Micro-ROS Arduino library for Kaia.ai

Kaia.ai is a platform for 3D-printable pet robots. Please sign up for an early launch invite here.

This repo is an Arduino Micro-ROS library for Kaia.ai home pet robots platform.

Install a library release using Arduino Library Manager

• open your Arduino IDE
• select the Tools -> Manage Libraries menu
• type kaia in the search filter
• click Install

Install a library release by .zip download

• Navigate to the release section, expand Assets and download the latest Source code (zip) release
• Launch your Arduino IDE, open the Sketch -> Include library -> Add .ZIP Library... menu and select the downloaded file named micro_ros_arduino_kaiaai-2.0.7-iron.3.zip (the actual version digits may differ)

Install library using git

Alternatively, you can git clone this library as follows. This method may be useful if you need to edit library files or check out different versions of the library.

• confirm the location of your Arduino sketches by opening File -> Preferences in your Windows Arduino IDE and noting the path "Sketchbook location" path, for example C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Documents\Arduino
• append \libraries to the sketchbook location path to get the path to your Arduino libraries, e.g. C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Documents\Arduino\libraries
• make sure you have installed Git for Windows or a similar Windows Git tool
• run commands below in a Windows shell to clone this library to your Windows PC

cd %HOMEPATH%\Documents\Arduino\libraries
git clone -b iron --depth 1 https://github.com/kaiaai/micro_ros_arduino_kaiaai micro_ros_kaia

Now you can include this library into your sketch using #include <micro_ros_kaia.h>.

Mod and rebuild Micro-ROS Arduino library for Kaia.ai

In some cases, tayloring Kaia.ai software to your particular robot may require tweaking the Kaia.ai library code in addition to the Kaia.ai firmware - for example to add new types of Micro-ROS messages. Follow these steps to extend and/or adapt and rebuild the Kaia.ai Arduino library on Windows for your particular robot design.

• Install Docker for your PC platform, e.g. Docker for Windows and make sure the Docker agent is running
• Install the Micro-ROS Arduino library for Kaia.ai using the instructions above. Let's assume you are using Arduino IDE for Windows and your Arduino libraries are stored under C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Documents\Arduino\libraries.
• Open a Windows command shell and run these commands to rebuild the library using the Micro-ROS library builder:

cd %HOMEPATH%\Documents\Arduino\libraries
git clone -b iron --depth 1 https://github.com/kaiaai/micro_ros_arduino_kaia micro_ros_kaia
docker run -it --rm -v .\micro_ros_kaia:/project --env MICROROS_LIBRARY_FOLDER=extras microros/micro_ros_static_library_builder:iron

Hints

• You can also rebuild the library for a particular platform only, e.g. for ESP32:

docker run -it --rm -v .\micro_ros_kaia:/project --env MICROROS_LIBRARY_FOLDER=extras microros/micro_ros_static_library_builder:iron -p esp32

Acknowledgements and modifications

This is a fork of Micro-ROS Arduino library adapted to Kaia.ai-based robots. Specifically, this adapted fork

• fixes library_generation.sh script to build the library correctly on Windows
• adds a git clone to download the library
• adds kaiaai_msgs ROS2 package
• moves WiFi.begin() outside of the Micro-ROS library for cleaner and convenient code development
• tweaks colcon.meta to optimize library features, performance and memory usage for Kaia.ai applications
• sets up the library for inclusion into the Arduino Library Manager

API tweaks

Now you can handle connecting to WiFi as you see fit, instead of Micro-ROS doing this for you. For example:

  WiFi.begin(ssid, passw);
  Serial.print("Connecting to WiFi ");

  unsigned long startMillis = millis();
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    if (millis() - startMillis >= 10000) {
      Serial.println(" timed out");
      return;
    }
    Serial.print('.'); // Don't use F('.'), it crashes ESP32
    delay(500);
  }

  Serial.println(F(" connected"));
  Serial.print(F("IP "));
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());

  set_microros_wifi_transports("192.168.1.57", 8888); // Micro-ROS setup

Change Log

v2.0.7-iron.4

• added KaiaaiTelemetry2 message
• compiler warning fix

v2.0.7-iron.3

• added version defines MICRO_ROS_KAIA_MAJOR, MICRO_ROS_KAIA_MINOR, MICRO_ROS_KAIA_PATCH, MICRO_ROS_KAIA_BUILD, MICRO_ROS_KAIA_DISTRO
• added version check macro IS_MICRO_ROS_KAIA_MIN_VERSION(major,minor,patch,build)

v2.0.7-iron.2

• fixed missing kaiaai_msg package
• increased the max number of services to 6 to support parameter server

v2.0.7-iron.1

• re-added support for CPU architectures other than ESP32