Using Pico

IMPORTANT

Make sure to ALWAYS obey the following rules:

• If Jazz is not connected to the power supply, always hold the emergency switch (PS3 controller) and keep an eye on the robot. If you only have the slightest idea that something may go wrong, press the button (right trigger). You can release the emergency switch with button 9 (left from the Logitech sign).
• If Jazz is not driving around, always plug in the power supply. The batteries only last about 3.5 hours and we need at least 5 test hours per day.

You should test in the robotics test area (the room opposite of the MSL soccer field). You can get the key by asking one of the students in the robotics lab.

Setting up your software

Your software runs on the laptop. Jazz is connected to the laptop through a dedicated wireless network. To get your software up and running:

• Connect to the tue-wpa2 network (see the network icon in the upper-right corner) and make sure you disable the wired connection (which is used to communicate with Jazz).
• Open a terminal, and cd to ~/ros/emc/groups
• Do an svn up. You will be prompted for your group's account name and password.
• Build your package(s)
  • If you get a cmake error that your paths are incorrect, it might be the case that you also checked in the (auto-generated) build files (i.e., the build folder in the package). Then you should:
    • Build with the --pre-clean flag:

      rosmake --pre-clean

      , and
    • Remove the build folder from the SVN!

If you do not use the SVN

• Please start doing so! It is so useful once you are used to it (for managing your project, tracking changes, working on different computers, etc...), and setting up your software on the laptop or robot will be a piece of cake!
• You will have to get your package on the laptop in another way, e.g. using webmail or a USB stick. When you do, make sure to put your package in the ~/ros/emc/groups folder.

Test

1. If Jazz is not on yet, turn it on (use the switch on its back)
2. On the laptop, disable the wireless connection (e.g. with the tue-wpa2 network) and enable the wired connection (Auto Eth0)
3. Test if you have a working connection with Jazz:

   • rostopic list

     should give an overview of Jazz' ROS topics

   • rostopic echo /robot_out

     should output Jazz' odometry information
4. Hold the emergency switch, and keep an eye on the robot.
5. Unplug Jazz from the power supply
6. Run your software

To debug and develop:

• You can use Rviz to visualize the laser data, camera images, etc.
• It may be useful to record topics such that you can play and analyse them off-line, so be sure to check out the rosbag command on the ROS wiki.
• Eclipse is installed on the laptop and you are free to use it to improve / debug your package(s).

Clean-up

When you stop testing:

1. Switch off Jazz (simply use the switch at the back)
2. Put Jazz back at the table
3. Plug in the the power supply
4. Remove your package from the laptop:

   cd ~/ros/emc/groups

   rm emc<GROUP_NUMBER> -rf

5. Switch off the laptop
6. Lock the test area, and hand the key to one of the students in the lab