Extended NVIDIA Redtail project for Arducopter

Autonomous visual navigation components for drones using deep learning. This project is based on the original Redtail project by Nvidia see wiki and includes the changes needed to make it run with the Arducopter flightcontroller firmware based on the work of https://github.com/ArduPilot/redtail. It also incorporates the migration of all project components to Jetpack 4.2.2 and ROS Melodic plus a number of enhancements for video streaming, ROS node control, YOLO, and so on.

Video: https://youtu.be/aiHJ1yuJRVU

This project contains deep neural networks, computer vision and control code, hardware instructions and other artifacts that allow users to build a drone which can autonomously navigate through highly unstructured environments like forest trails, sidewalks, etc. The original Nvidia TrailNet DNN for visual navigation is running on NVIDIA's Jetson embedded platform.

The project also contains Stereo DNN models and runtime which allow to estimate depth from a ZED stereo camera on NVIDIA platforms.

For further whitepapers and demos please refer to the original Nvidia documentation at: https://github.com/NVIDIA-AI-IOT/redtail

For installation, test and flight instructions please see the wiki in this git: https://github.com/mtbsteve/redtail/wiki

News:

• Solex-CC worker for joystick control (alternative to a seperate app) added
• ROS joy node supported via an Android device. Since the ROS /joy node implementation doesnt work properly with a Logitech joystick on Jetpack 4.2.x an app has been added
• Solex-CC worker to launch drone on a trail (trailnet) added as well as a Solex-CC worker for control through Solex.
• Solex-CC workers for ZED camera control and for managing the different ROS nodes
• 3D CAD files for a 1 axis gimbal for the ZED stereo cam added
• Redtail install script and instructions for Jetpack 4.2.x and Ubuntu 18.04 added
• Wiki added for installation, setup and testing
• RTSP video streaming server added
• Darknet-YOLO added for object recognition

Known Issues and restrictions:

• stereoDNN with nvsmall and resnet18 results in a memory overflow and crash (not an issue since nvsmall and resnet18 are too computing intensive for the TX2 anyways)
• Simulation environment of the original project has not been touched and therefore likely doesn't work yet