to package.xml at some point, but it will need to be added to rosdep, which takes a little while.

To allow simultaneous streaming on another process, set the camera_index and camera_destination_index params in the launch file. They correspond to which index in /dev/video to use. If camera_destination_index is set (to a value which is not -1), it will (attempt) to stream the camera from the source to the destination location (in /dev/video). Now, any other process can load the camera from the destination index.