Kugle-ROS

ROS workspace for the Kugle robot including packages for high-level navigation tasks including localization/SLAM with LiDAR, path planning and obstacle avoidance

The repository is structured according to general ROS practices, see e.g. https://github.com/leggedrobotics/ros_best_practices/wiki

Install tool

sudo apt-get install python-catkin-tools
sudo apt-get install python-rosdep

Cloning

To set up the simulation environment you need to clone the necessary repositories into an existing or new catkin workspace. Follow the steps below to set up a new catkin workspace and clone:

mkdir -p ~/kugle_ws/src
cd ~/kugle_ws/src
catkin_init_workspace
git clone https://github.com/mindThomas/Kugle-Gazebo
git clone https://github.com/mindThomas/Kugle-ROS
git clone https://github.com/mindThomas/realsense_gazebo_plugin
cd ..
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Building

Build the project with catkin build

cd ~/kugle_simulation_ws
catkin build
source devel/setup.bash

Notes

Descriptions and guides how to use this ROS project can be found in the notes below.

USB rules file for automatic device detection

The MCU can automatically be detected and assigned to /dev/kugle when connecting it over USB if the rules file, 99-kugle.rules, is installed.

To install the rules file, copy 99-kugle.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/.

Minimal bringup launch

The bringup launch includes both the driver (as described below) and the SICK LiDAR drivers. This launch script should only be used on the onboard computer with the full system connected.

roslaunch kugle_bringup minimal.launch 

Install as service on boot

A startup script and corresponding service (for starting at boot) for launching the minimal bringup launch file has been made.

Copy the startup_launch.sh and PrepareHostROS.sh to the home folder. Copy the file kugle.service into /lib/systemd/system and modify the path to the startup_launch.sh script accordingly and rename the user and group to the username on the device if different. Enable the service on boot by running:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable kugle.service

After the service has been installed the driver can be started, stopped or restarted by using:

sudo service kugle start
sudo service kugle stop
sudo service kugle restart

Launching the driver

The driver which communicates with the MCU over USB can be launched either on a laptop connected through USB to the MCU or on the onboard connected over USB. Launch the driver by running

roslaunch kugle_driver kugle_driver.launch

RVIZ display

An RVIZ visualization of the robot can be launched by running

roslaunch kugle_launch rviz.launch

kugle_driver MCU RTOS load

When the kugle_driver is running the MCU load is published on the topic mcu_load which can be displayed by running

rostopic echo /mcu_load -p