Real-time system for mobile robot control

Brief

This project implements a real time control system for a tracked robot.

It consist of two parts:

• The firmware implemented a low level control system is based on the ChibiOS/RT demos for STM32 Nucleo144-F767ZI.
• The software implemented a high level control system is based on the ROS Melodic for Raspberry PI and desktop. It mainly uses move_base and different SLAM packages: slam_karto, gmapping and hector_mapping.

Hardware Requirements

The main hardware components are:

• Raspberry PI 2B (RPI),
• STM32 Nucleo144-F767ZI,
• motors with encoders GM25-370,
• lidar ydlidar x4.

Software Requirements

• It is assumed you use ubuntu 18.04 with ROS melodic insalled in the way described in the official tutorial on your computer.

• The RPI is based on Ubuntu Mate 18.04.

• Python 2.7

Installation and Building:

You can build docker image using build script or install and build manually using instruction from the Dockerfile.

Real usage

1. You should create symlinks for stm32 and ydlidar:

sudo ./init_stm32_and_ydlidar.sh

2. Then setup ROS_MASTER and ROS_IP on RPI and PC:

source init_env_vars.launch

3. Run SLAM or Localization on RPI:

roslaunch wr8_software real_slam.launch

or

roslaunch wr8_software real_localization.launch

4. Run RVUZ on desktop to monitor the robot position and to setup desired goals:

roslaunch wr8_software rviz.launch

Usage in Gazebo simulator

1. Run on the first terminal session:

roslaunch wr8_software gz_server.launch

2. Run on the second terminal session to spawn a robot with SLAM or Localization algorithm:

roslaunch wr8_software gz_slam.launch

or

roslaunch wr8_software gz_localization.launch

Here launching is divided into two files to have an ability to spawn several robots simultaniously. But this feature is not ready yet.

Troubleshooting

If you have a problem with urdf model visualization in rviz in ros melodic, read this comment.

Firmware

1. Install some linux distributive, for example ubuntu melodic
2. Install st-link, arm compiler, eclipse and chibios like this tutorial

Repository content

• robot_firmware - Eclipse project based on ChibiOS for STM32 Nucleo144-F767ZI board
• robot_software - ROS package for raspberry PI 2B and PC that containts navigation stack, robot configuration and simulation scripts
• robot_description - ROS package with robot model description
• ydlidar_ros - ROS package that has YDLIDAR driver

Useful links

• IEEE Real-time Control System for a Tracked Robot article
• F767ZI Reference manual (RM)
• F767ZI Datasheet (DS)
• F767ZI Nucleo pinout
• ydlidar x4 datasheet and manuals
• ydlidar ros package - new repository
• ydlidar ros package - old repository