README.md

Multi-robot workspace (3dpatrolling)

Please, before reading this file, read the main README.md file and install V-REP as explained there.

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Requirements

• We designed and tested the framework under Ubuntu 14.04. We recently ported it on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 (with limited testing). It should be easy to compile the framework in other platforms.

• If you want to deploy the patrolling3d_sim nodes on real robots (or on different computers), it is REQUIRED to synch the system clocks of the different computer boards. To this aim, you can use chrony, for instance. If you do not want to synch the clocks then you have to disable stamped messages in the header message_types.h (contained in the package patrolling3d_sim)

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Main Scripts

Available in the folder patrolling3d_sim/scripts:

• sim_launcher_patrolling main script for launching a patrolling simulation
• sim_launcher_patrolling_ugv for launching the nodes of a single robot (mainly mapping, path planner, trajectory control, patrolling agent); it is used inside sim_launcher_patrolling
• save_map for saving the robot map and trajectory (please, use ugv1 for building and saving maps or trajectories)
• kill_vrep_sim for killing all the patrolling and V-REP nodes.
• save_map for saving the map (see the input variables in the script).
• load_map for loading a map (see the input variables in the script).

NOTE: each script launches ROS nodes within screen sessions. Here you can find a very concise guide on how to check the processes and attach to the spawned screen sessions.

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How to run the patrolling strategy

Open a new terminal, enter in the root folder of the repo 3dpatrolling and run:
$ source source_all.bash
$ rosrun patrolling3d_sim sim_launcher_patrolling

or
$ source source_all.bash
$ roscd patrolling3d_sim/scripts
$ ./sim_launcher_patrolling

In order to kill all the launched nodes and V-REP, run:
$ rosrun path_planner kill_vrep_sim
or
$ ./kill_vrep_sim (from patrolling3d_sim/scripts)

N.B.: at the beginning of the script sim_launcher_patrolling, you can find some input variables for setting different things, e.g. you can change the V-REP world (see the variables WORLD_NAME).

Qt GUI

You can also launch the patrolling system by using our PyQt GUI (python3 required). Open a new terminal, enter in the root folder of the repo 3dpatrolling and run:
$ ./main.py

Once the GUI shows up:

1. Select a .ttt scenario from one of the subfolders in patrolling3d_sim/maps.
2. Press the button Launch patrolling (this launches the script sim_launcher_patrolling behind the curtains).
3. Once you are happy, you can kill all the nodes and V-REP by using the button Kill (this launches the script kill_vrep_sim).

The tooltips will give you some hints on how to use the different options. Please, read below for further information.

What is going to happen?

• V-REP is automatically launched and a patrolling V-REP world is loaded. Please, note that the V-REP main window does not show up when V-REP is launched in headless mode.

• RVIZ starts, shows the robots and their point cloud maps (this process may take a while). For each robot, the built map is segmented in traversable regions (green, /ugvi/traversability) and obstacle regions (red, /ugvi/wall).

• A volumetric map is loaded in each robot mapping system; for convenience, we built, saved and pushed this map in the repo for you; you could also build a map and save it by yourself (see the dedicated section below).

• A graph (which nodes to visit) is loaded and used by the patrolling agents; for convenience, we built, saved and pushed this graph in the repo for you; you could also build the graph from scratch and save it (see the dedicated section below).

• The robots will start patrolling the environment. The enviroment is represented at topological level by a graph: nodes represent reachable and safe regions; edges represent traversable paths joining them. Patrolling requires the robot to continuously visit all the nodes so as to minimize the time lag between two visits (node idleness).

• During the operations, each robot marker (a colored sphere flying above the corresponding robot) will inform you about its status, e.g.

  • PP Success (N: x): Path Planning success toward Next node with ID x,
  • PP Failure (N: x): Path Planning failure toward next node with ID x,
  • Conflict (N: x)(R: i): I have a conflict with ugvi on the node with ID x,
  • Goal Intercepted (N: x): my goal with ID x has been intercepted/visited by a teammate,
  • Critical PP Failure: critical path planning failure,
  • Critical Node Conflict: critical node conflict.

• You can select the patrolled scenario by modifying the input variable WORLD_NAME in the script sim_launcher_patrolling (please read also the following sections).

You can find some nice simulation videos on the project webpage.

V-REP modes

V-REP can be launched in different modes. To this aim, you can use the input variable LAUNCH_VREP_MODE inside the script sim_launcher_patrolling. These are the allowed modes:

• 0: normal mode (you have to press the button play to start)
• 1: headless mode (hidden) with automatic start (less computational demanding)
• 2: normal mode with automatic start

If you use the Qt GUI, the option V-REP mode allows selecting the value of the variable LAUNCH_VREP_MODE.

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Patrolling scenarios

The patrolling scenes are collected in the folder patrolling3d_sim/maps. In this folder, you can find a specific subfolder my-awesome-scenario for each possible scenario you may want to use. In particular, inside a new folder my-awesome-scenario, you have to place:

• a V-REP world my-awesome-scenario.ttt (binary V-REP description of a world)
• a saved volumetric map my-awesome-scenario.bt
• a saved graph representation my-awesome-scenario.graph
• a saved history of robot trajectories my-awesome-scenario.dot

In the script patrolling3d_sim/scripts/sim_launcher_patrolling you can select which scenario to use by setting the var WORLD_NAME. In the available 3D environments, the saved trajectory is used by the traversability analysis node (of the path planner) in order to quickly estimate the "correct" up-orientation of the normals.

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How to build, save and load a volumetric map

If you want to build and save a new volumetric map, first, you have to move the robot around and, then, save the built map. After this process, you can reload the saved map. In particular, you can perform this process by following these steps:

1. Set the variable ENABLE_PATROLLING=0 in the script sim_launcher_patrolling (this will disable the automatic launch of the patrolling agent nodes).

2. Run the script:
   $ rosrun patrolling3d_sim sim_launcher_patrolling
   With patrolling disabled, you can freely move robot ugvi around by using the TeleOp ugvi window. For saving data, use ugv1 and click on the small window TeleOp ugv1: you can use keyboard arrows and W,A,S,D keys to move the robot around and play with the flippers.

3. To save the map and the robot trajectory, you can run the script save_map. This will save the map and the trajectories in the set destination folder (see the input variable DEST_FOLDER=/tmp in the same script save_map).

4. Once you have recorded the map and the trajectory, you have to organize their files as explained in the previous section "Patrolling scenarios".

N.B.: please, note that the command lines for loading a map are already included in script sim_launcher_patrolling.

You can use the scripts save_map and load_map for saving and loading a map respectively. In particular, the following commands are used within the scripts to save and load a map:

• save the map (if you are using ugv1):
  $ rosservice call /volumetric_mapping_ugv1/save_map "file_path: '/tmp/map.bt'"
  or (for a "shared" mapping system) $ rosservice call /volumetric_mapping/save_map "file_path: '/tmp/map.bt'"

• load a saved map (if you are using ugv1):
  $ rosservice call /volumetric_mapping/load_map "file_path: '/tmp/map.bt'"
  or (for a "shared" mapping system)
  $ rosservice call /volumetric_mapping_ugv1/load_map "file_path: '/tmp/map.bt'"

N.B.: If you use the Qt GUI:

• The checkbox Enable patrolling allows selecting the value of the variable ENABLE_PATROLLING.
• The button Save map allows saving the current maps (this launches the script save_map).
• The button Load map allows loading a saved map (this launches the script load_map).

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How to create a new graph

You can save a graph by following these steps:

• Enter in the script patrolling3d_sim/scripts/sim_launcher_patrolling and set the variables:
  ENABLE_PATROLLING=0
BUILD_GRAPH_ON_START="true"
• Then open a new terminal, source the tradr workspace and this workspace, and then run:
  $ roscd patrolling3d_sim/scripts
$ ./sim_launcher_patrolling

When RVIZ is ready in front of you:

• add your waypoints on the RVIZ interface: for adding a new point (1) press the key 'M' and then (2) stick a new marker on the green point cloud.
• once you have finished adding waypoints, press the mouse left button on one of the waypoints and select the action Patrolling - append task
• you can also move/change the waypoints and then rebuild the graph by selecting again the action Patrolling - append task
• a new graph will be then created and saved in the selected world folder (inside patrolling3d_sim/maps)

Take a look at the following video:

You could also build your graph interactively and then immeditely start the patrolling. This can be done in a very similar way by:

• First, setting the following variables in the script sim_launcher_patrolling:
  ENABLE_PATROLLING=1
BUILD_GRAPH_ON_START="true"
• Then, you can set your desired WORLD_NAME
• Next, run the script sim_launcher_patrolling and repeat the procedure above once RVIZ is ready and the maps have been loaded.
• Once you are ready, select the action Patrolling - send task and the robots will start patrolling the assigned graph.

N.B.: The essential nodes (needed to build the graph) are automatically called in the script sim_launcher_patrolling. In particular, these can be manually launched with the following command:
$ roslaunch patrolling_build_graph build_graph.launch map:=<name of your environment>

N.B.: if you use the Qt GUI, the checkboxes Enable patrolling and Build graph on start allow selecting the values of the variable ENABLE_PATROLLING and BUILD_GRAPH_ON_START respectively.

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How to create a new scenario

1. Open a new terminal and run the following commands $ roscd patrolling3d_sim
$ cd maps
$ mkdir <your-awesome-scenario-name>
$ cd <your-awesome-scenario-name>
2. create a scenario in V-REP and save it within the folder <your-awesome-scenario-name> by using the same name <your-awesome-scenario-name>.ttt (to get an idea, you can take a look at the other map folders inside the folder patrolling3d_sim/maps);
3. create a map for the world as explained in the above section "How to build, save and load a map";
4. create a graph representation as explained in the above section "How to create a new graph".

Finally, in order to use the newly created world, set the variable WORLD_NAME and the used number of robot NUM_ROBOTS in the script sim_launcher_patrolling. Then, launch the script sim_launcher_patrolling.

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Save a robot trajectory for the scenario

The node robot_trajectory_saver (in the package robot_trajectory_saver) implements the following functionalities:

• ros service to save the robot trajectories into a file "/my_path/filename.dot" in the form of a (boost) graph
  $ rosservice call /robot_trajectory_saver_node/save_robot_trajectories_only "file_path: '/tmp/trajectory.dot'"

• ros service to get the graph of the robot trajectories in the form of a nav_msgs::Path
  $ rosservice call /robot_trajectory_saver_node/get_robot_trajectories_nav_msgs "{}"

N.B.: the required trajectory loading is automatically called in the main script sim_launcher_patrolling. The trajectory saving can be called by using the script save_map.

N.B.: If you use the Qt GUI:

• The button Save map allows saving the current maps and the trajectories of ugv1 and ugv2.
• The button Load map allows loading some saved map and trajectories (used by the traversability analysis).