Whats the best way to use ROS to control motors on a simple robot?

asked 2011-10-10 00:37:18 -0500

Chrimo

390 ●20 ●28 ●40

updated 2011-10-10 12:50:31 -0500

Asomerville
2743 ●74 ●99 ●133 http://www.resquared.com/

Hello community,

I've started a new ros project called MockBot at home... The robot contains the following modules:

Simple lowcost homebrew chassis, which can be build from cheap components.

http://192.166.253.145/BLOG/serendipity/uploads/MockBot-Design-Sheet.pdf

Currently the nodes for Kinect, GPS, Audio and motorcontroller are up and running.

What is the next step in ros design to make these components work together ? I'd like to create a simple discover-world or ant-brain behaviour...

Problem: what do I need to control the motors or what do I need to make the motorcontrol ros-compatible ? What can be reused from the turtlebot project ?

Current state: both motor subscribers are listening at /servo1 and /servo2 topics.

Thanks for many tips and tricks from the professionals with experience from practice Cheers Christian

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answered 2011-10-10 07:21:30 -0500

fergs

13902 ●59 ●157 ●196 http://www.robotandchisel.com

Control of a mobile base is usually done though a geometry_msgs/Twist message, and the topic is often called "cmd_vel".

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answered 2011-10-10 15:00:27 -0500

Ryan

3248 ●20 ●47 ●63 http://www.clearpathro...

If you're trying to figure out what speed to drive your motors at (in m/s):

left_speed_out = cmd_vel.linear.x - cmd_vel.angular.z*ROBOT_WIDTH/2
right_speed_out = cmd_vel.linear.x + cmd_vel.angular.z*ROBOT_WIDTH/2

This assumes that twist.linear.x is your translational speed in m/s, twist.angular.z is your rotational speed in rad/s, and ROBOT_WIDTH is the width between your wheels in m.

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answered 2011-10-10 10:01:12 -0500

Chrimo

390 ●20 ●28 ●40

This means, I need a simple controller to map between my differential motor drives and the twist messages ? I think, I will try to analyze http://www.ros.org/wiki/nxt_controllers first. Are there better examples for such differential controllers available ?

Cheers Christian

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Whats the best way to use ROS to control motors on a simple robot?

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