NASA-RMC-2020-NorthstarRobotics

The NASA RMC 2020 repository for Northstar Robotics, a segment of University of Minnesota Robotics student group

About

The goal of the competition is to collect icy regolith simulant from a simulated martian surface and deposit the collected material in a hopper. The top layer of the arena is a fine, dusty material, and the bottom layer is gravel, which simulates icy regolith on mars. This is accomplished over two runs of 15 minutes. Massive bonus points are available for runs that are fully autonomous, but teleop control is available. Presentation

Competition Rules

• NASA Current Rules
  • Rulebook 2020
  • Our Notes (old)

Setup

See documentation README for instructions

Timeline

See project board for current status

ROS Workspace

Package: Description:

• rovr_common robot specific system launch files (high level)
• rovr_control robot control and telecom, wheel io (low level)
• rovr_description a description of the robot, for simulation (geometry parameters)
• rovr_gazebo gazebo simulation environment
• rovr_input testing input/movement
• rovr_navigation navigation, EKF

Feature packages

• decawave localization using decawaves
• formatter_string string formatter
• navx navx IMU data
• socketcan_bridge socketcan bridge
• socketcan_interface socketcan interface
• telecom telecom

3rd party

• aruco_localization localization using aruco markers (visual targets)

Other Repos

Previous Years

• NASA-RMC-2019-NorthstarRobotics
  • NASA-RMC-2018

Resources

Communication

All team communication is through Slack - please see an officer or team member for instructions on how to joing our Slack workspace. Relevant channels are "rmc" and "rmc_programming".

FAQs

NASA FAQ

FAQ

How do I get the Intel RealSense to work?

Follow the installation instructions at this repo.

How do I get started with Linux?

Here are some recommendations from Jude: Single Page Command Line Essentials
link
link Good chapters: 2-6, 10, 12, 15, 17
link

Example ROS filesystem

Example node communication

Getting Started with ROS

• ROS requires Ubuntu OS (each version of ROS requires a specific version of Ubuntu)

  • Recommended:

    • Install Ubuntu 18.04 http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/

    • Install ROS Melodic http://wiki.ros.org/melodic

  • Also acceptable:
    • If you already have installed a different version of Ubuntu, you may use its corresponding ROS version. The robot’s computer is running 18.04 with Melodic, however, so you may have compatibility issues.
    • Running a virtual machine https://www.vmware.com/

  See documentation folder README for more information

Core Launch Files

rovr_common/launch/sensors.launch Launches all sensors

rovr_description/launch/description.launch Adds robot URDF parameter to define frame transforms

stm32_bridge/launch/stm32_bridge.launch Launches STM32 bridge to run motors and provide wheel odometry/state feedback

rovr_control/launch/main_rovr_teleop_highlevel.launch Launches telecom system (rovr side) and STM32 bridge

rovr_control/launch/main_mc_teleop.launch Launches telecom system (driver station side)

rovr_bringup/launch/sim_bringup.launch Launches simulation