Robot

A step by step Guide on how I build, configure and run my own robot using a specific choice of Hardware and Software.

Can I run it myself? How?

Yeah. You just need to be familiar with troubleshooting on linux and searching the web for resources :) Everything software-related I use is included here, but neither properly sorted nor documented. Some thing you may want to check are:

• How I put together the current Chassis
• Where I originally got my HW from
• How to configure the Raspberry

Notes on why I do this

• I was looking for a project to learn that would have me entertained for longer than a month.
• As a kid I loved the idea of having a Robot at home one day.
• That robot had to be configurable with only two limitations: pocket and knowledge

Notes on the status

Right now, It can manage two motors through an API.

• The code to run on the Raspberry is on /circuits
  • You can use curl to send calls to the API
  • There is a very primitive Android app on /AndroidApp that helps with that, but you probably need to open ports on the RAspberry (not yet tested).
  • Still, running off a battery is not yet tested.
  • I need to also work on a cross-compiling system
    • The difficulty here is that pigpio is needed, and that cannot be done using cargo directly in a local machine

Notes on my choice of Software

• Full Rust:
  • There used to be a working thing written completely on Rust but it didn't scale well.
• ROS2 - Python
  • The project was redone from scratch, to use ROS2 and python instead, but interfaces on python were too CPU-intensive.
  • I redid the interfaces' functionality on Rust and added that as a python library. Then I realized having Python code would be too slow
• ROS2 - C++:
  • After realizing Python would be too slow, I started redoing everything on ROS's C++
  • When I had something working, I also realized compiling it on the Raspberry would be too heavy, so I started introducing cross-compilation.
  • Then I tried to introduce libraries on Rust that would be called from C++. I never got it to work using ROS's cmakelists

So my next approach is a redesign, again based off a full-Rust version that tries to mimc ROS2's architecture principles (e.g.: nodes, actions, messages...), with the hope that one day there will be a full-on ROS2-Rust library that I can easily migrate to.

I need to make the following work to consider this approach "usable":

• DONE - Create a 'Node' that lives until a CTRL-C is received
• Make that Node work like an action server
• DONE - Create a second Node that works like an action client
• DONE - Have the action server turn an LED on and off
• Make this run on the Raspberry and check load
• Cross compile to save time -> not working, neither with --target nor with docker, we'll try qemu

Once that is working, I will adapt the code and auxiliar scripts to keep using what worked well in the past:

• Autosetup of the Raspberry
• Build pipeline
• DONE .env configuration

Then I will try to extend to the rest of functionality:

• Engines
• Control through a secured API
• Status advertised on LED
• Automatic mode
• Autoboot

Contribute and Credits

Just PM me on Github, I haven't figured this out yet.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0

TBD

Must have

• Tested docs on Chassis, Hardware and Raspberry setup
• Automatic Raspberry setup script (with .env)
• Cross compiling/building

Should have

• Build pipeline with tests
• Load tests
• Modules mimic ROS2 (E.g.: instead of comms, something like actions that wraps comms)
• "Autonomous" run with List of actions to do

Would be good to have

• Completely autonomous run mode