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University Rover Challenge: Tutorials and Team Survey

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Robot Operating System (ROS)

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 778))

Abstract

In this tutorial chapter we present a guide to building a robot through 11 tutorials. We prescribe simple software solutions to build a wheeled robot and manipulator arm that can autonomously drive and be remotely controlled. These tutorials are what worked for several teams at the University Rover Challenge 2017 (URC). Certain tutorials provide a quick start guide to using existing Robot Operating System (ROS) tools. Others are new contributions, or explain challenging topics such as wireless communication and robot administration. We also present the results of an original survey of 8 competing teams to gather information about trends in URC’s community, which consists of hundreds of university students on over 80 teams. Additional topics include satellite mapping of robot location (mapviz), GPS integration (original code) to autonomous navigation (move_base), and more. We hope to promote collaboration and code reuse.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    URC 2017 Rules http://tinyurl.com/urc-rules.

  2. 2.

    URC 2017 competition score results and standings http://urc.marssociety.org/home/urc-news/americanroverearnsworldstopmarsrovertitle.

  3. 3.

    URC 2017 Rules http://tinyurl.com/urc-rules.

  4. 4.

    URC 2018 Rules http://tinyurl.com/urc-rules2018.

  5. 5.

    Continuum Inverse kinematics python source: https://gist.github.com/danielsnider/5181ca50cef0ec8fdea5c11279a9fdbc.

  6. 6.

    A recent video of from the University of Wroclaw of their rover has incredible cinematography: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF8DkKDBXtg.

  7. 7.

    Team R3’s rover software architecture diagram in Microsoft Visio format https://github.com/danielsnider/ros-rover/blob/master/diagrams/Rover_Diagram.vsdx?raw=true.

  8. 8.

    ROS Navigation stack http://wiki.ros.org/navigation.

  9. 9.

    RTAB-Map tutorial for the ROS navigation stack http://wiki.ros.org/rtabmap_ros/Tutorials/StereoOutdoorNavigation.

  10. 10.

    Source code for follow_waypoints ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/follow_waypoints.

  11. 11.

    Wiki page for follow_waypoints ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/follow_waypoints.

  12. 12.

    SMACH state machine library for python http://wiki.ros.org/smach.

  13. 13.

    One alternative to SMACH is py-trees, a behavior tree library http://py-trees.readthedocs.io/en/devel/background.html.

  14. 14.

    Source code for the image_overlay_compass_and_scale ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/image_overlay_scale_and_compass.

  15. 15.

    Wiki page for the image_overlay_compass_and_scale ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/image_overlay_scale_and_compass.

  16. 16.

    Source code for simple_drive ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/simple_drive.

  17. 17.

    Wiki page for simple_drive ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/simple_drive.

  18. 18.

    Xbox 360 joystick button layout diagram in Visio format https://github.com/danielsnider/ros-rover/blob/master/diagrams/simple_drive_Xbox_Controller.vsdx?raw=true.

  19. 19.

    Wheel linear velocity is meant to be the speed at which distance is travelled and not rpm.

  20. 20.

    PlatformIO is an open source ecosystem for IoT development http://platformio.org/.

  21. 21.

    More information on how to install PlatformIO is here http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/installation.html#super-quick-mac-linux.

  22. 22.

    More documentation about PlatformIO: http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/quickstart.html.

  23. 23.

    Source code for simple_arm ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/simple_arm.

  24. 24.

    Wiki page for simple_arm ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/simple_arm.

  25. 25.

    Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick button layout diagram in Visio format https://github.com/danielsnider/ros-rover/blob/master/diagrams/simple_arm_joystick_diagram.vsdx?raw=true.

  26. 26.

    Source code for lost_comms_recovery ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/lost_comms_recovery.

  27. 27.

    Wiki page for lost_comms_recovery ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/lost_comms_recovery.

  28. 28.

    Source code for hugin_panorama ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/hugin_panorama.

  29. 29.

    Wiki page for hugin_panorama ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/hugin_panorama.

  30. 30.

    The Hugin image processing library http://hugin.sourceforge.net/.

  31. 31.

    Panorama scripting with Hugin http://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_scripting_in_a_nutshell.

  32. 32.

    Main launch file of the hugin_panorama package https://github.com/danielsnider/hugin_panorama/blob/master/launch/hugin_panorama.launch.

  33. 33.

    Documentation for the image_saver ROS node http://wiki.ros.org/image_view#image_view.2BAC8-diamondback.image_saver.

  34. 34.

    Source code for gps_goal ROS package https://github.com/danielsnider/gps_goal.

  35. 35.

    Wiki page for gps_goal ROS package http://wiki.ros.org/gps_goal.

  36. 36.

    The World Geodetic System (WGS) 84 is the reference coordinate system used by the Global Positioning System (GPS). WGS84 uses degrees. It consists of a latitudinal axis from −90 to 90\(^\circ \) and a longitudinal axis from −180 to 180\(^\circ \). As it is the standard coordinate system for GPS it is also commonly used in robotics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System#A_new_World_Geodetic_System:_WGS_84.

  37. 37.

    The GeographicLib software library https://geographiclib.sourceforge.io/.

  38. 38.

    When a connection is latched, the last message published is saved and automatically sent to any future subscribers of that connection.

  39. 39.

    Team ITU’s low level communication source code https://github.com/itu-rover/2016-2017-Sensor-GPS-STM-Codes-/blob/master/STM32/project/mpu_test/Src/main.c.

  40. 40.

    Team ITU’s high level communication source code https://github.com/itu-rover/communication.

  41. 41.

    TerraUnity computer graphics software used to the visualize the rover at its GPS location in a topographical simulation of earth http://terraunity.com/.

  42. 42.

    Team R3’s autonomous software architecture diagram in Microsoft Visio format https://github.com/danielsnider/ros-rover/blob/master/diagrams/team_r3_AUTO_Diagram.vsdx?raw=true.

  43. 43.

    ZED stereo camera technical specs https://www.stereolabs.com/zed/.

  44. 44.

    More ZED camera documentation https://www.stereolabs.com/documentation/guides/using-zed-with-ros/ZED_node.html.

  45. 45.

    Team R3’s ZED launch file https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover/launch/zed_up.launch.

  46. 46.

    Nvidia Jetson TX1 technical specs https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/buy/jetson-tx1-devkit.

  47. 47.

    Republish ROS node documentation http://wiki.ros.org/image_transport#republish.

  48. 48.

    Python ROS script to reduce bandwidth usage of video streams https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover/src/low_res_stream.py.

  49. 49.

    pcl_ros ROS documentation http://wiki.ros.org/pcl_ros.

  50. 50.

    rgbd_odometry ROS node documentation http://wiki.ros.org/rtabmap_ros#rgbd_odometry.

  51. 51.

    Team R3’s rgbd_odometry launch file https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover_navigation/launch/rgbd_odometry.launch.

  52. 52.

    RTAB-Map documentation http://wiki.ros.org/rtabmap_ros.

  53. 53.

    Team R3’s launch file for RTAB-Map https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover_navigation/launch/rtabmap.launch.

  54. 54.

    Video of an autonomous navigation by Team R3 with RTAB-Map and the ZED stereo camera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_1nkSQS8HE.

  55. 55.

    More information about loop closures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_mapping#Loop_closure.

  56. 56.

    RViz flag tool http://docs.ros.org/jade/api/rviz_plugin_tutorials/html/tool_plugin_tutorial.html.

  57. 57.

    ROS Navigation Stack http://wiki.ros.org/navigation.

  58. 58.

    Team R3’s move_base configuration file https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover_navigation/launch/move_base.launch.

  59. 59.

    Team R3’s config file for base_local_planner_params.yaml configuration of move_base https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/rosws/src/rover_navigation/config/base_local_planner_params.yaml.

  60. 60.

    Documentation for base_local_planner http://wiki.ros.org/base_local_planner.

  61. 61.

    Documentation and source code for MapViz https://github.com/swri-robotics/mapviz.

  62. 62.

    Docker container for proxying Google Maps toMapViz https://github.com/danielsnider/MapViz-Tile-Map-Google-Maps-Satellite.

  63. 63.

    MapProxy config file https://github.com/danielsnider/docker-mapproxy-googlemaps/blob/master/mapproxy.yaml.

  64. 64.

    Homepage for Tmux the terminal multiplexer https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki.

  65. 65.

    A crash course to learn tmux https://robots.thoughtbot.com/a-tmux-crash-course.

  66. 66.

    Tmuxinator is an tool for tmux that lets to write tmux layout configuration files for repeatable layouts https://github.com/tmuxinator/tmuxinator.

  67. 67.

    The tmuxinator config used by Team R3 to start all the rover software components https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/.tmuxinator.yml.

  68. 68.

    The tmuxinator config used by Team R3 to start all the base station software components https://github.com/teamr3/URC/blob/master/devstuff/dan/.tmuxinator.yml.

  69. 69.

    Team R3’s ROS master helper script https://gist.github.com/danielsnider/13aa8c21e4fb12621b7d8ba59a762e75.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our advisor Professor Michael R. M. Jenkin P. Eng., Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network. We also thank and appreciate the contributions of our survey respondents: Khalil Estell from San Jose State University, SJSU Robotics, and Jacob Glueck from Cornell University, Cornell Mars Rover, and Hunter D. Goldstein from Cornell University, Cornell Mars Rover, and Akshit Kumar from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Team Anveshak, and Jerry Li from University of Waterloo, UWRT, and Gabe Casciano from Ryerson University, Team R3, and Jonathan Boyson from Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Mars Rover Design Team.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Daniel Snider

  2. Bloor Collegiate Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Matthew Mirvish

  3. University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

    Michal Barcis

  4. Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Vatan Aksoy Tezer

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  1. Daniel Snider
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  2. Matthew Mirvish
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  4. Vatan Aksoy Tezer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Snider .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Anis Koubaa

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Snider, D., Mirvish, M., Barcis, M., Tezer, V.A. (2019). University Rover Challenge: Tutorials and Team Survey. In: Koubaa, A. (eds) Robot Operating System (ROS). Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 778. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91590-6_10

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