Spartan

This is a project repository for robotics research and applications using Drake and Director.

Docker Build instructions

The easiest way to build Spartan is with Docker. See build with Docker instructions here.

Native Build instructions

First, you should install the required dependencies to compile Drake and other submodules. Follow the platform setup instructions for Bazel in the Drake documentation:

http://drake.mit.edu/from_source.html#mandatory-platform-specific-instructions

You will also need the appropriate dependencies for Director. Refer to the Director README:

https://github.com/RobotLocomotion/director/#dependencies

We only support Ubuntu 16.04, you may install a non-conservative set of dependencies for Director by running the following script:

sudo ./setup/ubuntu/16.04/install_prereqs.sh

Make sure your submodules are up to date. From the top-level directory run:

git submodule init
git submodule update

You should avoid adding the --recursive flag to the git submodule command, since Drake will automatically manage its recursive submodules at build time.

Next, create a new build directory and configure with cmake. For example:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../

There is no requirement on the location of the build directory, you don't have to place it inside the source directory as shown in the above example.

Finally, run the build:

make

By default, cmake generates a Makefile, but it's possible to use other build tools like ninja.

Building With Drivers

Spartan has CMake options to include various proprietary drivers in the build. The following CMake options and their corresponding drivers are supported:

• WITH_IIWA_DRIVER: drake-iiwa-driver
• WITH_SCHUNK_DRIVER: drake-schunk-driver
• WITH_OPTITRACK_DRIVER: optitrack-driver

Unless you are a member of the RobotLocomotion team, you will likely not have the repository access required to download all the above libraries and should leave these options disabled.

There is a workaround for building drake-iiwa-driver using a local version of the kuka-fri proprietary driver. By default, drake-iiwa-driver pulls in kuka-fri as a submodule from a private RobotLocomotion repo. To build against a different version, follow these steps:

1. Clone drake-iiwa-driver to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/RobotLocomotion/drake-iiwa-driver
   

2. Delete the kuka-fri submodule.

   cd drake-iiwa-driver
   git rm kuka-fri
   

3. Extract your copy of the kuka-fri drivers, and apply patches according to the instructions in drake-iiwa-driver/README.md.

4. Commit the changes and note the commit hash.

5. In the Spartan build directory, enable WITH_IIWA_DRIVER and reconfigure CMake. Two additional options will appear:

   • IIWA_DRIVER_GIT_REPOSITORY: Set to the clone of address for your local drake-iiwa-driver.
   • IIWA_DRIVER_GIT_TAG: The (short) commit hash from above.

   An example config might be

   IIWA_DRIVER_GIT_REPOSITORY="file:///home/example/drake-iiwa-driver/"
   IIWA_DRIVER_GIT_TAG="a1b2c34"
   

6. Reconfigure CMake once more, and build.

   cd spartan/build
   cmake ..
   make
   

Common Build Errors

If you encounter an error such as:

Target "RemoteTreeViewer" links to target "Eigen3::Eigen" but the
target was not found.  Perhaps a find_package() call is missing for an
IMPORTED target, or an ALIAS target is missing?

then reconfigure CMake with the flag -DWITH_ISSUE_5456_WORKAROUND=ON.

If you encounter an error related to not being able to find eigen3 as part of an apriltags build then the problem is that you don't have eigen3 system intalled. Either apt-get install libeigen3-dev or set DUSE_APRILTAGS:BOOL=OFF in the top level CMakeLists.txt.

Environment setup

After you configure the build you will find a file named setup_environment.sh inside the build folder. You can source this file in your ~/.bashrc file to setup your environment for development. However, it is highly recommended that you do not automatically source the file, as it may conflict with other projects. Instead, you can add code like this to your ~/.bashrc file:

use_spartan()
{
  source /path/to/spartan/build/setup_environment.sh
}

With this method, the environment file will be sourced when you execute the command use_spartan in a terminal, but by default new terminals will be clean.

You should read the contents of setup_environment.sh to see what it does. In addition to modifying your PATH and other variables, it also defines some useful aliases for developers.

LCM Multicast Setup

Director relies on LCM for message passing. Since LCM uses UDP multicast a valid multicast route must always be defined. Follow the instructions here under the section "Using LCM on a Single Host." Basically you just need to run:

sudo ifconfig lo multicast
sudo route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev lo

After restarting your computer these settings can be lost depending on your network configuration.

Testing

You can run ctest in the build directory to run tests. Additionally, the environment file adds some commands to run tests for sub-projects:

run_tests_drake
run_tests_director

The above commands move into the build directory of the sub-project and run its tests. You can pass additional arguments to the test driver (ctest). For example, to print a list of available tests:

run_tests_director -N

To run tests in verbose mode:

run_tests_director -V

To run a specific test matching a name or regex:

run_tests_director -R testPyDrakeIk

To run tests in parallel:

run_tests_drake -j12

Test Failures

If you get an error during director tests related to an LCM Self Test then it is likely your network is not allowing LCM packets to return via loopback. See https://lcm-proj.github.io/multicast_setup.html.

Drake and Director submodules

This project intends to track the master branches of these submodules, but the submodules are updated manually and only on demand, so they may not be completely up to date all the time.

It is ok to set the submodule reference to a personal branch hosted on a personal fork, as long as the changes in the branch are on track to be merged upstream in the near term, and as long as you are willing to rebase your branch onto upstream master on a frequent basis.

Scripts

You can add executable scripts to the scripts/bin folder. These scripts will appear in your PATH via the sourced environment file.