scout_bringup: launch and configuration files to start ROS nodes
scout_base: a ROS wrapper around wrp_sdk to monitor and control the scout robot
scout_description: URDF model for the mobile base, a sample urdf (scout_description/sample/scout_v2_nav.xacro) is provided for customized robot with addtional sensors
scout_msgs: scout related message definitions
scout_viz: rviz configuration for visualization

Communication interface setup

Please refer to the README of "wrp_sdk" package for setup of communication interfaces.

Note on CAN interface on Nvidia Jetson Platforms

Nvidia Jeston TX2/Xavier/XavierNX have CAN controller(s) integrated in the main SOC. If you're using a dev kit, you need to add a CAN transceiver for proper CAN communication.

Basic usage of the ROS package

Install dependent libraries

$ sudo apt install -y libasio-dev
$ sudo apt install -y ros-$ROS_DISTRO-teleop-twist-keyboard

Clone the packages into your catkin workspace and compile

(the following instructions assume your catkin workspace is at: ~/catkin_ws/src)

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
$ git clone https://github.com/westonrobot/wrp_sdk.git
$ git clone https://github.com/westonrobot/scout_base.git
$ cd ..
$ catkin_make

Launch ROS nodes

Start the base node for the real robot
```
$ roslaunch scout_bringup scout_minimal.launch
```
The scout_bringup scout_minimal.launch has 4 parameters:
- port_name: Determines port to communicate with robot. Default = "can0"
- simulated_robot: Indicates if launching with a simulation. Default = "false"
- model_xacro: Indicates the target .xacro file for the publishing of tf frames. Default = scout_v2.xacro
- odom_topic_name: Sets the name of the topic which calculated odometry is published. Defaults = "odom"
or (if you're using a serial port)
```
$ roslaunch scout_bringup scout_minimal_uart.launch
```
- Similarly, the scout_bringup_uart.launch has the same 4 parameters with port_name default = "/dev/ttyUSB0".
Start the keyboard tele-op node
```
$ roslaunch scout_bringup scout_teleop_keyboard.launch
```
SAFETY PRECAUSION:

The default command values of the keyboard teleop node are high, make sure you decrease the speed commands before starting to control the robot with your keyboard! Have your remote controller ready to take over the control whenever necessary.

Update the package for your customized robot

A brief overview of how to use this ROS package for your custom setup of the scout platform is described in this segment. A detailed example of such applications can be found in the scout_navigation repository.

Additional Sensors

It's likely that you may want to add additional sensors to the scout mobile platform, such as a Lidar for navigation. In such cases, a new .xacro file needs to be created to describe the relative pose of the new sensor with respect to the robot base, so that the sensor frame can be reflected in the robot tf tree.

A sample .xacro file is present in this repository. The base .xacro file of an empty scout platform is included in this sample, and additional links are defined.

The nodes in this ROS package are made to handle only the control of the scout base and publishing of the status. Additional nodes may need to be created by the user to handle the sensors.

Alternative Odometry Calculation

Another frequent usage would be using sensor fusion of an IMU. In such a scenario, the odometry calculated by this package would likely be needed to publish under a custom name, instead of "/odom". Therefore, the name of the topic can be set by using

$ scout_bringup scout_minimal.launch odom_topic_name:="<custom_name>"