Getting started

Install Ubuntu

The repositories and their related components that we will be using are tested under the following Ubuntu distributions:

ROS2 Humble: Ubuntu 22.04

If you do not have a Ubuntu distribution on your computer you can download it here.

Git - Version Control

Installing Git

Install the Git core components and some additional GUI’s for the version control.

sudo apt-get install git-core gitg gitk git

Seting up Git

To check if you have already configured user credentials, run the following commands.

git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email

If it returns an empty string, then it’s recommended that you tell git your name and email address, so that it can properly label the commits you make. If it returns your name and email address, then you can skip this step.

git config --global user.name "Your Name Here"

Git also saves your email address into the commits you make.

git config --global user.email "your-email@youremail.com"

Git Tutorial

If you are new to git, or just want to brush up on the commands, we recommend that you go through the basic git tutorial and also follow the practice_git repository, which you may have used in your foundation course.

ROS - Robot Operating System

Install ROS

Please follow ROS2 Humble installation instructions, if you have not already installed ROS2.

Note

For convenience, adding the following line in the .bashrc file (located in home location) is recommended: source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash. If multiple ROS distributions are being used, then aliases can be set for individual distributions in the .bashrc file.

ROS Tutorials

To refresh your ROS concepts, it is recommended to refer to the beginner tutorials provided by ROS2.

It is recommended to revise the basic understanding of nodes and topics, and practicing writing basic nodes and launch files.

Dependencies

Install following packages:

pip install --upgrade sphinx docutils py_trees
sudo apt-get install ros-humble-gazebo-ros ros-humble-turtlebot3-gazebo ros-humble-xacro ros-humble-tf2-geometry-msgs ros-humble-turtle-tf2-py ros-humble-tf2-tools ros-humble-tf-transformations ros-humble-joint-state-publisher-gui ros-humble-joint-state-publisher ros-humble-joy-linux ros-humble-urg-node ros-humble-urg-node-msgs ros-humble-ros2bag ros-humble-rosbag2-storage-default-plugins

Setup Colcon Workspace

Colcon is the build system used by ROS2. The following instructions to install colcon and creating a workspace is derived from this link.

Installing Colcon

sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions

Creating a Workspace

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build

Note

The ~/workspace_name/ directory (in the above example, it is ~/ros2_ws/) is termed as root of the workspace. In ROS2, while building the packages in a workspace, colcon build should be run from the root of the workspace.

Cloning Repositories from HBRS-AMR group

First, you have to clone and build the Robile and robile_description repositories. The Robile repository contains the core packages to drive the robot and the robile_description repository contains the description of the robot.

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone -b humble https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/Robile.git
git clone -b rolling https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/robile_description.git

Build the packages and source the workspace before continuing (as robile_gazebo depends on robile_description).

cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build
source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash

We will clone robile_gazebo, kelo_tulip, and py_trees_ros repositories. The robile_gazebo repository contains the gazebo simulation of the robot, the kelo_tulip repository contains the platform controller for the robot, and the py_trees_ros repository is a tool we use to structure and configure the behavior tree implementation for the robot.

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone -b rolling https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/robile_gazebo.git
git clone -b rolling https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/kelo_tulip.git
git clone https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/robile_interfaces.git
git clone -b ros2_humble https://github.com/HBRS-AMR/robile_navigation.git
git clone -b devel https://github.com/splintered-reality/py_trees_ros.git

In the robile_navigation/config/nav2_params.yaml, update the complete path to smacPlannerLattice under planner_server-> GridBased->lattice_filepath.

Once cloning above repositories and editing the nav2_params.yaml, we will build the packages and source the workspace after cloning the above repositories.

cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build
source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash

Note

While kelo_tulip package is building (can be seen in terminal when colcon build is run) and if it looks stuck at around 80-95%, please type the password of your system and press enter, even if you are not prompted to type. Don’t worry if you cannot see your system password being typed in thee terminal. After pressing Enter, the package will be built successfully.

If no errors appear everything is ready to use. Great job!