RoboPuppet Project

WPI Major Qualifying Project 2019-2020

Contributors

• Dan Oates
• Mike Silder
• Tabby Gibbs

Install Instructions

These instructions are exclusively for ROS Kinetic on Ubuntu 16.04.

Update Git Submodules

• Run terminal in the repo root
• Update git submodules:

git submodule update --init

Add Teensy UDEV Rules

• Copy text from: https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/49-teensy.rules
• Place file in: /etc/udev/rules.d/49-teensy.rules:

cd /etc/udev/rules.d
sudo touch 49-teensy.rules
sudo gedit 49-teensy.rules

• Reboot your PC for the change to take effect

Install Baxter Simulator

• Install package dependencies:

sudo apt-get install gazebo7 ros-kinetic-qt-build ros-kinetic-gazebo-ros-control ros-kinetic-gazebo-ros-pkgs ros-kinetic-ros-control ros-kinetic-control-toolbox ros-kinetic-realtime-tools ros-kinetic-ros-controllers ros-kinetic-xacro python-wstool ros-kinetic-tf-conversions ros-kinetic-kdl-parser

• Run terminal in repo root
• Install Baxter simulator packages:

cd Catkin/src
wstool init .
wstool merge https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RethinkRobotics/baxter_simulator/kinetic-devel/baxter_simulator.rosinstall
wstool update

• Build source:

cd ..
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
catkin_make

• Open Baxter startup script:

gedit src/baxter/baxter.sh

• Change 'your_ip' on line 26 to "127.0.0.1"
• Change 'ros_version' on line 30 to "kinetic"

Test Simulator with Teensy

• Install Visual Studio Code and the PlatformIO extension
• Make sure the Teensy is still plugged in
• Open the Firmware project in Platformio and open platformio.ini
• Set the following build flags (comment and uncomment as needed):

; Build Flags
build_flags =
	-D PLATFORM_ARDUINO				; Arduino platform [Platform.h]
	-D PLATFORM_3V3					; 3.3V board [Platform.h]
	-D I2CDEVICE_BUFFER_SIZE=8		; I2C buffer size [I2CDevice.h]
	-D SERIALSERVER_TX_MAX_IDS=20	; Max TX messages [SerialServer.h]
	-D SERIALSERVER_RX_MAX_IDS=20	; Max RX messages [SerialServer.h]
	-D SERIALSERVER_TX_MAX_LEN=20	; Max TX message length [SerialServer.h]
	-D SERIALSERVER_RX_MAX_LEN=20	; Max RX message length [SerialServer.h]

• Build and upload the project to the Teensy
• Run in terminal in Catkin directory:

source devel/setup.bash
./src/baxter/baxter.sh sim
roslaunch robopuppet main_sim.launch

• Verify Baxter is running:

rostopic hz /robot/state

• The state topic should be publishing at 100Hz
• Move the RoboPuppet arms and verify that simulated Baxter follows