hakuto

ROS package suite for the lunar rovers at Hakuto project, a Google XPRIZE competitor.

.. contents:: Table of Contents :depth: 2

Overview

With this ROS package, we can realize Hakuto's Tetris robots in a simulated lunar surface on web browser. Document here is the end user's usage and server-side operation for maintanance tasks.

For Simulator User

OS and Web Browser tested

The simulator has been seen working on the following environment:

• Mac OSX 10.10
• Google Chrome 40.0
• Firefox 35.0
• Android 5.0.1
• Google Chrome 40.0
• Ubuntu Linux (12.04 and 14.04)
• Google Chromium 37.0
• Firefox 35.0

Under following circumstance the simulator limitedly works:

• MS Windows 7 (64bit)
• IE11

How to Use Simulator

Simulator view

Users can access the simulator thru the following link: http://54.199.141.230:8080/# You'll see simulator similar to the following image:

Assigned keys vary per each OS and web browser. Typically you use mouse buttons and wheel, Shift key to control Zoom, Tilt and Elevation.

Keypad for simulator

Then, users can send commands from another web page: http://54.199.141.230/joystick.html You'll see keys like below:

There you can use keyboard to send commands that are associated with each key. NOTE that the images in the web page are NOT buttons; they are there to indicate which keys are associated with what commands.

For System Admin

Web server requirement

• Internet connection
• Ubuntu Linux. 12.04 or 14.04 64bit.
• Currently installation of web simulator is only limited to Ubuntu Linux (the limitation comes from Gzweb, web frontend of the physics simulator Gazebo).
• ROS Indigo Igloo

hakuto package Installation

Install via apt (RECOMMENDED)

(TBA)

Install via source

The directory ~/ros_ws/ will be used as a source directory for this instruction.

1. Download hakuto ROS package.

$ mkdir -p ~/ros_ws/src && cd ~/ros_ws/src && catkin_init_workspace
$ git clone https://github.com/tork-a/hakuto.git

2. Install depended libraries.

$ cd ~/ros_ws
$ rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro indigo -r -y 

3. Now ready to build sources.

$ catkin_make install && source install/setup.bash

4. Now let's install web frontend of the simulator, Gzweb. Follow the official installation steps. Go through until Clone the repository and build section (ie. Stop before Running gzserver, gzweb server, and WebGL client section). Select ./deploy.sh -m.

5. Place the necessary 3D model files of lunar surface by running the following commands.

$ cd %HOME_GZWEB%/http/client/
$ mkdir assets         (create `assets` folder in case it doesn't exist)
$ ln -fs `rospack find tetris_description`/models/tetris/ .

%HOME_GZWEB% is where you intalled Gzweb. Also ,

$ cd %HOME_GZWEB%/http/client/assets     (`assets` folder may not exist. If so, create it)
$ ln -fs `rospack find tetris_gazebo`/models/apollo15_landing_site_1000x1000 .

6. Prepare joystick keypad (for tele-operation)

Tele-operation is done by using keyboardteleopjs that accepts command input from the keyboard through web browser.

Put a joystick.html file under the docroot of your web server. We use /var/www/ for apache in this document.

terminal-3$ cp `rospack find tetris_launch`/www/joystick.html /var/www/

You might need to edit the file using your web server's IP address, and the name of Twist topic. Do that by following the tutorial for keyboard teleop.

Run the web simulator server (Gzweb, Gazebo on web server)

You need to open multiple terminals and run the following.

• Terminal-1: Run simulation engine, hakuto simulation moduels.
• Terminal-2: Run web frontend for the simulation engine.

terminal-1$ roslaunch tetris_launch demo.launch gui:=false

terminal-2$ DISPLAY=:0.0 ROS_MASTER_URI=http://%WEBSERVER_IPADDR%:13311 ROS_IP=%WEBSERVER_IPADDR% %HOME_GZWEB%/start_gzweb.sh &

(Example)
terminal-2$ DISPLAY=:0.0 ROS_MASTER_URI=http://54.199.141.230:13311 ROS_IP=54.199.141.230 /usr/local/lib/node_modules/gzweb/start_gzweb.sh &

hakuto ROS package

Please see the manifest file of each package as follows for the description.

• tetris_description
• tetris_gazebo
• tetris_launch

Troubleshoot server

When something is wrong...

On Ubuntu, check if all the necessary processes are running. Example:

$ ps -ef | grep ros
ubuntu    4351  2660  0 Jan14 pts/10   00:15:08 /usr/bin/python /opt/ros/indigo/bin/roscore
ubuntu    4363  4351  0 Jan14 ?        00:19:58 /usr/bin/python /opt/ros/indigo/bin/rosmaster --core -p 11311 __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/master.log
ubuntu    4376  4351  0 Jan14 ?        00:23:56 /opt/ros/indigo/lib/rosout/rosout __name:=rosout __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/rosout-1.log
ubuntu    4450  2808  0 Jan14 pts/12   00:14:37 /usr/bin/python /opt/ros/indigo/bin/roslaunch tetris_gazebo tetris_world.launch gui:=false
ubuntu    4482  4450  0 Jan14 ?        00:00:00 /bin/sh /opt/ros/indigo/lib/gazebo_ros/gzserver /opt/ros/indigo/share/tetris_gazebo/worlds/apollo15_landing_site.world __name:=gazebo __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/gazebo-1.log
ubuntu    4490  4482 28 Jan14 ?        5-03:44:53 gzserver /opt/ros/indigo/share/tetris_gazebo/worlds/apollo15_landing_site.world __name:=gazebo __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/gazebo-1.log -s /opt/ros/indigo/lib/libgazebo_ros_paths_plugin.so -s /opt/ros/indigo/lib/libgazebo_ros_api_plugin.so
ubuntu    4744  3306  0 Jan14 pts/16   00:15:11 /usr/bin/python /opt/ros/indigo/bin/roslaunch rosbridge_server rosbridge_websocket.launch
ubuntu    4762  4744  7 Jan14 ?        1-08:06:14 python /opt/ros/indigo/lib/rosbridge_server/rosbridge_websocket __name:=rosbridge_websocket __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/rosbridge_websocket-1.log
ubuntu    4763  4744  7 Jan14 ?        1-06:59:59 python /opt/ros/indigo/lib/rosapi/rosapi __name:=rosapi __log:=/home/ubuntu/.ros/log/3e773a72-9c0c-11e4-ad41-0a43be0c09e0/rosapi-2.log
ubuntu   13117 11159  7 21:23 pts/4    00:00:05 python /opt/ros/indigo/lib/teleop_twist_keyboard/teleop_twist_keyboard.py cmd_vel:=tetris/cmd_vel
ubuntu   13181 12924  0 21:24 pts/18   00:00:00 grep --color=auto ros

For Developers

Source code of hakuto package is opensourced at github repository: https://github.com/tork-a/hakuto

(Option) Run on Gazebo, desktop simulator

Set up Gazebo (do this only once)

Desktop simulator version of Gazebo should be already installed by the previous steps (rosdep, in particular). We still need some customization.

1. Link model files directory.

$ cd /usr/share/gazebo-%VERSION_NUMBER%
$ cd /usr/share/gazebo-2.2               (Example)

$ sudo ln -fs %YOUR_CATKIN_WORKSPACE%/src/osrf/gazebo_models models
$ sudo ln -fs ~/catkinws/src/osrf/gazebo_models models               (Example following the directory used in above instruction)

Run simulation on Gazebo

$ roslaunch tetris_launch demo.launch gui:=false

• NOTE-1: 1st time run on a computer, internet access is required to download model files for Gazebo.
• NOTE-2: GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH takes absolute path.