Assignment 1: assignment1_rt

Overview

This ROS package, assignment1_rt, implements a solution that involves controlling two turtles (turtle1 and turtle2) within the Turtlesim environment. The package includes two nodes:

• UI (node1): Manages user interaction and controls turtle spawning and movement.
• Distance (node2): Monitors the relative distance between the turtles and enforces boundary constraints.

Features

UI Node (node1)

• Spawn New Turtle (turtle2)
  • Automatically spawns a second turtle in the Turtlesim environment.
• Interactive Command Interface
  • Provides a text-based interface for the user to:
    • Choose which turtle to control (turtle1 or turtle2).
    • Input velocity commands (linear and angular) for the selected turtle.
• Timed Command Execution
  • Velocity commands are executed for 1 second, after which the turtle stops. The user can then input new commands.

Distance Node (node2)

• Distance Monitoring
  • Computes and publishes the distance between turtle1 and turtle2 on a dedicated topic.
• Proximity Control
  • Stops a turtle if it gets too close to the other turtle (user-defined threshold).
    • Threshold = 2.0 (by default)
• Boundary Enforcement
  • Stops a turtle if it moves out of the defined area:
    • x or y > 10.0
    • x or y < 1.0

Installation

Prerequisites

• ROS Noetic (recommended)
• Turtlesim package

  sudo apt install ros-noetic-turtlesim
  

Build the Package

1. Clone the repository into your ROS workspace

cd ~/ros1/src
git clone https://github.com/yuimomi/assignment1_rt.git
cd ~/ros1
catkin_make

2. Source your workspace

source devel/setup.bash

How to Run

1. Launch Turtlesim

rosrun turtlesim turtlesim_node

2. Start the Nodes

• Launch the UI Node (node1)

rosrun assignment1_rt UI

• Launch the Distance Node (node2)

rosrun assignment1_rt Distance

3. Interact with the Interface
   • Use the terminal interface to select a turtle and input velocity commands.

Topics and Services

Topics

• /turtle1/pose: Provides the position and orientation of turtle1.
• /turtle2/pose: Provides the position and orientation of turtle2.
• /cmd_vel: Accepts velocity commands for the turtles.
• /distance_topic: Publishes the relative distance between turtle1 and turtle2.

Services

• /spawn: Spawns a new turtle.
• /kill: Removes a turtle.

Code Structure

assignment1_rt/
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── package.xml
├── src/
│   ├── UI.cpp            # Implements the UI node
│   ├── Distance.cpp      # Implements the distance monitoring node
└── README.md

Evaluation

• Code must be pushed to a GitHub repository with a clear commit history.
• README must clearly explain the code, its functionality, and how to run it.
• Bonus points for using both C++ and Python in your implementation.