aldrin-setup

Config for aldrin, the ACL highbay base-station PC (Ubuntu 22.04, ROS 2 Humble): motion capture (Vicon / OptiTrack) → ROS 2, with a ROVER/UAV mode switch.

Files

File	Copy to	What it does	What it needs
files/base_station.bashrc	~/.base_station.bashrc	Everything: base dashboards, mocap aliases, ROVER/UAV mode system, prompt badge	The two workspaces below built in ~/code; loaded from ~/.bashrc (setup step 3)
files/cyclonedds.xml	~/cyclonedds.xml	DDS config used in UAV mode	Edit the peer IP (192.168.0.107) to your vehicle
files/tmux.conf	~/.tmux.conf	Mouse support + pane titles for the dashboard	—
files/kkondo-reference/	don't install	kkondo's old personal configs (dead paths), history only	—

Workspace repos the config expects (built in setup step 4):

Repo	Clone to
https://gitlab.com/mit-acl/fsw/mocap.git	~/code/acl_ws/src/mocap
https://github.com/mit-acl/zenoh_vendor.git	~/code/zenoh_ws/src/zenoh_vendor

Setup (run as the account being set up)

New account first? A sudoer runs sudo adduser <name>, then sudo -u <name> -i.

# 1. get this repo
git clone https://github.com/mit-acl/aldrin-setup.git && cd aldrin-setup

# 2. install the config files
cp files/base_station.bashrc ~/.base_station.bashrc
cp files/cyclonedds.xml      ~/cyclonedds.xml
cp files/tmux.conf           ~/.tmux.conf     # skip if you have your own

3. Append to the end of ~/.bashrc:

if [ -f "$HOME/.base_station.bashrc" ]; then . "$HOME/.base_station.bashrc"; fi

# 4. clone + build the workspaces (a few minutes; mocap build warnings are normal)
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
mkdir -p ~/code/acl_ws/src ~/code/zenoh_ws/src
git clone https://gitlab.com/mit-acl/fsw/mocap.git ~/code/acl_ws/src/mocap
git clone https://github.com/mit-acl/zenoh_vendor.git ~/code/zenoh_ws/src/zenoh_vendor
(cd ~/code/acl_ws  && colcon build)
(cd ~/code/zenoh_ws && colcon build)

5. Verify: open a new terminal — the ROVER badge appears, and base opens the dashboard.

Daily use

Command
base / base_optitrack	tmux dashboard: htop · zenoh · Vicon-or-OptiTrack mocap · scratch pane
rover / uav	switch mode — ROVER: domain 22, rmw_zenoh · UAV: domain 0, CycloneDDS + ~/cyclonedds.xml
mocap_ros2 / mocap_optitrack_ros2	mocap node alone
zenoh_debug	zenoh↔DDS bridge (UAV experiments)
ros2_restart	restart the ROS 2 daemon (fixes stale discovery)

Mode persists per account (~/.base_station_mode) and applies to new shells; the vehicle must match the mode's domain ID + RMW. To update mocap later: cd ~/code/acl_ws/src/mocap && git pull --ff-only, then colcon build in ~/code/acl_ws.

Cheat sheet

• Vicon PC 192.168.0.9:801 · OptiTrack PC 192.168.1.12 (aldrin's OptiTrack NIC: 192.168.1.119)
• aldrin on the highbay/vehicle network: 192.168.0.20 (enp3s0)
• No mocap topics? Mocap PC up and tracking your object? ping it; check the MOCAP pane for errors.
• Nodes can't see each other? Same mode on both ends, then ros2_restart + fresh shell.
• tmux: Ctrl-b d detach · tmux attach -t base reattach · tmux kill-session -t base before a new base
• No pane titles? cp files/tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf, restart tmux.