Host and Network Setup

This section covers the complete setup process for the common platform robot, including host configuration, software installation, and firmware programming.

Pull the Latest Changes from GitHub

Change to the correct git-enabled directory:

cd repos/common_platform

Stash any changes you have made:

git stash

Update the Git remote for the public repo so you don’t need credentials. You should only need to do this step once.

git remote set-url origin "https://github.com/RoseCityRobotics/common_platform.git"

Pull the changes

git pull origin main

Re-apply your stashed changes

git stash apply

Host Settings

The host has been preset for you as `rcr00n` with your specific ID in place of "n". To update the hostname:

Tell cloud-init to preserve your hostname:
```
sudo nano /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg
```
Set preserve_hostname: true and save the file
Update the hostname for the robot:
```
sudo nano /etc/hostname
```
Change rcr001 to rcr00n (replace n with the number)
Update the hosts file:
```
sudo nano /etc/hosts
```
Change rcr001 to rcr00n
Set the hostname:
```
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname rcr00n
```
Reboot to make sure the changes have taken effect:
```
sudo reboot
```

Network Configuration

In this section we will set a custom IP address, set up networking and add WiFi access points. The Pi will try access points in order from top to bottom until it is successful connecting.

Edit the netplan configuration:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

Add the following configuration (replace n with your robot number):

network:
  version: 2
  wifis:
    wlan0:
      optional: true
      dhcp4: no
      addresses:
        - 192.168.1.n/24
      routes:
        - to: default
          via: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses: [8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1]
      access-points:
        "robot_overlord_wifi":
          password: "siliconforest"
        "RoseCityRobotics":
          password: "QW260go80.."

Note: n = the robot number. Add your home WiFi access point as well.

Apply the network configuration:

sudo netplan apply

SSH Connection

🖥️ On the development computer: Connect via SSH:

ssh rcr@192.168.1.n

Replace n with your robot number.

Accessing the Pi from your development machine via SSH

Raspberry Pi 🖥️ Both the external device and the robot must be on the same WiFi for SSH to work. Use the static IP address of your Pi to SSH. The command will look something like ssh rcr@192.168.1.n where n is your ID, for example ssh rcr@192.168.1.9.

Troubleshooting SSH Connections

On the Pi: Make sure the IP address is assigned:

hostname -I

Check the host name

hostname

Ping a website to verify network connectivity

ping google.com

Make sure your development machine 🖥️ is on the same network.

Robot Namespacing Setup

Since we are running a swarm of many robots we need the ROS nodes and topics to be namespaced. To ensure your robot runs under its unique namespace (e.g., /rcr001, /rcr002, etc.), follow these steps:

Set Your Namespace in `.profile`

Edit your shell profile to define your robot’s namespace:

sudo nano ~/.profile

Add or update this line (replace n with your robot number):

export ROS_NAME=rcr00n

Save and close the file, then reload your profile:

source ~/.profile

This ensures that your environment variables are set on login and immediately available in your current session.

Set Namespace in `env.list`

Update the environment variable file used for Docker and ROS:

sudo nano ~/env.list

Add or update the line:

ROS_NAMESPACE=/rcr00n

Set Firmware Namespace

In your firmware directory, update the namespace inside the ros_interface.cpp file:

cd ~/repos/common_platform/firmware/closed_loop/
sudo nano RosInterface.cpp

Find this line where the node is initialized with a namespace (default should either be empty "" or rcr001). Change it to rcr00n:

rclc_node_init_default(&node, "micro_ros_arduino_node", "rcr00n", &support));

This sets the micro-ROS node namespace properly for communication with ROS2.

Reload the Firmware

⚠️ Important: After updating this firmware, you must re-flash the Teensy. For detailed instructions on flashing the Teensy firmware, see the Teensy Programming Guide.

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