Adept MobileRobots Pioneer and Pioneer-compatible platforms

(Including Pioneer 2, Pioneer 3, Pioneer LX, AmigoBot, PeopleBot, PatrolBot, PowerBot, Seekur and Seekur Jr.)

ROS Software Maintainers: Reed Hedges, Srećko Jurić-Kavelj (University of Zagreb, Croatia), and others

Available Packages

All MobileRobots mobile robot platforms use compatible communications protocols.

You may choose to use one of three packages for using these robots with ROS: ROSARIA or p2os for velocity control of the platform, or ros-arnl to use Adpept MobileRobot's optional ARNL localization autonomous navigation system.

1. ROSARIA

ROSARIA provides an interface between ROS and (parts of) Adept MobileRobots' open source ARIA library. When using ROSARIA, communications with the robot, and the differences between some robot platforms and configurations is taken care of automatically by ARIA (and customizations on specific robots can be configured in ARIA). When ROSARIA is built (with catkin or rosmake), it automatically downloads the current ARIA release from MobileRobots. ROSARIA provides interfaces to the mobile robot control and position estimate; use device-specific ROS nodes for sensors and other devices on the robot base.

2. p2os

The p2os package (see p2os-purdue for a currently active fork; older versions were p2os and p2os-vanderbilt) on the other hand, contains its own implementation of the Pioneer protocol, and communicates directly with the robot, rather than via the ARIA library, so installing ARIA is not necessary.

3. ros-arnl

If you have purchased the ARNL laser navigation system, you can also use ros-arnl to send the robot to goal points in a mapped environment. ros-arnl partially implements the same interface as the standard ROS navigation stack. See ros-arnl for details.

Available Robots

In addition, older Pioneer 2 robots will also work as well.

All Adept MobileRobots robots are compatible and will work with ROSARIA. Different robots have different capabilities, and different robot types and your individual robot's configuration may require different parameters. For example, some robots have one onboard computer, some have multiple, some have none and are either operated remotely by wifi or by adding your own laptop. Different configurations are discussed in the documentation of ROSARIA and in the overview below.

Notes on Computer OS Selection

ROS is easiest to install and use on a recent stable release of Ubuntu. Check ROS/Installation for information on packages for different versions of ROS available and documented for different versions of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is what most people currently use with ROS and the most effort is made to make ROS work easily on the current stable version of Ubuntu.

It is also possible to install most (but not all) packages on Debian as well.

If your robot has an onboard computer supplied by MobileRobots, it was originally set up with Linux or Windows. Depending on the age of the robot, the Linux installation is either Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Debian 5, Debian 3 or RedHat 7.

If it has Debian 3 or RedHat, reinstall with the latest Ubuntu LTS release (16.04 LTS as of 2016). If it has Windows, either try the ROS Windows installation instructions (Windows support is still in development) or reinstall with Ubuntu. See http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Reinstalling_Linux for more notes on how to reinstall Linux from scratch.

If it has Debian 5, you can reinstall Ubuntu from CD-ROM or bootable USB storage, or you can upgrade the system to a later version of Debian, if you prefer to stay with Debian.

If it has Ubuntu 12.0 and you wish to update it to a later version of Ubuntu, use the <tt>sudo apt-get dist-upgrade</tt> command, or use the Ubuntu Update Manager to upgrade.

If your robot does not have an onboard computer, use a laptop or workstation with Ubuntu or Debian.

Debian 5 packages released by MobileRobots generally will also work with Debian 6+ or Ubuntu as well. (These will be marked as packages for Debian 5 or Lenny on the download page and will contain the "+debian5" tag in the package file name.) Similarly, Ubuntu 12 packages released by MobileRobots will generally also work with Ubuntu 16. However, an Ubuntu 16 package, if available, is preferred (these contain an "+ubuntu16" tag in the package file name.)

Installing ROS

Follow the ROS installation instructions for either Ubuntu or Debian, depending on your OS choice above. If you are installing ROS on an onboard computer, only the "ROS Base" software is needed. ("Full" contains UI tools that will only be needed on your own laptop or workstations.)

As of July 2017, you may use ROSARIA with ROS Indigo, Kinetic, or Lunar. Groovy and Hydro may work, but are not as actively tested.

• Installation of most recent ROS version

Getting Started with ROSARIA

For step by step instructions on downloading and building the ROSARIA package and using the RosAria node, see ROSARIA/Tutorials/How to use ROSARIA.

Robot Model Descriptions (URDF)

Models of some robots are available in the http://github.com/MobileRobots/amr-ros-config repository. (This repository provides a ROS package called amr-ros-config so you can refer to files via that package name if in your ROS path.) See the README files in amr-ros-config for more information. If you would like to help create new URDF files or improve the existing ones, please discuss via the ros-sig-pioneer mailing list.

Launch Files and Other Configuration

Some example launch files are available in the http://github.com/MobileRobots/amr-ros-config repository. (This repository provides a ROS package called amr-ros-config so you can refer to files via that package name if in your ROS path.) See the README files in amr-ros-config for more information. You can copy and modify these launch files as needed.

Simulation

ARIA will automatically connect to the MobileSim simulator from MobileRobots if it is running. Therefore, one easy way to do simple simulation of the robot in 2D is to just run MobileSim before running the RosAria node. However, note that not everything provided by MobileSim will be available through the RosAria node -- only what data and commands the RosAria node includes i.e. mobile robot base state, position and control, as well as sonar and bumpers. Laser rangefinders, cameras, and other separate accessories are not available via RosAria.

For more full-featured simulation in ROS, use Stage, STDR Simulator or Gazebo instead of MobileSim and RosAria. However, configuration for Pioneer 3 and other MobileRobots platforms is not complete for Gazebo or STDR simulator; discuss development of this configuration on ros-sig-pioneer mailing list.

Webots also provides full-featured simulation models of the Pioneer 2, Pioneer 3-DX and Pioneer 3AT robots.

1. Gazebo Support

Gazebo configuration P3AT and P3DX is generally complete and well tested. Configuration for Pioneer LX (and LX Manipulator configuration) robot is also available with some testing. Support for Seekur Jr. has been started but is not as well tested. See the http://github.com/MobileRobots/amr-ros-config repository for some example launch files and other supporting configuration for use with Gazebo. To discuss improvements to Gazebo support, please join the ros-sig-pioneer mailing list.

Laser Rangefinders

There are several options for connecting to laser rangefinder sensors. If you are using ROSARIA, you can set the ~publish_aria_lasers parameter to true. If set to true, then in addition to connecting to the mobile robot, RosAria will connect to any laser rangefinders configured in the [http://robots.mobilerobots.com/wiki/Robot_Parameters ARIA robot parameter files]. If your robot came with a laser rangefinder installed and configured by MobileRobots, then this will generally work by default. RosAria will use ARIA to read and interpret laser rangefinder data, and provide this as a 2D point cloud topic in the robot global odometry coordinate frame. It also provides raw range values as a laserscan topic.

Alternatively, for more customization, you can run a ROS node dedicated to a specific type of laser rangefinder. See the list below for links to possible ROS node choices for different laser rangefinder types.

Note for LMS-200 on Pioneer 3: If using the sicktoolbox_wrapper node to connect to a SICK LMS-200 installed by MobileRobots on a Pioneer 3 robot (P3DX, P3AT, or PeopleBot), then you must set its ~connect_delay parameter to allow time for the LMS-200 to switch on and initialize. For example: rosrun sicktoolbox_wrapper sicklms _connect_delay:=30

You can use laser filter nodes to modify laser data from a laser rangefinder. For example, on some robots (PatrolBot, PioneerLX, Seekur), edges or parts of the robot itself are within the field of view of some lasers, and those readings should be discarded. In addition, on some robots, the laser is mounted upside down to achieve a lower sensing plane. ARIA normally handles this if running ROSARIA with ~publish_aria_lasers set to true, but with separate laser driver nodes you will need to use ROS to handle these cases. Sometimes this can be configured in the laser driver node, but if the laser driver doesn't support it, the laser data needs to be filtered, inverted or reversed. Various other ways of processing or modifying laser data is also available in the laser filter nodes. For more information, see laser_pipeline/Tutorials/IntroductionToWorkingWithLaserScannerData, laser_filters/Tutorials/Laser filtering using the filter nodes, and the other documentation associated with the laser_pipeline, laser_filters, and laser_assembler packages.

Support

For questions about software, please use the standard ways to get support for ROS. Please post questions to http://answers.ros.org with the tag "pioneer" or "rosaria".

Development and Discussion

If you would like to be involved in discussions regarding improving and extending ROS support for Pioneer and other AMR robots (via ROSARIA, p2os, and other packages), join ros-sig-pioneer, or contact the maintainers of the packages you wish to work on.

Library Overview

1. Basic Configuration

2. Hardware Drivers and Simulation

If you have any information to add or change in this list, you may do so by editing this page, or contact ReedHedges with comments.