Kobuki from the Intelligent Robotics Lab using ROS 2

This project contains the launchers to run the Turtlebot2 Kobuki, both in simulated running different Gazebo worlds, as in the real robot using its drivers.

Installation on your own computer

You need to have previously installed ROS2. Please follow this guide if you don't have it.

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

Clone the repository to your workspace:

cd <ros2-workspace>/src
git clone https://github.com/IntelligentRoboticsLabs/kobuki.git

Prepare your thirparty repos:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-vcstool python3-pip python3-rosdep python3-colcon-common-extensions -y
cd <ros2-workspace>/src/
vcs import < kobuki/thirdparty.repos

Please make sure that this last command has not failed. If this happens, run it again.

Install libusb, libftdi & libuvc

sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev libftdi1-dev libuvc-dev

Install udev rules from astra camera, kobuki and rplidar

When you connect a piece of hardware to your pc, it assigns /dev/ttyUSB* to it. This will not have the necessary read/write permissions, so we will not be able to use it correctly. The solution is to set up some udev rules that creates a symlink with another name (example: /dev/ttyUSB0 -> /dev/kobuki) and grants it the necessary permissions.

cd <ros2-workspace>
sudo cp src/ThirdParty/ros_astra_camera/astra_camera/scripts/56-orbbec-usb.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo cp src/ThirdParty/rplidar_ros/scripts/rplidar.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo cp src/ThirdParty/kobuki_ros/60-kobuki.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

Move xtion calibration

Some cameras need a calibration file where they indicate, for example, their resolution, name, etc...

mkdir -p ~/.ros/camera_info
cp <ros2-workspace>/src/ThirdParty/openni2_camera/openni2_camera/rgb_PS1080_PrimeSense.yaml ~/.ros/camera_info

Building project

sudo rosdep init
rosdep update
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --symlink-install 

If your terminal has crashed or closed while compiling, please try compiling your packages as follows colcon build --symlink-install --parallel-workers 1 or do so by selecting the package that failed colcon build --symlink-install --parallel-workers 1 --packages-select <package>

Also, if you want to prevent it from recompiling that package, add a COLCON_IGNORE inside the package

Setup Gazebo to find models - GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH and project path

source /usr/share/gazebo/setup.bash
source <ros2-workspace>/install/setup.bash

It is recommended to add these two lines inside your .bashrc to avoid having to run it every time you open a new shell

Run the robot in ROS 2

Run Gazebo

You can launch the simulator as follows:

ros2 launch kobuki simulation.launch.py

Or you can add the path of your world to the world parameter like this:

ros2 launch kobuki simulation.launch.py world:=install/aws_robomaker_small_warehouse_world/share/aws_robomaker_small_warehouse_world/worlds/small_warehouse/small_warehouse.world

If you have a low performance, close the Gazebo's client. Check gzclient process, and kill it:

kill -9 `pgrep -f gzclient`

Run a real kobuki

Run the kobuki drivers:

ros2 launch kobuki kobuki.launch.py

If you want to use a lidar or camera, you have to set the following parameters to True:

ros2 launch kobuki kobuki.launch.py lidar:=True
ros2 launch kobuki kobuki.launch.py lidar_s2:=True
ros2 launch kobuki kobuki.launch.py xtion:=True
ros2 launch kobuki kobuki.launch.py astra:=True

Run Navigation in ROS 2

You can use Nav2 using robot with this launcher:

ros2 launch kobuki navigation.launch.py map:=<path-to-map>

or this other command if you need to navigate in the simulator

ros2 launch kobuki navigation_sim.launch.py

If you want to use another map, you have to put the route in the map parameter

About

This is a project made by the Intelligent Robotics Lab, a research group from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Copyright © 2024.

Maintainers:

• Juan Carlos Manzanares