Adding Documentation for Sensors with different Thruster Configuration

[osrf-migration]

Original report (archived issue) by Raymond Andrade (Bitbucket: 808brick).

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Hey All, thanks for the great work on the simulation. I just wanted to point out that there was no documentation for utilizing sensors with different thruster configurations. When running:

#!unix

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch urdf:=`pwd`/my_wamv.urdf  thrust_config:=X

It will run the simulation with the sensors, but the thrust configuration will remain as the default "H" Layout.
To change this I had to edit wamv_gazebo.urdf.xacro so that the line:

#!xacro

<xacro:wamv_gazebo thruster_layout="$(find wamv_gazebo)/urdf/thruster_layouts/wamv_aft_thrusters.xacro"/>

instead reads:

#!xacro

<xacro:wamv_gazebo thruster_layout="$(find wamv_gazebo)/urdf/thruster_layouts/wamv_x_thrusters.xacro"/>

and then converting the xacro to urdf by:

#!unix

rosrun xacro xacro --inorder wamv_gazebo.urdf.xacro > wamv_gazebo.urdf

Only after doing this will the command:

#!unix

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch urdf:=`pwd`/my_wamv.urdf  thrust_config:=X

work as expected

If this documentation was added to the tutorials I think that would help others who are trying to utilize the sensors with the different thrust configurations.

[osrf-migration]

Original comment by Brian Bingham (Bitbucket: brian_bingham).

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Raymond,

Thank you for the note. Have you tried the tutorial - https://osrf-migration.github.io/vrx-gh-pages/#!/osrf/vmrc/wiki/tutorials/PropulsionConfiguration ?

If I run the two examples ...

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch thrust_config:=T
roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch thrust_config:=X

I see the different thruster/propulsion configurations without making any changes to the xacro files.

If you are still experiencing the issue, can you make sure you have updated the local repository - and that you are working from the default branch?

Lastly, the xacro processing should be done for you with catkin_make

Let us know.
Brian

[osrf-migration]

Original comment by Raymond Andrade (Bitbucket: 808brick).

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Hey Brian,
Those scripts run fine. It is only when trying to run the simulation with the urdf file for the sensors that the thruster configuration changes to the default "H" configuration.
So this:

#!unix

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch thrust_config:=T
roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch thrust_config:=X

runs correctly, but when I try to add the sensors urdf file to the thruster configuration:

#!unix

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch urdf:=`pwd`/my_wamv.urdf  thrust_config:=T
roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch urdf:=`pwd`/my_wamv.urdf  thrust_config:=X

Then the simulation will revert back to default "H" thruster configuration regardless, unless you edit wamv_gazebo.urdf.xacro like I mentioned above. Next time I will see if I can just use catkin_make to avoid needing to run the rosrun xacro command.

Here is a screenshot to illustrate. My wamv_gazebo.urdf.xacro is set with thruster_configuration "X", so even though I start the simulation as:

#!unix

roslaunch robotx_gazebo sandisland.launch urdf:=`pwd`/my_wamv.urdf  thrust_config:=T

It will still load the "X" thruster configuration. Again this only happens when adding the sensor urdf.

[osrf-migration]

Original comment by Brian Bingham (Bitbucket: brian_bingham).

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Raymond,

Thanks for the thorough explanation - I'm tracking now.

I updated the tutorial instructions, adding a bit at the end on how to access the propulsion/thruster configurations.
https://osrf-migration.github.io/vrx-gh-pages/#!/osrf/vmrc/wiki/tutorials/AddingSensors

The more verbose wamv_gazebo_sensors.urdf.xacro is part of PR#45.

The thrust_config argument is used by the sandisland.launch file to specify a particular urdf file, so specifying the urdf explicitly conflicts. It is confusing.

Let us know if the updates work for you and we'll merge it into the default.

[osrf-migration]

Original comment by Brian Bingham (Bitbucket: brian_bingham).

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I'm assuming this worked, so resolving for now.

[osrf-migration]

Original comment by Brian Bingham (Bitbucket: brian_bingham).

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• changed state from "new" to "resolved"