Deploy and Test Software on Real Robot Hardware

[AksonovSergei]

Hi @ChVictoria,
It's time to run everything on the real robot hardware.

System Components:

1. Chassis Controller (BeagleBone Blue)

   • Follow the setup instructions: Build and Load on BBB.
   • The board you have should already be prepared—just build and set up the software.

2. Raspberry Pi 5 (Main ROS2 Platform)

   • Follow the setup instructions: ROS2 on Raspberry Pi 5.

3. Laptop/PC for Visualization and Teleoperation

   • This will run Rviz2, teleop_twist_keyboard, and teleop_twist_joy.

Network Setup

All devices must be on the same network. For now, let's use your home Wi-Fi router.

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Expected Results

• Automated Startup:

  • Software on all boards starts automatically on power-on.
  • A single launch file on the PC starts all required ROS2 nodes for visualization and control.

• Manual Control:

  • The robot can be operated manually via keyboard or joystick.

• Mapping:

  • The robot builds a map using the LiDAR.

• Autonomous Navigation:

  • The robot navigates the environment based on commands from Rviz2.

• Code and Version Control:

  • All software is committed to Git, PRs pass review, and code is merged.

• Documentation Update:

  • Documentation is updated to a high standard.
  • Any user with no ROS2 and deep Linux knowledge should be able to reproduce this setup.
  • Example of documentation detail level:
    • Creation of a system service to launch BeagleBone software or ROS2 nodes on Raspberry Pi should be well documented.

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Let me know if you need any further refinements! 🚀

[AksonovSergei]

Hi @ChVictoria,
How is it going?
I forget to mention that the launch_hw.launch.py should be used to launch ros2 control with our hardware interface implementation.

[ChVictoria]

I've only tested the code for the BBB (everything looks to work good). I will a little bit modify the launch file and the docker file for running on the RPI (as we are going to run only no UI part and we need to get scan and camera data from the real sensors) and remove IMU for now(as we have no hardware support for it). Then I will test all together and provide my feedback.

[AksonovSergei]

Please create your own launch file.

[ChVictoria]

Okay

[ChVictoria]

Hi, I cannot launch lidar node with the main launch file. Separately they are working, but as I try to run them simultaneously, RPI just switches off. Maybe I should try without docker or do something to make the lidar node send messages not too fast, I don't know. Another strange thing is that there are two nodes with similar name /cspc_lidar. Also I cannot see topics both on the RPI and on the PC, although rviz can read from them.

[AksonovSergei]

Hi @ChVictoria,
Which launch files do you use? Please describe me sequence how to reproduce the issue.
Which operation system is installed on Ubuntu?
How do you power RPI?