Steve Essentials is the core infrastructure package for the Steve Butler robot. It serves as a central repository for all hardware drivers, common message definitions, kinematics, and utility nodes required to operate the robot.
This package consolidates dependencies to ensure a streamlined setup for both simulation and real hardware deployment.
Unlike other packages that focus on specific capabilities (navigation, perception, manipulation), steve_essentials provides the foundational drivers and interfaces that all other packages rely on. It includes:
- Base Drivers: Control for the Neobotix MMO-700 omnidirectional base.
- Sensor Drivers: Lidar and Camera drivers.
- Input Devices: Joystick and teleoperation nodes.
- Common Interfaces: Shared custom message and service definitions.
This metapackage contains the following sub-packages:
neo_common2: Common headers and configurations used across Neobotix packages.neo_msgs2: Custom message definitions for Neobotix robots (e.g., specific drive commands, sensor status).neo_srvs2: Custom service definitions (e.g., unlocking brakes, resetting drivers).neo_kinematics_omnidrive2: Kinematics solver for the omnidirectional mecanum wheel base.neo_relayboard_v2-2: Driver for the specific relayboard used in the MMO-700 to communicate with motors and power systems.neo_sick_s300-2: Driver for the SICK S300 safety laser scanners.neo_teleop2: Teleoperation nodes specifically tuned for the MMO-700 kinematics.
joystick_drivers: Standard ROS 2 joystick drivers (joypackage) to interface with gamepads (e.g., Logitech F710).realsense-ros: Official ROS 2 wrapper for Intel RealSense cameras (L515, D435, etc.).
The realsense-ros package included here provides the driver for the L515 LiDAR Depth Camera mounted on the robot's pan-tilt unit.
To launch the camera driver independently (for testing):
ros2 launch realsense2_camera rs_launch.py \
device_type:=l515 \
enable_color:=true \
enable_depth:=true \
pointcloud.enable:=true- Frame ID: The camera is typically published in the
camera_linkframe. - Resolution: Configurable in the launch files, defaults to 640x480 for better performance on the robot's onboard computer.
- Visualizing: You can view the pointcloud and RGB stream in RViz by adding the corresponding topics (e.g.,
/camera/depth/color/points,/camera/color/image_raw).
This project is developed at the Humanoid Robots Lab (HRL), University of Bonn.
- Rohit Menon - For mentorship and technical guidance on Neobotix platforms.
- Prof. Maren Bennewitz - Head of the Humanoid Robots Lab, University of Bonn.
License: All custom code is released under the MIT License. Third-party packages retain their original licenses.