Overview

You may like to wirelessly interface with MIRO using the included ROS interface.

Configuration

Installation requirements

Run ROS core on workstation

In a shell, start the ROS core, as follows.

$ roscore ...

Run USB-ROS bridge on MIRO

MIRO must be running the USB-ROS bridge in order to expose a ROS interface to the network. You can start this manually, after logging in to MIRO, as follows.

root@miro:~> run_bridge_ros.sh ________________________________________________________________ MIRO tools [miro_bridge] Copyright (C) 2019 Consequential Robotics ________________________________________________________________ device: /dev/P2 network: ROS (/miro/rob01) sync_interval: (do not change) frame: (do not change) sound: /home/root/sound mdk: R170209 ________________________________________________________________ [000.000] enter threadproc [000.001] interf opening (FLAGS=0x8)... [000.002] start thread [000.012] open() /dev/P2 OK [000.015] opened [000.021] initializing ROS... [000.054] attempting to contact ROS master... [000.059] upstream connection validated [000.194] loading sound from: /home/root/sound [000.309] finished: total RAM used is 1171 kiB [000.310] advertising main topics... [005.324] hooking SIGINT [005.330] received: PLATFORM_READY [005.331] sending P2_W_SYNC [n_hi=0]... [MIRO_USB_OK] [005.334] read model_pars persist file... NOT FOUND! [005.335] sending SET_MODEL_PARS... [MIRO_USB_OK] [005.336] sending SET_RTC (16:25:08)... [MIRO_USB_OK] [005.356] received (in msg_id=57445): ACK_SET_MODEL_PARS [005.357] received (in msg_id=57445): ACK_SET_RTC
For clarity, all WARNINGs have been stripped from the trace, above—a handful of warnings whilst the bridge starts up and settles are to be expected, and can safely be ignored.
If you want to start the bridge in the background, instead, you can use start_bridge.sh instead—make sure it is configured to use MODE=normal first, and stop it using stop_bridge.sh.

Test ROS connectivity

If the bridge has started correctly, you will be able to see the interface exposed by MIRO by running rostopic on your workstation, as shown below.

$ rostopic list /miro/rob01/bridge/config /miro/rob01/bridge/stream /miro/rob01/core/config /miro/rob01/core/control /miro/rob01/core/state /miro/rob01/log /miro/rob01/platform/caml /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressed /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressed/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressed/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressedDepth /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressedDepth/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/caml/compressedDepth/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/caml/theora /miro/rob01/platform/caml/theora/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/caml/theora/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/camr /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressed /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressed/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressed/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressedDepth /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressedDepth/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/camr/compressedDepth/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/camr/theora /miro/rob01/platform/camr/theora/parameter_descriptions /miro/rob01/platform/camr/theora/parameter_updates /miro/rob01/platform/config /miro/rob01/platform/control /miro/rob01/platform/mics /miro/rob01/platform/sensors /miro/rob01/platform/state /rosout /rosout_agg

This shows that the default name for the robot on the network is rob01.

Troubleshooting

If this test has not worked, you should first make sure of the following.

Note that if you have chosen a network configuration other than that described here you should take your own steps to ensure that both your robot and your ROS master are configured so that they can find each other.

Exchanging data with your MIRO from your workstation requires a low-latency network connection—if you are in a busy radio environment, or the wireless network is weak, you will probably have trouble establishing communications.

Run client

We provide an example interpreted Python Command-line Client on-board MIRO for you to use as a starting point. It also works to test that the preparations, above, have been performed correctly.

MIRO is going to move! Support it with its wheels off the ground, or ensure that it can move around safely.
$ cd ~/mdk/bin/shared $ ./miro_ros_client.py robot=rob01 initialising... 2.7.12 (default, Nov 19 2016, 06:48:10) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609] turn left tick drive forward tock tick turn right tock tick drive forward tock tick turn left ...

The client's main thread produces tick, tock, periodically. Meanwhile, each time a message arrives from the bridge with updated platform_sensors data, a message is sent back down, and the robot is driven in a forward-turn-forward-turn pattern, indefinitely.

Moving on

You can try any one of the client Examples, they will all run against the configuration above. The Python GUI Client, in particular, gives you access to most of the robot interface.