ros_opencat

Control robots powered by OpenCat using ROS.

Description

• opencat_serial - serial library for OpenCat implemented in C++
• opencat_server - ROS interface for controlling OpenCat
• opencat_examples - demo programs on how to use the project
• opencat_description - mesh and model files

Usage

Install

NOTE: due to multi-threading in make process, catkin_make may fail, in that case just rerun the command multiple times.

Make sure you have installed ROS and can run catkin_make. In src directory, run

git clone https://github.com/TomCC7/ros_opencat
cd ros_opencat
# clone serial lib
git submodule init
git submodule update
cd ../..
catkin_make
source ./devel/setup.sh

Using ROS on Raspberry Pi

Currently, it's recommended to install ROS using docker.

• install docker on Raspberry Pi (ref)

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker pi
# test installation
docker run hello-world

• prepare workspace

mkdir -p workspace/src
cd workspace/src
git clone https://github.com/TomCC7/ros_opencat
cd ros_opencat
git submodule init && git submodule update
cd ../../..

• run the container

docker run -v path/to/workspace:/workspace \
-it --rm --privileged --network host --name ros ros:noetic-robot

• source files and build inside the container

cd /workspace
source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
catkin_make
source devel/setup.bash

• run examples (see Examples more more)

rosrun opencat_examples opencat_examples_serial

Multiple Machines (ref)

Ros is designed with distributed computing in mind. Here's a simple example on how to run nodes on different machines.

• on host machine (usually more powerful than Raspberry Pi)

# launch server
roscore

• run service node on Raspberry Pi

export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://<Host_IP>:11311/
rosrun opencat_server opencat_service_node

• send command from host

rosrun opencat_examples opencat_examples_client_cpp

Examples

• using serial library

rosrun opencat_examples opencat_examples_serial

• using ROS service

# start core
roscore
# start service server
rosrun opencat_server opencat_service_node
# examples using oppencat ros service in C++
rosrun opencat_examples opencat_examples_client_cpp
# examples using opencat ros service in python
rosrun opencat_examples opencat_examples_client_py

Dependency

• serial - a C++ serial library compatible with ROS