WebViz

A low-bandwidth websocket-based robot visualizer for real-time data streaming to web browsers.

Overview

WebViz provides real-time streaming of robot sensor data, localization, and custom visualizations to web browsers via WebSockets. Supports both ROS1 and ROS2 with the same codebase.

Key Features

• Cross-Compatible: Works with both ROS1 and ROS2
• Web-Based: Access from any browser, no desktop apps needed
• Low-Bandwidth: Optimized for remote operation
• Real-Time: Live streaming of sensor data and visualizations
• Interactive: Set poses and navigation goals from the web interface
• Configurable: Lua-based configuration system

Dependencies

• ROS: ROS1 Noetic or ROS2 Humble/Iron
• AMRL Messages: amrl_msgs (ROS1/ROS2 compatible)
• System Packages:

  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt install build-essential cmake qt5-default libqt5websockets5-dev \
                   python3-colcon-common-extensions libgtest-dev liblua5.1-0-dev \
                   libgoogle-glog-dev libgflags-dev

Setup

1. Clone this repository and initialize submodules:

   git clone https://github.com/ut-amrl/webviz.git
   cd webviz
   git submodule update --init --recursive

2. For ROS1: Add the path to your ~/.bashrc file for the ROS_PACKAGE_PATH environment variable:

   echo "export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$(pwd):\$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

3. For ROS2: Add the path to your ~/.bashrc file for the AMENT_PREFIX_PATH environment variable:

   echo "export AMENT_PREFIX_PATH=$(pwd)/install:\$AMENT_PREFIX_PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

4. Run make. This will automatically build and install (for ROS2) or just build (for ROS1). No need to run catkin_*, rosbuild, etc.

Usage

1. Start the server:

# Start the server with default configuration
./bin/websocket

# Override configuration file location
./bin/websocket --config_file=config/my_custom_config.lua

# Override other parameters with gflags
./bin/websocket --fps=20 --max_age=5.0 --v=1

2. Open browser: Load webviz.html
3. Connect: Enter robot IP and click Connect

See config/webviz_config.lua for complete configuration options.

Integration with Launch Files

WebViz can be easily integrated into larger ROS stacks using launch files.

ROS1 Launch File Example

<launch>
  <!-- Your existing robot nodes -->
  <include file="$(find your_robot)/launch/robot.launch" />
  
  <!-- WebViz visualization -->
  <node name="webviz" pkg="webviz" type="websocket" output="screen">
    <param name="config_file" value="$(find webviz)/config/webviz_config.lua" />
    <param name="v" value="1" />  <!-- Verbose logging -->
  </node>
</launch>

ROS2 Launch File Example (Python)

from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch.actions import IncludeLaunchDescription
from launch_ros.actions import Node
from launch.launch_description_sources import PythonLaunchDescriptionSource
from ament_index_python.packages import get_package_share_directory
import os

def generate_launch_description():
    # Path to webviz config
    webviz_config = os.path.join(
        get_package_share_directory('webviz'),
        'config',
        'webviz_config.lua'
    )
    
    return LaunchDescription([
        # Your existing robot launch
        IncludeLaunchDescription(
            PythonLaunchDescriptionSource([
                get_package_share_directory('your_robot'), 
                '/launch/robot.launch.py'
            ])
        ),
        
        # WebViz node
        Node(
            package='webviz',
            executable='websocket',
            name='webviz',
            output='screen',
            parameters=[{
                'config_file': webviz_config,
                'v': 1  # Verbose logging
            }]
        )
    ])

Technical Details

For implementation details, protocol specifications, and architecture information, see Technical Documentation.