CNU Robotics CHRISLab ROS Workspace Installation

Install and setup files for the basic setup of our software including ROS 2 release versions of FlexBE, including FlexBE App and FlexBE Behavior Engine, along with the extensions including Flexible Navigation, and Flexible Behavior Trees.

This installation includes options for installing demonstrations using Turtlebot3 (FlexNav Turtlebot3 and FlexBT Turtlebot3) and the customized CHRISLab Kobuki Turtlebot2 (FlexNav Turtlebot2 and FlexBT Turtlebot2).

Computer Setup

• Follow the ROS Installation instructions for setting up your ROS system on Ubuntu.
• This system has been tested on ROS 2 Humble Release on Ubuntu 22.04.
• We recommend ros-humble-desktop as the base for this system; it includes most of the required packages, including the Gazebo simulator for testing.
• Install ROS stand alone tools
• sudo apt-get install python3-rosinstall
• sudo apt-get install python3-rosdep
• sudo apt-get install python3-wstool
• Our install script (below) uses rosinstall tools
• Install your favorite editor or IDE. (e.g. atom, QtCreator, CLion, ...)

CNURobotics Software Setup

*If installing a new workspace, remove existing workspace setup from .bashrc, and

reopen terminal sourcing only the /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash prior to running this script.*

1. Create workspace root folder (e.g. ~/CHRISLab) and change to that directory

cd ~
mkdir CHRISLab
cd CHRISLab

2. Clone the install setup

• git clone https://github.com/CNURobotics/chris_install.git .
  • Note: the dot at end of below command is critical!
    • We are choosing to clone within our workspace root folder, as opposed to creating the folder during the clone.
      • The cloned folder should NOT be named chris_install.
    • Alternately, you could replaced dot ('.') with desired name of the workspace (e.g., CHRISLab) and clone from home directory (skipping step 1 above)

3. Change to correct branch

• e.g., git checkout ros2-devel
• This version has options for selectively installing the standard ROS 2 Turtlebot3 and CHRISLab Kobuki-based Turtlebot2 demonstrations for flexible_navigation and flexible_behavior_trees demonstrations.

4. Run the install script ./install.sh

5. Follow on-screen instructions to add the new setup to bashrc and re-source the terminal

• You can open a new terminal, or just . ~/.bashrc

6. Test the setup rws

• you should be in the workspace root (e.g. ~/CHRISLab )

7. Install the CHRISLab specific code by choosing one of the following

• ./rosinstall/install_scripts/install_flex_base.sh for just base FlexBE-based software without demonstrations, or
• ./rosinstall/install_scripts/install_flex_turtlebot3.sh for base + Turtlebot 3 Simulation demonstration setup
• ./rosinstall/install_scripts/install_chris_turtlebot2.sh for base + CHRISLab specific Turtlebot 2 simulation and hardware setup

For basic demonstration with minimal dependencies, choose the install_flex_turtlebot3.sh installation.

The installation scripts can be run separately with the required packages merged in the rosinstall files.

8. Build and install any external libraries installed in the $WORKSPACE_ROOT/external folder

• For example:

cd $WORKSPACE_ROOT/external/sbpl
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Currently we do NOT require any external builds for these demonstrations.

9. Build our system

ccb
. setup.bash

NOTE: ccb is using a safe alias for colcon build defined in the setup script created by the install script. It changes to the ROS workspace first to avoid accidentally building in a source folder. There are variants for colcon build --packages-select (ccbs) and --packages-up-to (ccbu)

NOTE: Be sure to re-run the setup.bash script whenever a new package is added to the workspace.

10. Enjoy!