InHouseROS

Custom implementation of Robot Operating System using C++

Motivation

• ROS build tool is too abstract
• Excessive amount of dependencies
• Performance limitation on current hardware
• For Learning :)

Architecture

Client/Controller <-> Server/Robot

• Data stream of sensor feedback: gRPC
• Control input: gRPC
• Video stream: webrtc || raw tcp/udp packet

Technology Stack

• ZeroMQ for msg passing
• IPC, threading, POSIX shared memory + mutex
• Libdatachannel for webrtc like data channel
• C++, potential c/rust/zig addition

Communication Paradigm

• Publisher - Subscriber
• OOP for the nodes

Headers inside include

• PacketSender

Classes (UpperCase) inside src

• pub-sub

  • SharedMemoryPublisher
  • SharedMemorySubscriber

• comms

  • UDPSender
  • UDPReceiver
  • tcp

• webrtc

  • caller
  • callee
  • WebRTCCaller
  • WebRTCCallee

Function entrypoints (exapmples) inside programs

• main (testing script)
• publisher
• subsriber
• dual
• pubSub
• receiver / sender
• webrtc/caller, callee (webrtc only)

Running the Program

# Makefile
make

# Simulating
./bin/shm_demo
# or
make test

# Running others
make publisher
./bin/publisher

make subscriber
./bin/subscriber

# Getting help
make help

Expected output

$ make test
Testing in simulation
./bin/shm_demo
Shared memory initialized. Starting subscriber...
Shared memory initialized. Starting subscriber...
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub1] Count: 0
Sub1 received: [Pub1] Count: 0
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub2] Msg: 0
Sub2 received: [Pub2] Msg: 0
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub1] Count: 1
Sub1 received: [Pub1] Count: 1
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub2] Msg: 2
Sub2 received: [Pub2] Msg: 2
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub1] Count: 2
Sub2 received: [Pub1] Count: 2
Sub1 received: [Pub1] Count: 2
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub2] Msg: 4
[Publisher] Sent: [Pub1] Count: 3
Sub1 received: [Publisher] Sent: [Pub2] Msg: 6
[Pub1] Count: 3
Sub2 received: [Pub1] Count: 3
^C
Caught signal 2, cleaning up...

TODO

• Parametrize the publisher and subscriber
  • Rate -- to be [done]
  • msg type -- to be done [done]
  • Callback function [done]
• Raw implementation with threads only
• Wrapper to initiate all publishers and subscribers
• Make it a reusable library
• gRPC interface
• webRTC data channels
  • webrtc with different data types
• TCP/UDP packet sender
• REST interface for log, kill signals
• Monitor/Observer tool for status
• Multi Sub/Pub node
• Pub + Sub node
• Tmux bash script for subsystem management
• TCP/UDP/WebRTC video stream