ERC Simulation Workspace

This repository aims to provide instructions on how to install and use the Leo Rover simulation environment for the ERC competitions.

Requirements

The simulation is mainly developed and tested on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver with ROS Melodic Morenia, so it is a recommended setup.

The rest of the tools used in this guide can be installed with apt:

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

Use the vcstool tool to clone the required packages:

vcs import < leo-erc.repos

Use the rosdep tool to install any missing dependencies. If you are running rosdep for the first time, you might have to run:

sudo rosdep init

first. Then, to install the dependencies, type:

rosdep update
sudo apt update
rosdep install --rosdistro melodic --from-paths src -iy

Now, use the catkin tool to build the workspace:

catkin config --extend /opt/ros/melodic
catkin build

The list of the repositories may change, so make sure you have pulled the latest commit:

git pull

Then, repeat the steps described at the Building section.

Make sure you source the devel space on each terminal session you want to use the simulation on:

source devel/setup.bash

To start the simulation and gazebo GUI, type:

roslaunch leo_gazebo leo_marsyard.launch

For more info about available launch files and their arguments, visit the leo_gazebo repository.

To visualize the model in Rviz, type on another terminal session:

roslaunch leo_viz rviz.launch

Turn on the Image panel in Rviz to show the simulated camera images.

To control the Rover using a joystick, type:

roslaunch leo_teleop joy_teleop.launch

The command mapping was set for the Xbox 360 controller and looks like this:

Xbox 360 controller	Command
RB button	enable - hold it to send commands
Left joystick Up/Down	linear velocity
Right Joystick Left/Right	angular velocity

To modify it, you can edit the joy_mapping.yaml file inside the leo_teleop package.

The following topics and parameters are available on both the simulation and the real robot.

cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist)

Target velocity of the Rover.
Only linear.x (m/s) and angular.z (r/s) are used.

wheel_odom (geometry_msgs/TwistStamped)

Current linear and angular velocities of the robot estimated from wheel velocities.
joint_states (sensor_msgs/JointState)

Current state of the joints.
camera/image_raw (sensor_msgs/Image)

Raw images from the hazard avoidance camera
camera/image_raw/compressed (sensor_msgs/CompressedImage)

JPEG-compressed images from the hazard avoidance camera
camera/camera_info (sensor_msgs/CameraInfo)

Meta information for the hazard avoidance camera (see image_pipeline/CameraInfo).