LIMO ROS2

This repository contains code for ROS2 development with the LIMO robot. Please note that:

• If you're new to the LIMO robot platform, it's highly recommended that you read LIMO Usage and Development Manual and get yourself familiar with basic operations of the robot first.
• If you're not familiar with ROS2, you can refer to the ROS2 Documentation to learn more about ROS2 concepts.

Since the onboard computer equipped on the LIMO robot is Nvidia Jetson Nano which only works with Jetpack v4.x (Ubuntu 18.04), there is no easy way to do native development with an active ROS2 LTS release on the robot (REP2000). Thus the packages within this repository are developed and only tested in a ROS Humble Docker container (docker image: westonrobot/limo_ros:humble).

Changelog

2023-08-22

• Moved obstacle layer to local costmap
• Cleaned up old ros1 costmap params
• Set environment flag to use cyclone dds to fix costmap obstacle not working

Setup development environment

You can set up the development environment either on the Jetson Nano or your desktop/laptop PC. The steps for the setup are the same:

• Clone the repo to the computer

$ git clone https://github.com/westonrobot/limo_ros2.git
$ cd limo_ros2

• Install VS Code with Remote Development Plugins

• Start development inside the container If you're developing on the LIMO directly:

  1. Launch VS Code on LIMO
  2. In the workspace root folder, "Crtl + Shift + P" to open up the command palette, and select "Remote-Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container"

  If you're developing remotely from your PC:

  1. Launch VS Code on your PC
  2. In the workspace root folder, "Crtl + Shift + P" to open up the command palette, and select "Remote-SSH: Connect to Host", finish the connection configuration
  3. Type "Crtl + Shift + P" to open up the command palette again, and select "Remote-Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container"

Latest image: westonrobot/limo_ros:humble_22082023

You can find more information about development inside containers here

Use limo_ros2 packages

Once you're inside the container, the commands to build or launch ROS packages are the same as those in a native environment:

• Build the colcon workspace

  # in workspace root
  ./build.sh
  
  # Remember to always source ros workspace on new terminal
  . install/setup.bash

• Bringup robot

  # Bringup robot
  ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py
  
  # OR
  
  # Bringup robot in simulator
  # Add use_sim_time:=true argument for subsequent launches if using sim
  ros2 launch limo_gazebosim limo_gazebo_diff.launch.py

• Bringup camera

  ros2 launch astra_camera dabai.launch.py

• Teleoperation

  ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

• SLAM

  # Launch SLAM node
  ros2 launch limo_bringup cartographer.launch.py
  
  # To save map
  ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f [filename]

• Navigation

  # In seperate terminals
  ros2 launch limo_navigation limo_localization.launch.py
  
  ros2 launch limo_navigation limo_controller.launch.py
  
  # Single launch
  ros2 launch limo_navigation limo_navigation.launch.py

Running your own navigation stack or simulation on local PC

Note: Limo container is running on cyclone DDS, you need to set the following environment variable

# Install package
sudo apt install ros-humble-rmw-cyclonedds-cpp
# Export environment variable
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp

Sample gazebo and navigation are provided for differential motion model in the repo, to use them

* Clone the repo into your local pc
* Feel free to use provided Dockerfile as a reference
* Rebuild new container for local PC

Displaying GUI from Docker Machine On LIMO Screen

To get display out of docker and on the LIMO screen;

• On the host machine, allow all connections with:

xhost +

• On the docker machine:

# export the display
export DISPLAY=:0

Viewing the output of the camera

Note: Tested on Ubuntu 22 (POP) and Jetpack 4.6 w/docker

To get over the permission error, WITH THE CAMERA UNPLUGGED

cd limo_ros2/src/ros2_astra_camera/astra_camera/scripts
sudo cp 56-orbbec-usb.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

This example rviz workspace has everything working.

ros@agilex:/workspaces/limo_ros2/src/ros2_astra_camera/astra_camera/rviz$ rviz2 -d pointcloud.rviz 

Process for getting to teleop with the cameras diplaying in rviz2 on LIMO

In addition to the steps above regarding udev rules and exporting the displays;

• Remote into the LIMO DevContainer

• Launch the LIMO Base

ros@agilex:/workspaces/limo_ros2$ ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py

• Bringup the Camera

ros2 launch astra_camera dabai.launch.py

• Run the provided rviz2 configuration

rviz2 -d src/ros2_astra_camera/astra_camera/rviz/pointcloud.rviz 

• Run Teleop

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

• At this point a ros2 topic list gives;

os@agilex:/workspaces/limo_ros2/$ ros2 topic list
/camera/color/camera_info
/camera/color/image_raw
/camera/color/image_raw/compressed
/camera/color/image_raw/compressedDepth
/camera/color/image_raw/theora
/camera/depth/camera_info
/camera/depth/color/points
/camera/depth/image_raw
/camera/depth/image_raw/compressed
/camera/depth/image_raw/compressedDepth
/camera/depth/image_raw/theora
/camera/depth/points
/camera/extrinsic/depth_to_color
/camera/ir/camera_info
/camera/ir/image_raw
/camera/ir/image_raw/compressed
/camera/ir/image_raw/compressedDepth
/camera/ir/image_raw/theora
/cmd_vel
/imu
/joint_states
/limo_status
/odom
/parameter_events
/robot_description
/rosout
/scan
/tf
/tf_static
/ydlidar_ros2_driver_node/transition_event

Notes.

• The above procedure may have redundant steps. Unsure if camera bringup needs to be separate.
• Haven't tested this with a camera subscriber node yet.

To Do:

• Hardware Camera - Compare example .rviz file above with the one we want to use normally. might have to make one.
• test camera with a subscriber node, colour chaser etc
• Add source install/setup.bash to bashrc file
• Check bashrc is mapped properly
• Check everything is being installed on startup iptools tree etc

Issues:

Jeston Crashed - Possibly overheating. Was remoting in with a display scaled to my laptop. everything running! Didn't happen for the rest of session after restart

Getting errors about QOS incompatibility.

• As a warning with the main bringup file

  ydlidar_ros2_driver_node-4] [WARN] [1695551352.042005881] [ydlidar_ros2_driver_node]: New subscription discovered on topic '/scan', requesting incompatible QoS. No messages will be sent to it. Last incompatible policy: RELIABILITY_QOS_POLICY

• Got the same sort of warning when connecting to the camera

[WARN] [1695553761.805006031] [rviz]: New publisher discovered on topic '/camera/depth/image_raw', offering incompatible QoS. No messages will be sent to it. Last incompatible policy: RELIABILITY_QOS_POLICY

[SOLVED] - ros-visualization/rqt#187 (comment)