Software Setup Guide

This guide covers the software installation and configuration for the RCR Common Robotics Platform.

Prerequisites

  • Hardware assembly completed

  • Computer with Ubuntu 22.04 or compatible system

  • Internet connection for downloads

  • Basic familiarity with Linux command line

ROS2 Installation

1. Install ROS2 Humble

# Add ROS2 repository
sudo apt update && sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null

# Install ROS2 packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop python3-argcomplete python3-colcon-common-extensions python3-rosdep python3-vcstool

2. Environment Setup

# Source ROS2
echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Initialize rosdep
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

Project Setup

1. Clone Repository

# Clone the project
git clone <repository-url>
cd common_platform

# Install dependencies
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

2. Build the Workspace

# Build the workspace
colcon build

# Source the workspace
echo "source ~/common_platform/install/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Configuration

1. Robot Parameters

Edit configuration files in the config/ directory:

# Main robot configuration
nano config/ball_tracker_params_robot.yaml

# Navigation parameters
nano config/nav2_params.yaml

2. Launch Files

Test launch files:

# Test robot state publisher
ros2 launch common_platform robot_state_publisher.launch.py

# Test simulation
ros2 launch common_platform launch_sim.launch.py

Verification

1. Check Installation

# Verify ROS2 installation
ros2 --version

# Check workspace
colcon list

# Test nodes
ros2 node list

2. Test Communication

# Launch robot
ros2 launch common_platform launch_robot.launch.py

# In another terminal, check topics
ros2 topic list

Next Steps

After completing software setup:

  1. Proceed to Calibration

  2. Run initial system tests

  3. Review Key Operations

For hardware setup, see Hardware Setup For troubleshooting, see Troubleshooting