mipt-airdrone

Multicopter autopilot system for CROC aerial robotics competition

BRIEF MANUAL:

IMPORTANT!

1. This manual assumes you have successfully installed the ROS Indigo on Ubuntu (the code was tested on Ubuntu 14.04)
2. Useful ROS HOWTO's:

• ROS Hydro installation
• ROS Tutorial
• Actionlib
• Smach

3. Some additional packages are to be installed to successfully compile the code. I'll maybe write about this one day, but at the moment you have to look at the compiler errors and set everything up yourself ;)
4. To use bash scripts launch .../mipt-airdrone/contrib/INSTALL.py. It will generate scripts for you and place them to .../mipt-airdrone/contrib/launchers_gen. It will also add these to your system PATH. Please take into account that your ~/.bashrc will be modified! If you want to move the .../mipt-airdrone folder do it, and after that relaunch .../mipt-airdrone/contrib/INSTALL.py. The paths will (hopefully) be reconfigured automatically.
5. INSTALL.py when launched also creates nice desktop shortcuts for your convenience. They are named Ad...smth... and are easily found via Unity search. (Press Dash Home button and type 'Ad') The config files are placed into ~/.local/share/applications folder.

To build the project type:

1. Manually. Go to project directory and enter:

• catkin_make (To just build the project)
• catkin_make --force-cmake -G"Eclipse CDT4 - Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_ECLIPSE_MAKE_ARGUMENTS=-j8 (To build project files for eclipse)

2. Via bash scripts (need to configure project with contrib/INSTALL.py). Go to .../mipt-airdrone/contrib/launchers or add the launchers to your system PATH and enter:

• ad_rebuild (To just build the project)
• ad_rebuild_eclipse (To build project files for eclipse)

To start copter type:

1. Manually. Type in the terminal:

• roslaunch airdrone_launch airdrone_simulator.launch (To start core nodes for simulation)
• roslaunch airdrone_launch airdrone.launch (To start nodes for the real robot connected to the laptop)
• roslaunch airdrone_launch simulator.launch (To open Rviz and Gazebo for simulation)

2. Via bash scripts (need to configure project with contrib/INSTALL.py). Go to .../mipt-airdrone/contrib/launchers or add the launchers to your system PATH and enter:

• ad_airdrone_simulator_launch (To start core nodes for simulation)
• ad_airdrone_real_launch (To start nodes for the real robot connected to the laptop)
• ad_simulator (To open Rviz and Gazebo for simulation)

To change the spawn point in Gazebo:

1. Go to .../mipt-airdrone/src/airdrone_launch/launch/simulator.launch
2. Set the coordinates by adjusting <arg name="x/y/z" value="???"/>

To change the default gazebo camera position:

1. Go to .../mipt-airdrone/src/airdrone_gazebo/worlds/<...>.world
2. Find the <camera name='some_camera_name'>
3. Change the tag (There will be the <pose>X Y Z R P Y</pose> string, put in the correct numbers)

To change map:

1. DO it carefully!
2. If you still decided to add a custom map create a model in Google Sketch Up (free to download)
3. The model should have .dae extension and the altitude of the floor at the robot spawn point should be zero
4. It is important that it would be zero!
5. Rename the .dae file to "test_chamber0.dae". Do NOT rename the generated folder with images! (sometimes there will be no folder generated, do not worry about that) But if you desperately want to rename, edit the .dae file and update the path to the folder.
6. Put the files in .../mipt-airdrone/src/airdrone_gazebo/worlds/Media/models folder
7. If the model jumps on its spawn point than you probably did not set the world floor altitude to zero. You can probably edit the ...mipt-airdrone/src/airdrone_gazebo/worlds/test_chamber0.world to fix that.

To edit the robot model:

1. Be careful here too)
2. Go to .../mipt-airdrone/src/airdrone_gazebo/drone/frame/urdf
3. Edit the quadrotor_with_kinect.urdf.xacro file to set up kinect position and orientation