How to connect YouBot with a Laptop

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There are two ways to do this:

Using the internal PC

As cyborg-x1 already hinted, you can also use ROS with multiple nodes over a network.

• Start up the youbot as usual:

  • start up power supply
  • start up internal pc
  • start up arm/motors

• Connect network cable or wireless adapter, configure as appropriate or your environment.

• On the youbot:

  • find out your IP adress (via GUI or simply $ sudo ifconfig), e.g. YOUBOT_IP=123.456.789.123
  • set ROS_MASTER_URI: export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://123.456.789.123:11311
  • set ROS_IP: export ROS_IP=123.456.789.123

• On the laptop/PC:

  • find out your IP adress, e.g. LAPTOP_IP=789.456.123.789
  • set ROS_MASTER_URI: export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://123.456.789.123:11311
  • set ROS_IP: export ROS_IP=123.456.789.123

• As you need to do the exports for every shell that you start, you might want to put those lines into your .bashrc or somewhere else that will be loaded.

• Now go back to the youbot and start the driver as usual.
• Now everything should be ready. When you start nodes on the youbot they will work. When you start nodes on the Laptop/PC they will also work and communicate over your network.

Not using the internal PC

(Have not done this myself, as we wanted the youbot to work with a wireless adapter, so no knowledge on mileage.)

• Have ROS running on your PC.
• Connect your Laptop/PC via Ethernet cable to the base (Ethercat1).
• Connect the Arm to Ethercat2
• Install the driver from inside ROS or from GitHub
• Start up the youbot power supply and motor, do _not_ start up the internal PC.
• Start the driver on your PC/laptop. Everything should work.