THIS CODE IS NOT TESTED YET.

Ares2 Control System

Overview

This project implements the control system for the Ares2 robot, including the LocoController (a motion controller that listens to velocity or torque commands) and the JoystickInterface (which maps joystick inputs to velocity commands). The system is designed to run on the actual robot using tmotor hardware.

Prerequisites

Before building and running the project, ensure you have the following prerequisites installed:

ROS 2 (Humble)

The project is built for ROS 2 Humble. Follow the instructions for installing ROS 2:

• ROS 2 Humble Installation

Dependencies

Install the required ROS 2 packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-humble-rclcpp ros-humble-geometry-msgs ros-humble-sensor-msgs ros-humble-std-msgs

TMotor Library

You need the tmotor library for motor control.

1. Build the tmotor library as a ROS 2 package:

   • Clone the tmotorcan_cpp repository into your workspace.
   • Build it using colcon.

   colcon build --packages-select tmotorcan_cpp

2. Make sure the library is installed in ros2_ws/install/tmotorcan_cpp/lib and the header is in ros2_ws/install/tmotorcan_cpp/include.

Ares2 Messages (ares2_msgs)

You will need the ares2_msgs package, which defines the necessary custom messages for this project:

1. Clone the ares2_msgs package into your workspace:

   cd ~/ros2_ws/src
   git clone https://github.com/Ozyegin-Planetary-Robotics-Laboratory/ares2_msgs.git

2. Build the package using colcon:

   colcon build --packages-select ares2_msgs

Building the Project

1. Clone the Ares2 Control System into your ROS 2 workspace:

   cd ~/ros2_ws/src
   git clone https://github.com/Ozyegin-Planetary-Robotics-Laboratory/ares2_control.git

2. Build the workspace:

   cd ~/ros2_ws
   colcon build

3. Source the workspace:

   source install/setup.bash

Running the System

Running on Actual Hardware

1. Bring up the CAN interface for motor communication:

   sudo ip link set can0 type can bitrate 500000
   sudo ip link set up can0

2. Run the control node:

   ros2 launch ares2_control launch.py

Joystick Control

To control the robot using a joystick:

1. Ensure a joystick is connected to your machine.
2. Use the JoystickInterface to map joystick axes to the robot’s velocity control:

   ros2 topic echo /cmd_vel

   The /cmd_vel topic should publish velocity commands based on joystick input.

Project Structure

ares2_control
├── CMakeLists.txt                # Build instructions     
├── package.xml
├── include
    ├── LocoController.hpp
│   └── JoystickInterface.hpp     # Header files for the controllers
├── launch                        # Launch files to run the system
    └── launch.py
└── src
    └── main.cpp                  # Node instantiating
                                 

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This README provides the necessary steps to build and run the Ares2 control system on actual hardware. Ensure that all dependencies are installed, and follow the instructions to test the system with motors and a joystick.