1. Software Installation

1. Setup the controlling computer

The controlling computer is where the user will input the goals for the robot. Check your computer’s architecture using “lsb_release -a” and “uname -m”. Voidmotion is only built for the following architectures:

Gazebo Server

Ubuntu 64-bit 16.04.6

Physical Robot Server

Controlling Client

Ubuntu 64-bit 16.04.6

Machine Settings

Cores: 2 for primary boot or 4 for VM
RAM: 8GB
Virtualbox 3D Acceleration: To speed up Gazebo for Virtualbox, in Display, graphics controller is VMSVGA and Enable 3D Acceleration is checked.
WiFi: For Virtualbox, in Network, use Bridged Adapter and find your wireless card
(optional) Increase Screen Size: For Virtualbox, Files > VBox_GAs… > Run Software
(optional) Clipboard: For Virtualbox, run “sudo /usr/bin/VBoxClient –clipboard”

Other

Voidmotion will not work on a primary boot Ubuntu 18.04 due to some ROS packages that aren’t ported yet.

2. Prerequisites for robot

Simulated Robot

Do nothing.

Real Robot

Double check that we support your hardware. Because we are ROS-based, even if we don’t support your hardware now, we likely can. Contact us and we’ll add your hardware to our installation.
Setup your robot’s computer. See step 2.1 for compatible architectures. If you’re using a sensor that requires the GPU, install cuDNN if your sensor supports CUDA.
Install all compatible sensors as needed.

3. Install Voidmotion dependencies

On the controlling computer, download the Voidmotion ROS package to the ~/Downloads folder. Right-click it, and “Extract Here”. By downloading, you agree to our End-user License Agreement.
Update your computer. If there are errors, fix them before continuing.
1. sudo apt update
2. sudo apt upgrade
3. restart this computer
Download and run the install script. This will install ROS and any other necessary dependencies.
1. ~/Downloads/vdr_dependencies/vdr_navigation/conf/Install.sh
If the robot is on a different system, repeat this step for it.

4. Install motor controller on robot

Simulated Robot

Do nothing.

Arduino for Ubuntu 18.04

Arduino for Ubuntu 16.04

On the robot, load the Arduino configuration by…
- ```
arduino &
```
- For the first time opening this, restart your computer so the user can be added to the “dialout” group to give access to the Arduino’s port.
- File > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink
- Tools > Processor > [choose plugged in board]
- Tools > Port > [choose]
- Upload (right arrow button)
Find sketchbook location at File > Preferences.
Download and unzip the following repositories to the “libraries” folder.
1. Adafruit Motor Shield
2. TimerOne

Install ROS for Arduino.

cd ~/path/libraries
rosrun rosserial_arduino make_libraries.py .

Open vdr_dependencies/vdr_navigation/src/ArduinoOfflineTester/ArduinoOfflineTester.ino, update the pins, upload the code, and check if the motors activate.

Update the motor controller code.

/home/nvidia/catkin_ws/src/nm_navigation/conf/UploadArduino.sh

5. Launch navigation nodes

Simulated Robot

Start a rover in Gazebo:

roslaunch vdr_navigation Server.launch drive_speed:=100 turn_speed:=100 motor_type:=gazebo sensor_brand:=gazebo using_camera:=true

Start a drone in Gazebo:

roslaunch vdr_navigation Server.launch drive_speed:=100 turn_speed:=100 robot_type:=drone motor_type:=gazebo sensor_brand:=gazebo using_camera:=true $license_arg

Start the apps:

roslaunch vdr_navigation Apps.launch

Real Robot

On the robot, find the hostname using hostname -I. It should start with “192.168…” or “10.0…”. On both the controlling computer and the robot, add the following to the ~/.bashrc.
- ```
hostname=192.168.0.0 # change this to the hostname just found
export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://$hostname:11311
export ROS_HOSTNAME=$hostname
export ROS_IP=$hostname
export ROS_SERVER=$hostname # important for AppVitals.sh
```
See ROS Node Input and Output > Parameters for a list of basic parameters to change for your robot.

Start the server on the robot:
- ```
roslaunch vdr_navigation Server.launch # make sure to change your parameters
```
Start the app on the controlling computer:
- ```
roslaunch vdr_navigation Apps.launch
```

6. App usage examples

Basic Goal

Make sure the robot is surrounded by white (not gray or black) space by moving the robot manually in Rqt using “Robot Steering.”
In RViz, click “2D Nav Goal” button in the top bar and click-and-drag on white space to start the robot motion.
Cancel a goal using Rqt’s Message Publisher’s “/move_base/cancel”.
If the robot is stalling too much or moving too fast, adjust in Navigation.launch the parameter “speed”.

Waypoints

In RViz, click 3 points around the robot using “2D Pose Estimate.”
In Rqt under Message Publisher, click the arrow next to “/start_cyclic_motion.” Make sure it’s set to True. Right-click and publish once to start.
To stop, change the value to False and publish once.
Click “/path_reset” to erase those waypoints.
Click “/path_ready” if you want to traverse the waypoints only once.

Save/Load Map

To save a new map…
1. 1. In Navigation.launch, set “use_database”=”-d” and “map_path”=”your path”.
  2. In NavigationParams.yaml, set “IncrementalMemory”=”true”.
To load an old map…
1. 1. In Navigation.launch, set “use_database”=”” and “map_path”=”your path”.
  2. In NavigationParams.yaml, set “IncrementalMemory”=”false”. This can also be set to “true” if you want to update your old map.
To not save any map…
1. 1. In Navigation.launch, set “use_database”=”-d” and “map_path”=””.
  2. In NavigationParams.yaml, set “IncrementalMemory”=”true”.

Manual Control

Relative Motion

ROS Publish

Congratulations! You have successfully navigated your robot!

7. (Optional) Skip password input

To have your computer remember your password when using “ssh” or “scp”, do the following

ssh-keygen -t rsa
ssh-copy-id [email protected] # replace 'username' and 'ip' with values of robot

8. (Optional) Editors

Install Sublime Text 3 to replace gedit for text file editing.
1. For coloring syntax of launch files, go to View > Syntax.
Install Qt Creator to edit ROS .cpp and .hpp files. See the installation video tutorials for how to use.
1. In part 2 of the tutorial, if you’re trying to build your workspace in Qt Creator so the project is index (syntax coloring, Ctrl+click to find file, etc.), make sure within Project > Build > Build System it says “CatkinMake”.

2. Debugging

If something is not working as expected, try the following fixes:

Configuration Error–Check if all parameters are set correctly.
Charge Battery–If a voltmeter says the voltage is too low, charge it. Jump start the battery if necessary.
More Power–Make sure each device is receiving it’s minimum voltage. Test each device with the battery individually to see if the current is past its max.
Misaligned Chassis–If the wheels are shaky or the track bolts aren’t tight, the robot may not move correctly.
Unconnected Motors–Using a voltmeter, check if the motors are receiving power when the app powers them.
Misaligned Sensor
1. For stereo cameras, the robot shouldn’t be seen at all, and tilt the camera downwards until enough white (free) space is created near the robot but upwards enough so the environment is seen for creating SLAM features.
2. Data will be skewed for a USB 3.0 camera sensor if it’s not the furthest port from the wire that leads to the computer (in Linux, the 1st port).
WiFi Issues
1. Export the appropriate ROS environment variables.
2. From the controlling computer, run “ping robot_ip”, replacing “robot_ip” with the value found from “hostname -I”, and check if the time latency is under 30ms.
3. Test that your WiFi connection on both the controlling computer and robot is at least 5 Mbps for download and upload by running
  1. ```
  curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sivel/speedtest-cli/master/speedtest.py | python -
```
Slow Processing–If the command “top” shows that the CPU is near 100%…
1. Lower the bandwidth settings on your sensors (e.g. resolution, frame rate, etc.)
2. Switch to a more powerful CPU or GPU.
3. Switch to more efficient sensors or sensors that have onboard processing.

3. Buy

If you’re satisfied with the new capabilities of your robot, buy our license to remove the distance limitation for unlimited navigation!

1. Software Installation

2. Debugging

3. Buy

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