OpenBot Waffle is a ROS2-based robot platform that can be used for research, education, and hobby purposes. The robot is built around ROS2 and uses a Raspberry Pi 5 as the main controller. The robot is equipped with a Dynamixel XL430-W250-T motor, a Slamtec A1 Lidar, an Adafruit BNO055 IMU, and an Intel RealSense D435i depth camera. The structure of the robot is 3D printed and can be easily assembled. To make things easier when trying new things, the robot can be simulated in Gazebo.
Out of the box, the robot can be controlled via a keyboard or joystick. Also it can also perform SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) using Nav2 package from ROS2.
To preview the 3D model of the robot, you can use the following link: OpenBot Waffle 3D Preview
To build the OpenBot Waffle robot, you will need to 3D print the components and assemble them. The components list can be found here: List of Components Needed to Build OpenBot Waffle. The 3D printing and assembly instructions can be found here: Printing and Assembling Instructions for OpenBot Waffle.
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After building the physical robot, you will need to install the software on the Raspberry Pi 5. The software installation instructions can be found here: Software Installation Instructions for OpenBot Waffle.
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If you are new to ROS2 we recommend you to take a look at the basic instructions here: ROS2 Basic Instructions.
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When you have ROS2 installed proceed with the next intructions to learn how to launch the robot's main packages and teleoperate the robot: OpenBot Waffle Basics.
- To perform SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) and start navigation with the robot, you can follow the instructions here: SLAM and Navigation with OpenBot Waffle.
- The robot can be simulated in Gazebo. To simulate the robot in Gazebo, you can follow the instructions here: Gazebo Simulation for OpenBot Waffle.
- package cloned from https://github.com/the-hive-lab/bno055_driver
- to run independently the node that publishes the imu topic:
ros2 launch bno055_driver imu.launch.py - publishes in /imu topic
- package cloned from https://github.com/dynamixel-community/dynamixel_hardware/tree/jazzy (make sure clone branch jazzy)
- hardware interface pacage for dynamixel motors
- used for the dynamixel controller node
- package that fuses the imu and odometry data to publish the robot's pose
- to run independently the node that publishes the robot's pose:
ros2 launch imu_odom_fusion ekf_launch.py - fusions using extended kalman filters imu readings from imu topic and odometry estimates from odom topic (published by the diff_drive_controller node based on wheel encoders)
- publishes in /odometry/filtered topic
- package that contains the robot's urdf description, differential drive controller and robot launch files
- to publish the robot's urdf description:
ros2 launch urdf_description urdf_visualize.launch.py - to launch the robot launch file:
ros2 launch urdf_description robot.launch.py- launches the diff_drive_controller node that publishes the robot's odometry and listens to the cmd_vel topic to control the robot's movement
- launches the joint_state_publisher node that publishes the robot's joint states
- can launch the robot_state_publisher node that publishes the robot's tf tree (commented by default)
- launches joint_state_bridge node that publishes the joint states in the /joint_states topic
- launches lidar node that publishes the lidar data in the /scan topic (by default from /dev/ttyUSB1)
- launches the imu_odom_fusion node that fuses the imu and odometry data to publish the robot's pose
- package cloned from https://github.com/ros-teleop/teleop_twist_keyboard
- modified to work with twist stamped messages
- to run the node that publishes the twist stamped messages:
ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard
- package that contains the launch file to run cartographer and the configuration files
- to run cartographer:
ros2 launch mapping cartographer.launch.py - to publish the map:
ros2 launch mapping nav2_map_server.launch.py(ignore if use the launch file from localization package)
- package that contains the launch file to run amcl and the configuration files
- to run amcl:
ros2 launch localization localizer.launch.py
- package that contains the launch file to run nav2 path planning and the configuration files
- to run nav2:
ros2 launch path_planning path_planner.launch.py
- package that contains the launch file to run the gazebo simulation
- to run the gazebo simulation:
ros2 launch openbot_waffle_gazebo robot_description_gazebo.launch.py
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.
