New Product from Template

New Product from Template

A robot product (a tour guide, an inspection robot, ...) is its own repository made from the Dharma hub, which is a GitHub template. The product holds its bringup package, its robot profile, its driver integration and its own features; Dharma stays unchanged underneath.

1. Create the repository

On GitHub: Use this template, then:

git clone https://github.com/<owner>/<MyRobot>.git && cd <MyRobot>
scripts/init_project.py --name MyRobot --package my_robot_bringup --robot-ns my_robot --dry-run
scripts/init_project.py --name MyRobot --package my_robot_bringup --robot-ns my_robot
pre-commit run --all-files          # re-pads the tables the rename made longer
git add -A && git commit -m "chore: init from the Dharma template"

init_project.py renames the robot_bringup placeholder everywhere, sets the robot namespace and the container names, removes what only the hub needs (tooling/, the tooling sync, the script itself; the manual, paper, diagrams and wiki unless --keep-docs), resets the version to 0.1.0 and rewrites README.md and CHANGELOG.md.

2. Describe the robot

Edit config/robot.yaml of the bringup package: kinematics, footprint, base height, limits and frames (Robot Profile). The launch validates it and stops with the reason on an unknown name or an out-of-range value.

3. Connect the driver

The robot driver is a separate package. It provides launch/bringup.launch.py (or another file) accepting namespace; it publishes /<ns>/odom, /<ns>/battery, the LiDAR and IMU and the URDF TF, and subscribes /<ns>/cmd_vel. It must stop on its own command timeout. Wire the hardware e-stop to control/hw_estop (Safety).

ros2 launch my_robot_bringup robot.launch.py robot_driver:=my_driver           # or ROBOT_DRIVER=...
ros2 launch my_robot_bringup robot.launch.py odometry:=leg_kilo                 # fast_lio | leg_kilo | external

4. Per-node values

config/stack.yaml holds only what differs from the package defaults for this robot (e.g. the camera topics, the health topics and nodes, the field margins). config/sim.yaml adds what differs on the simulator. Check everything on the simulator first:

ros2 launch my_robot_bringup sim.launch.py rviz:=true

5. On the robot

1. Measure the braking limits (Robot Profile).
2. Map the first site, record its tags, teach a route (Mapping and Sites).
3. ros2 launch my_robot_bringup robot.launch.py site:=<site>; for boot, scripts/setup.sh install service installs a systemd unit running the bringup.
4. Pin the Dharma release tags in dharma.repos once the robot works.

6. Add features

Product features live in the product: new nodes that use the Dharma interfaces (e.g. call planner/go_to, listen to navigation/stop_point and answer the follower's inspection hook). Algorithms that fit a Dharma family are plugins: a controller, an avoidance policy or a health check registered through an entry point, without forking (example in the manual's development chapter).