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base_controller

This base controller for ROS on Android allows the user to drive the Kobuki or Create bases from an Android device directly connected to the desired base via USB.

Building

To build this package you can just use gradlew from the command line, or you can put the package inside a catkin workspace and build it with catkin_make.

Requirements

In order to use this code to drive a Create or a Kobuki base, an Android device with USB On The Go (OTG) is needed. A usb-otg cable is also needed.

We tested this code in:

  • Nexus 7
  • Nexus 7 2013
  • Galaxy S4 Google Edition

Usage

These code fragments show how to use this package to create a Kobuki driver in a ROS Activity. For the Create base you should simply replace Kobuki with Create.

First, import the USB library. You can use the available Maven Artifact if you don't want to build it from source. To do so, add the following dependency in your module's build.gradle:

dependencies {
  ...
  compile 'com.hoho.android:usb-serial-for-android:[0.2, 0.3)'
  ...
}

Then, import the new objects in your Java source file:

import com.hoho.android.usbserial.driver.UsbSerialDriver;
import com.hoho.android.usbserial.driver.UsbSerialPort;
import com.hoho.android.usbserial.driver.UsbSerialProber;

Import the ROS nodes and the base drivers:

import com.ekumen.base_controller.BaseControllerNode;
import com.ekumen.base_controller.BaseStatusPublisher;
import com.ekumen.base_driver.kobuki.KobukiBaseDevice;

In the init method of your RosActivity, use the USB library to find a driver, get a port and a connection. Then, use them to create the Base Devices required to instantiate the nodes:

// Get UsbManager from Android.
UsbManager manager = (UsbManager) getSystemService(Context.USB_SERVICE);

// Get a driver list
List<UsbSerialDriver> driverList = UsbSerialProber.getDefaultProber().findAllDrivers(usbManager);
// Continue only if we have a single driver in the list
if (driverList.isEmpty()) {
    throw new Exception("No drivers found for the supplied USB device: " + device);
}

// Use first available driver to get Port and Connection
UsbSerialDriver driver = driverList.get(0);
UsbDeviceConnection connection = manager.openDevice(driver.getDevice());
UsbSerialPort port = driver.getPorts().get(0);

// Create the low level base device using the created Port and Connection
BaseDevice kobukiBaseDevice = new KobukiBaseDevice(port, connection);

// Create the nodes using the Base Device
BaseControllerNode baseControllerNode = new BaseControllerNode(kobukiBaseDevice, "/cmd_vel");
BaseStatusPublisher baseStatusPublisher = new BaseStatusPublisher(kobukiBaseDevice);

After this point, use the nodeMainExecutor to launch the nodes in the standard Rosjava way.

Maven Artifact

You can use base_controller in your project using the available Maven Artifact instead of building it from source. To do so, add the following dependency to your modules's build.gradle:

dependencies {
  ...
  compile 'com.ekumen.base_controller:base_controller_lib:[0.2, 0.3)'
  ...
}

Note: to do this, the rosjava_mvn_repo should be available in your listed repositories. The easiest way to ensure it is using the kinetic standard top-level build.gradle in your project (you can use base_controller's build.gradle as an example).