rosbot

The rosbot snap includes all the essential software required to operate the ROSbot, including the controller, robot state publisher, and more.

Installation

To install this snap on the Single Board Computer (SBC) within the ROSbot run the following command:

snap install rosbot
sudo /var/snap/rosbot/common/post_install.sh
sudo rosbot.flash

To list ROS 2 topics, run the command ros2 topic list.

You can also connect a Logitech F710 (in x mode) USB dongle to the ROSbot's USB port to control the robot. Remember to press the LB button on the gamepad. The joy service, which handles gamepad input, runs in the background.

Parameters

The snap provides the following configurable parameters (param name: default value):

• driver: {...}
• ros: {...}

The ros contains the following keys:

• ros.ros-domain-id: 0 - Sets the ROS_DOMAIN_ID environment variable for the ROS driver.
• ros.ros-localhost-only: 0 - Sets the ROS_LOCALHOST_ONLY environment variable for the ROS driver.
• ros.transport: udp - Configures DDS transport. Options are udp, shm, builtin (or rmw_fastrtps_cpp), rmw_cyclonedds_cpp. Corresponding DDS XML files can be found in the /var/snap/rosbot/common directory (custom FastDDS setups can also be created here).
• ros.namespace: (unset) - Namespace for all topics and transforms.

The driver contains the following keys:

• driver.mecanum: True - Enables the mecanum drive controller; otherwise, uses the differential drive controller.
• driver.serial-port: auto - Serial port for firmware (e.g., /dev/ttyUSB0), or set it to auto.

To set parameters, use the snap set command, e.g.,

snap set rosbot driver.mecanum=True

Available Apps (Main)

• rosbot.flash - Flash firmware for the STM32F4 microcontroller.
• rosbot.start - Start the daemon running the ROSbot ROS 2 driver.
• rosbot.stop - Stop the daemon running the ROSbot ROS 2 driver.
• rosbot.teleop - Run the teleop_twist_keyboard node to control the robot from a terminal.

Auxiliary Apps

• rosbot.config-ftdi - Set up the CBUS pins in the FTDI chip (used with RST and BOOT0 pins in STM32); needs to be done only once.
• rosbot.print-serial-number - Print the CPU ID and serial number of ROSbot.
• rosbot.reset-stm32 - Reset the STM32F4 microcontroller.

Working with ROS Parameters

For multiple snaps running ROS 2 or host-snap-Docker communication, useful files and scripts are available in /var/snap/rosbot/common/.

Example usage:

# Set parameters in the rosbot snap
sudo snap set rosbot transport=udp ros-domain-id=123 ros.namespace=abc

# Mirror the setup for other ROS 2 snaps
sudo snap set husarion-depthai $(cat /var/snap/rosbot/common/ros_snap_args)
sudo snap set husarion-rplidar $(cat /var/snap/rosbot/common/ros_snap_args)

# Set up the current shell with the same configurations
source /var/snap/rosbot/common/ros.env

# Install configurations
/var/snap/rosbot/common/manage_ros_env.sh
source ~/.bashrc

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard --ros-args --remap __ns:=/${ROS_NAMESPACE}