RaposaNgSoftware

File:Icon raposa.png

RAPOSA-NG

About

This page presents instructions and software for our customized version of RAPOSA-NG.

For more information, please use the redmine page: http://rm.isr.ist.utl.pt/projects/raposa/wiki/Main_Page

Access

To gain access to RAPOSA-NG session, svn network, etc:

Username: raposang
Password: raposa2011 

Software

All software needed for RAPOSA-NG control is preinstalled in RAPOSA-NG and stored in svn.

To download latest trunk version, please use the following command:

svn co svn://svn.isr.ist.utl.pt/raposa/raposang/trunk/raposang_ros /home/raposa/ros

Usage

RAPOSA-NG uses two different battery sources for the electronics and motors, respectively. Please assure that both batteries have a buzzer attached while connected to RAPOSA-NG, and make sure that both batteries and Buzzers are detached from one another after usage.

Use the red button to power on/off the motors, and the green button to power on/off the electronics using batteries. The gray button is used to power on/off the CPU, and it can only be powered if either the green button is on with batteries attached, or an external feed is being used.

Packages

• scout_drivers -- contains the main drivers
• scout_msgs -- defines the message types employed by the drivers
• joy -- a copy of the joy package compatible with the Scout software

Nodes

• motors -- interfaces the motor controllers: sends motor velocity commands and receives encoder readings
• sensors -- interfaces the sonars (currently disabled) and the battery sensors
• joydrive -- node to control the robot using a gamepad
• keydrive -- node to control the robot using the keyboard

Subscribed topics

• /scout/motion (ScoutMotionMsg) -- reference velocities for each wheel (velocity_left and velocity_right) in raw units and an enable flag

Published topics

• /scout/battery (ScoutBatteryMsg) -- voltages (in V) of batteries (battery1) and external power supply (battery2)
• /scout/sonars (ScoutSonarsMsg) -- (DISABLED BY DEFAULT) array of sonar readings
• /scout/motors (ScoutMotorsMsg) -- encoder counter for each wheel (count_left and count_right) in raw units

Examples

An example of a launch file to launch all scout nodes (locally)

<launch>
	<node name="motors"   pkg="scout_driver"  type="motors"/>
	<node name="sensors"  pkg="scout_driver"  type="sensors"/>
	<node name="joy"      pkg="joy"           type="joy_node"/>
	<node name="joydrive" pkg="scout_driver"  type="joydrive"/>
</launch>

NOTE: you need to modify these file in order to launch the nodes remotely.