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ROS: the Robot Bookkeeping

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Operating System § Schedule is updated

§ Videos, slides, etc. are up
§ Next class: back to kinematics
§ Next homework Friday
§ Today: the Robot Operating System, + projects
These are fantastic
resources. Go see
Most slides drawn, with thanks, from:
Dolev Shapira: https://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/~ben-shahar/Teaching/Computational- the source material!
Vision/StudentProjects/ICBV151/ICBV-2015-1-DolevShapira/object-recognition_slides.ppt,
Quick Introduction to ROS: https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~allen/F19/NOTES/ROS%20Tutorial.pptx,
Introduction to ROS – UW: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse490r/18wi/quiz_section_slideseature
Robot Operating System, by Alec Poitzsch: http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.141/spring2014/pub/lectures/Lec05-
ROS-Lecture.pptm
ROS Basics: http://www.rsl.ethz.ch/education-students/lectures/ros.html 2

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ROS: Robot Operating System ROS

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Camera
§ What is ROS? Well… Microphone § …is not actually an operating system.
Range-finder
Sensor data
Encoders § But it is a meta-operating system that handles:
§ Communication
§ Sharing common tasks
Reasoning,
Updating, § Moving from simulation to reality
Control
Kinematics, § Representing a robot (shape, controllers, …)
Control
Move § ROS lets you
World Model Actions Grasp § Avoid reinventing a lot of wheels!
Scan § Handle the nuts and bolts of communication
Recover § … with some startup effort.
§ How do we actually do this?
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What does that include? Problem 1: sequential programming

What is5 ROS? 6

ROS = Robot Operating System § Conventional programming:

goForward(1);
turnLeft(Math.PI/2);
ros.org Image image = camera.getImage();
double distance = computeDistanceToObject(image);
goForward(distance - 1);
§ Process § Simulation § Control § Package organization (x, y) = getMyPositionFromTheEncoderCounts();
management § Visualization § Planning § Software distribution …
§ Inter-process § Graphical user § Perception § Documentation What happens if an obstacle appears while you are going forward?
communication interface § Mapping § Tutorials
§ Device drivers § Data logging What happens to the encoder data while you are turning?
§ Manipulation

Péter Fankhauser | 20.02.2017 | 6 What if some other module wants the same data?

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Solution 1: “Callbacks” Problem 2: complexity

7 8 Topic: /camera/image
void imageCallback(ImageMessage image)
§ Callback: // process the latest image
Face Detection Image Message
Camera
§ Function called Image Messa
ge
void odometryCallback(OdometryMessage data)
whenever data is Obstacle Detection
// handle latest odometry data
available for cle
Obsta PointCloud
processing void main()
Laser Scanner

An asynchronous initialize(); 8
§ Map Building Topic: /kinect/cloud
subscribe(“image_msgs”,
callback can
happen any time
imageCallback); § Solutions:
subscribe(“odometry_msgs”,
odometryCallback); § Separate processes: Cameras, Odometry, Laser Scanner,
§ Examples: Map Building can all be separated out: interact through
§ Run the relevant callback function whenever: an interface
§ An image is read from the camera § Interfaces: Software processes (“nodes” in ROS)
§ The odometry sensor reports new data communicate about shared “topics” in ROS
§ Publish/Subscribe: Have each module receive only the
7 data (messages) it requests 8

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Problem 3: Hardware-specific code History of ROS

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Hardware-Independent Software Device-Specific Drivers § Originally developed in 2007 at the Stanford

Face
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Image Message
Detection

Imag e Message
Camera § Since 2013 managed by OSRF
Obstacle Detection
Po in tC
lo ud § Today used by many robots, universities and
companies
Obstacle Laser Scanner
lo u d
P o in tC

Map Building
Motors § De facto standard for robot programming
Interface
Etc.

§ Solution 3: Abstract hardware!

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ROS philosophy Conceptual levels of design

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§ Peer to peer: Individual programs communicate (A) ROS Community: ROS

over defined API (ROS messages, services, etc.) Carnegie Mellon
Distributions, Repositories

§ Distributed: programs can be run on multiple Node

Node
5 (B) Computation Graph:
computers and communicate over the network
4
Peer-to-Peer Network of
Node 1 Node 2:
ROS nodes (processes).
Laser Scanning Map Building
§ Multi-lingual: ROS modules can be written in any
language for which a client library exists Node 3:
Planning
§ In practice: C++ and Python Node
Node
7
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§ Free and open-source (C) File-system level: ROS Tools for

managing source code, build instructions,
and message definitions.

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Tools-based software design Multiple language support

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§ Tools for: § ROS is implemented natively in each language.

§ Building ROS nodes
§ Quickly define messages in language-
§ Running ROS nodes
independent format.
§ Viewing network topology
§ Monitoring network traffic C++ Node :
Map Building
Python Node:
Laser Scanner

§ Many cooperating processes, instead of a Sub

scrip
tion licati
on
Pub
single monolithic program. File: PointCloud.msg
Topic:
“LaserData”
Header header
Points32[] pointsXYZ
int32 numPoints

File-system level

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Lightweight Communication
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§ Encourages standalone libraries with no ROS § ROS provides an interface that allows the user
dependencies: to create modular pieces that communicate
§ Don’t put ROS dependencies in the core of your
algorithm § Approximate equivalents:
§ Nodes ≅ “processes”
§ Use ROS only at the edges of your § Topics ≅ “message boards”
interconnected software modules:
Carnegie

Subscribers ≅ Nodes “watching” the topics and

Mellon
§
Downstream/Upstream interface ROS Community
reading incoming messages
§ Publishers ≅ Nodes publishing (“posting”)
§ ROS integrates code from a variety of projects: messages to topics
§ OpenCV : Computer Vision Library
§ Point Cloud Library (PCL) : 3D Data Processing
§ OpenRAVE : Motion Planning
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Peer to Peer Messaging Peer to Peer Messaging

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§ No central server through which all messages § Master: Lookup information, think DNS
are routed
§ Publish: Will not block until receipt, messages
§ “Master” service runs on one machine for get queued.
name registration + lookup
§ Delivery guarantees: Specify a queue size for
§ Messaging Types: publishers: If publishing too quickly, will buffer
§ Topics : Asynchronous data streaming a maximum of X messages before throwing
§ Parameter Server away old ones

Sidebar: computer science is getting better § Transport mechanism: TCPROS, uses TCP/IP
about terminology like “master/slave” systems, Bandwidth: Consider where your data’s going,
§
but it persists here. We’ll get there.
and how
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ROS master/clients ROS master/clients

19ROS Master 20ROS Nodes

§ Master: § Clients:
ROS Master ROS Master
§ Manages
§ Manages the communication
the communication between nodes (processes)
between nodes § Single-purpose,
§ Single-purpose, executable
executable program program
§ Every node registers at startup with the
§ Every node registers at startup with the master
§ Individually compiled, executed, and
§ Individually compiled, executed, and managed Registration Registration
master managed
§ Organized in packages
§ Organized in packages

Start a master with Run a node with Node 1 Node 2

> roscore > rosrun package_name node_name

See active nodes with

> rosnode list

Retrieve information about a node with

More info More info
> rosnode info node_name
http://wiki.ros.org/Master http://wiki.ros.org/rosnode

Péter Fankhauser | 20.02.2017 | 10 Péter Fankhauser | 20.02.2017 | 11

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ROS topics ROS messages

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§ Nodes communicate over topics § Data structure defining the type of a topic
ROS Topics
§ Nodes can publish or subscribe to a topic § Nested structure of integers,
§ Nodes communicate over topics ROS Master booleans, strings etc., and
§ Typically, 1 publisher and n subscribers
§ Nodes can publish or subscribe to a topic arrays of objects
§ Typically, 1 publisher and n subscribers Registration Registration

§ Topic
ROS§ Topics
Topic is a nameisforaa name for a stream
stream of messages of messages Informs about
connection § Defined in *.msg files
Node 1 Messages Node 2
PublisherROS Master Subscriber
§ NodesList
communicate
active topics over
with topics
§ Nodes can publish
> rostopic or subscribe to a topic
list
§ Typically, 1 publisher and n subscribers
Publish
Registration Registration Subscribe
Subscribe and print the contents of a topic with topic
Informs about Subscribe
§ Topic is a name for a stream of messages
> rostopic echo /topic connection

Show information about a topic with Node 1 Messages Node 2

Publisher Subscriber More info
List active topics with
> rostopic info /topic http://wiki.ros.org/rostopic
> rostopic list
Publish Subscribe
Subscribe and print the contents of a topic with topic Péter Fankhauser | 20.02.2017 | 12

Subscribe
> rostopic echo /topic 21 22

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Show information about a topic with
> rostopic info /topic
More info
http://wiki.ros.org/rostopic
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Péter Fankhauser | 20.02.2017 | 12

ROS Visualization rviz

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§ Visualize:
§ Sensor data
§ Robot joint states
§ Coordinate frames
§ Maps being built
§ Debugging 3D
markers

23 Image: https://neilnie.com/2018/05/10/gps-localization-with-ros-rviz-and-osm/ 24

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More solvable problems: Gazebo simulator

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§ I don’t have a robot in front of me

§ I want to try something that may break my robot
§ Setting up the robot takes too much time, I want
to test changes to my code quickly

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Gazebo simulator Sources of information

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§ Same interface as real robot § Tutorials: http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials

§ We’ll start with these?
§ Add/remove 3D items in environment
§ http://answers.ros.org/questions/
§ Physics engine to simulate effects of motor
commands § Googling – ROS is surprisingly widely used!
§ Collision detection
§ Updated sensor feedback § To start with:
§ Debugging info § http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Installation

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