Robomaster-ROS

This repository contains a ROS2 driver for the DJI Robomaster family of robots (EP and S1) based on the official Python client library.

Full documentation available at https://jeguzzi.github.io/robomaster_ros.

Installation

Pre-requisites

ROS2

Install a currently supported version of ROS2 (foxy -- iron), following the official instructions. and then install colcon

sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions

If you just install ROS2-base, add also the following packages:

xacro, launch-xml, cv-bridge, launch-testing-ament-cmake, robot-state-publisher, joint-state-publisher-gui, joy, joy-teleop

sudo apt install \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-xacro \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-launch-xml \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-cv-bridge \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-launch-testing-ament-cmake \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-robot-state-publisher \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-joint-state-publisher \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-joint-state-publisher-gui \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-joy \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-joy-teleop \
  ros-<ROS_DISTRO>-joy-linux

Robomaster SDK

Install this fork of the official RoboMaster-SDK, which fixes some issues of the upstream repo.

First install its dependencies libopus-dev

sudo apt install libopus-dev python3-pip

and

python3 -m pip install -U numpy numpy-quaternion pyyaml

then install the RoboMaster-SDK

python3 -m pip install git+https://github.com/jeguzzi/RoboMaster-SDK.git
python3 -m pip install git+https://github.com/jeguzzi/RoboMaster-SDK.git#"egg=libmedia_codec&subdirectory=lib/libmedia_codec"

ROS2 package

Create a colcon package where you want to build the packages, clone this repository, and built the packages.

mkdir -p <ros2_ws>/src
git clone https://github.com/jeguzzi/robomaster_ros.git
cd <ros2_ws>
source /opt/ros/<ROS_DISTRO>/setup.bash
colcon build

Usage

Use one of the two launch files {s1|ep}.launch to launch the driver and the robot model.

cd <ros2_ws>
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch robomaster_ros {s1|ep}.launch

We also provide docker images. Check the documentation for their usage.

Arguments

The launch files accept a list of arguments

ros2 launch robomaster_ros {s1|ep}.launch <key_1>:=<value_1> <key_2>:=<value_2> ...

Common Configurations

The two different robot models share some configuration.

key	type	valid values	default	description
name	string	valid ROS names	''	a name used as ROS namespace
serial_number	string	8 character ascii strings	''	the serial number of the robot, leave empty to connect to the first robot found
conn_type	string	ap, rndis, sta	sta	the connection network type: managed/router (sta); robot's access point (ap); usb (rndis)
lib_log_level	string	DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR	ERROR	the log-level used by the internal Robomaster API
video_resolution	integer	360, 540, 720	360	the video [vertical] resolution: 640x360 (360); 960x540 (540); 1280x720 (720)
video_raw	bool		true	whether to publish the raw [decompressed] images to the topic <name>/camera/image_raw
video_h264	bool		false	whether to publish the original h264 video stream to the topic <name>/camera/image_h264
video_compressed	bool		false	whether to publish the compressed [jpeg] images to the topic <name>/camera/image_raw/compressed
audio_raw	bool		true	whether to publish the raw [decompressed] audio to the topic <name>/camera/audio_raw
audio_opus	bool		true	whether to publish the original [compressed] opus audio stream to the topic <name>/camera/audio_opus
chassis_rate	int	1, 5, 10, 20, 50	10	the rate [Hz] at which to publish the odometry
joint_state_rate	int	1, 5, 10, 20, 50	10	the rate [Hz] at which to publish aggregated joint states
sensor_adapter	bool		false	Whether at least one sensor adapter (IO) is connected and should be published to <name>/...
sensor_adapter_rate	int	1, 5, 10, 20, 50	10	the rate [Hz] at which to publish the sensor adapter values

S1-specific Configurations

Some configurations are specific for the Robomaster S1.

key	type	valid values	default	description
gimbal_rate	integer	1, 5, 10, 20, 50	10	the rate [Hz] at which to gather the gimbal state
display_battery	string	off, right, left	off	whether and where to display the battery state: do not display (on); display on the right gimbal led (right); display on the left gimbal led (left)

EP-specific Configurations

Some configurations are specific for the Robomaster EP.

key	type	valid values	default	description
left_motor_zero	int		1242	the [arm] left servo motor encoder value at zero angle
right_motor_zero	int		1273	the [arm] right servo motor encoder value at zero angle
left_motor_direction	int	-1, 1	-1	the [arm] left servo motor direction: angle increases when encoder increases (+1); angle decreases when encoder increases (-1)
right_motor_direction	int	-1, 1	-1	the [arm] right servo motor direction: angle increases when encoder increases (+1); angle decreases when encoder increases (-1)

Multiple robots

If you want to control multiple robots through ROS, you need to know their serial numbers and set a different name for each of them (names are used as ROS namespaces and as tf prefixes). For physical robots, the serial number is written on top of the intelligent controller. For simulated robots, you set the serial number when you launch the simulation.

For example, we assume that you are using two [simulated] S1 robots with serial numbers "RM0" and "RM1", and that you want to use the serial numbers also as names. In two consoles, launch

cd <ros2_ws>
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch robomaster_ros s1.launch name:=RM0 serial_number:=RM0

and

cd <ros2_ws>
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch robomaster_ros s1.launch name:=RM1 serial_number:=RM1

Then, for instance, you can make the robots spin in opposite direction by publishing to their respective topics:

ros2 topic pub /RM0/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "{angular: {z: -0.5}}" --once
ros2 topic pub /RM1/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "{angular: {z: 0.5}}" --once

Thanks

This work has been supported by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 project 1-SWARM, grant ID 871743.