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SymbioticRobots: Mixed Reality & Digital Twin for Remote Operations

Abstract

This project investigates the use of Mixed Reality (MR) and Digital Twin (DT) technologies to enable remote operations, inspections, and training for maintenance tasks in access-challenged or hazardous environments such as offshore wind farms or nuclear facilities. By integrating a ground robot equipped with sensors, a HoloLens device, and digital twin models, we've conceived a proof-of-concept system that facilitates the visualization and control of the robotic platform. The methodology describes a framework for deploying mixed reality applications at different levels of the Reality-Virtuality (RV) continuum. This is implemented through the fusion of Clearpath’s Jackal robot, HoloLens 2, ROS middleware, and the Unity platform.

For a detailed overview, refer to the dissertation document.

Overview

This project outlines the steps to building an application for the HoloLens 2 that is used to interact with the DT in the ROS workspace. This is constructed using the realsense camera and the clearpath jackal.

🎥 Click on the videos below to find out more. 🎥

Group Video Project Video

Repository Contents

  • Jackal_cam_lasers: The ROS workspace for this simulation.

  • Unity Package: Contains the Unity package with all scenes and the development environment.

  • Poster: A visual representation of the project.

  • Dissertation: The main document detailing the research, methodology, and findings.

Setup & Installation

Unity This section explains the steps in setting up the Unity environment. Before doing this howver the Jackal_cam_lasers must be set up.

Clone:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/oscell/SymbioticRobots.git

Requirements

To Install Unity we will first install Unity Hub:

We will install Unity 2020.3.2f1, although it is not explicitly mentioned, it can work on Ubuntu 16.04.

Once logged into Unity Hub open Install editor > 2020.3.48f1 LTS.

Setting up the project

  1. Create a New Project using the 3D core template unity 2020.3.48f1.

  2. Switch build platform

    1. file > Build Settings

  3. Use Mixed Reality Feature Tool

    1. Open the MixedRealityFeatureTool.exe and select he folder containing your project.

    2. Install the following:

      • Mixed Reality Toolkit Foundations
      • Mixed Reality OpenXR Plugin

    3. Go back to the project, It should prompt you to RESTART, this should then open the MRTK setup if not then Mixed Reality > Toolkit > Utilities > configure Project for MRTK

    4. Select Unity OpenXR plugin

    5. Select Show XR Plug-In Management Settings

    6. Ensure that Initialize XR on Startup is selected, and then, under Plugin Providers, click Open XR.

      1. Select Microsoft feature group in the dropdown that appears

Installing the Unity Robotics packages

This page provides brief instructions on installing the Unity Robotics packages. Head over to the Pick-and-Place Tutorial for more detailed instructions and steps for building a sample project.

  1. Create or open a Unity project.

    Note: If you are adding the URDF-Importer, ensure you are using a 2020.2.0+ version of Unity Editor.

  2. Open Window -> Package Manager.

  3. In the Package Manager window, find and click the + button in the upper lefthand corner of the window. Select Add package from git URL....

    package manager

  4. Enter the git URL for the desired package. Note: you can append a version tag to the end of the git url, like #v0.4.0 or #v0.5.0, to declare a specific package version, or exclude the tag to get the latest from the package's main branch.

    1. For the ROS-TCP-Connector, enter https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/ROS-TCP-Connector.git?path=/com.unity.robotics.ros-tcp-connector.
    2. For the URDF-Importer, enter https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/URDF-Importer.git?path=/com.unity.robotics.urdf-importer.

  5. Click Add.

Install custom package

Assets > Import package > Custom package.

In the UnityPackage repository the Jackal_holoLens2 and MRTK profile can be found. This should be improted into your unity project.

To install from a local clone of the repository, see installing a local package in the Unity manual.

Build

  1. Open Scene: Original:

    1. Set gizmos to 0
    2. File > Build > Add Open Scenes
    3. Build

  2. Configure Visual Studio 2022 for HoloLens

    1. Select the Master or Release configuration, the ARM64 architecture and Remote Machine
    2. Project > Properties select
      1. Configuration Properties > Debugging.
      2. Click the Debugger to launch drop down and then select Remote Machine
      3. Set the IP to the Ethernet IP in Settings>Update & Security > For developers

  3. Debug > Run without Debugging

Launch simulation

Terminal 1: Launch World

source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch aws_robomaker_small_warehouse_world view_small_warehouse.launch

Terminal 2: Launch Jackal

source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch jackal_gazebo spawn_jackal.launch config:=cam_laser

Terminal 3: launch SLAM

roslaunch jackal_navigation gmapping_demo.launch

Terminal 4: Rviz

rosrun rviz rviz -d ~/Jackal_cam_lasers/rviz/holo.rviz

Terminal 5: ROS TCP connection

ifconfig

Terminal 6: Networking

ifconfig
source ~/Desktop/SymbioticRobots/Jackal_ws/devel/setup.bash
roslaunch ros_tcp_endpoint endpoint.launch tcp_ip:={YOUR IP GOES HERE} tcp_port:=10000

Acknowledgements

This project was developed as part of a dissertation. Special thanks to my project director, professor David Flynn and project Supervisor, Daniel Mitchel.