rosbot-autonomy

Autonomous navigation & mapping for ROSbot 2R / 2 PRO with RViz interface running on remote PC. Works over the Internet thanks to Husarnet VPN

Note

There are two setups on two separate branchers available

branch name	description
ros2router	Running ROS 2 containers on ROSbot and on PC with the interface in RViz
foxglove	Running ROS 2 containers only on ROSbot with a web user interface powered by Foxglove

🛍️ Necessary Hardware

For the execution of this project ROSbot 2R or ROSbot 2 PRO is required.

You can find it at our online store.

Quick start (Physical ROSbot)

Note

To simplify the execution of this project, we are utilizing just.

Install it with:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://just.systems/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --to /usr/bin

To see all available commands just run just:

husarion@rosbot2r:~/rosbot-autonomy$ just
Available recipes:
    connect-husarnet joincode hostname # connect to Husarnet VPN network
    flash-firmware    # flash the proper firmware for STM32 microcontroller in ROSbot 2R / 2 PRO
    start-rosbot      # start ROSbot 2R / 2 PRO autonomy containers
    start-pc          # start RViz visualization on PC
    restart-nav2      # restart the navigation stack (and SLAM)
    start-gazebo-sim  # start Gazebo simulator with autonomy
    start-webots-sim  # start Webots simulator with autonomy
    run-teleop        # run teleop_twist_keybaord (host)
    run-teleop-docker # run teleop_twist_keybaord (inside rviz2 container)
    sync hostname="${ROBOT_NAMESPACE}" password="husarion" # copy repo content to remote host with 'rsync' and watch for changes

🌎 Step 1: Connecting ROSbot and Laptop over VPN

Ensure that both ROSbot 2R (or ROSbot 2 PRO) and your laptop are linked to the same Husarnet VPN network. If they are not follow these steps:

1. Setup a free account at app.husarnet.com, create a new Husarnet network, click the [Add element] button and copy the code from the Join Code tab.

2. Run in the linux terminal on your PC:

   cd rosbot-autonomy # remember to run all "just" commands in the repo root folder
   export JOINCODE=<PASTE_YOUR_JOIN_CODE_HERE>
   just connect-husarnet $JOINCODE my-laptop

3. Run in the linux terminal of your ROSbot:

   export JOINCODE=<PASTE_YOUR_JOIN_CODE_HERE>
   sudo husarnet join $JOINCODE rosbot2r

Important

note that rosbot2r is a default ROSbot hostname used in this project. If you want to change it, edit the .env file and change the line:

ROBOT_NAMESPACE=rosbot2r

📡 Step 2: Sync

Copy the local changes (on PC) to the remote ROSbot

just sync rosbot2r # or a different ROSbot hostname you used in Step 1 p.3

Note

This just sync script locks the terminal and synchronizes online all changes made locally on the robot. rosbot2r is the name of device set in Husarnet.

🔧 Step 3: Verifying User Configuration

To ensure proper user configuration, review the content of the .env file and select the appropriate configuration (the default options should be suitable).

• LIDAR_BAUDRATE - depend on mounted LiDAR,
• MECANUM - wheel type,
• SLAM - choose between mapping and localization modes,
• SAVE_MAP_PERIOD - period of time for autosave map (set 0 to disable),
• CONTROLLER - choose the navigation controller type,
• ROBOT_NAMESPACE - type your ROSbot device name the same as in Husarnet.

Important

The value of the ROBOT_NAMESPACE parameter in the .env file should be the same as the name of the Husarnet device.

🤖 Step 4: Running Navigation & Mapping

To enable autonomy on the robot, it is necessary:

• starting autonomy on ROSbot
• launching visualization on PC

ROSbot

1. Connect to the ROSbot.

   ssh husarion@rosbot2r
   cd rosbot-autonomy

Note

rosbot2r is the name of device set in Husarnet.

2. Flashing the ROSbot's Firmware.

   To flash the Micro-ROS based firmware for STM32F4 microcontroller responsible for low-level functionalities of ROSbot 2, 2R and 2 PRO, execute in the ROSbot's shell:

   just flash-firmware

3. Running autonomy on ROSbot.

   just start-rosbot

PC

To initiate a user interface and navigation stack based on RViz, execute below command on your PC:

just start-pc

🚗 Step 5: Control the ROSbot from RViz

To instruct the robot to autonomously explore new areas and create a map (in "slam" mode) of [2D Goal Pose] in RViz. When SLAM is off, you can indicate the robot's current position by [2D Pose Estimate] button.

---

Simulation

Important

To run Gazebo or Webots Simulators you have to use computer with NVIDIA GPU and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit installed.

If you don't have a physical ROSbot 2R / 2 PRO you can run this project in a simulation.

Gazebo

To start Gazebo simulator run:

just start-gazebo-sim

Webots

To start Webots simulator run:

just start-webots-sim