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Repository for GSoC 2018 focusing on creation of a ROS package for Robotic Workcell exploration

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Google Summer of Code 2018 - Robot Workcell Discovery

Repository for GSoC 2018 focusing on creation of a ROS package for Robotic Workcell exploration. The project is being done under the mentorship of Levi Armstrong and Alex Goins from SwRI and ROS Industrial.


Relevant Links

  1. Accepted projects under OSRF for GSoC 2018

  2. Abstract for project on Robot WorkCell Discovery

  3. Initial Project Proposal


Installation

  1. Install wstool in order manage the repos inside the workspace
sudo apt install python-wstool
  1. Set up catkin workspace with required packages
cd /path/to/catkin_ws 
wstool init src https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros-industrial/workcell_explorer/master/workcell_explorer.rosinstall
rosdep install --ignore-src --from-paths src
  1. Finally, to build:
catkin build
  1. Source the workspace
source devel/setup.bash

Usage

  1. Launch Gazebo world + robot mounted with a Kinect camera
roslaunch myworkcell_support workcell_gazebo.launch 
  1. Launch the MoveIt! planning execution
roslaunch myworkcell_moveit_config myworkcell_planning_execution.launch.xml
  1. Launch the TSDF reconstruction node in the yak package
roslaunch yak launch_gazebo_robot.launch
  1. Start the Octomap server
roslaunch nbv_planner octomap_mapping.launch
  1. Start the exploration process
rosrun nbv_planner exploration_controller_node
  1. ROS Service to extract mesh after deciding that the reconstruction is good enough.
rosservice call /get_mesh

Current Issues/ Pending tasks

  1. Flipped Octomap
  • Problem- Octomap is flipped 90 degrees with respect to the view of the Kinect.
  • Potential solution- Issues with the URDF file.
  1. Add .rosinstall file instead of submodules [DONE]

Current challenges

    1. Issue 1- Observing minimal robot motion while it's trying to explore the Next-Best views.
  • A huge portion of the solutions (candidate poses) generated by Kinect fusion are being rejected. I am confused whether it is because of the camera constraints or the robot URDF itself has a limited number of IK solutions which limits the explorable workspace due to improper placement of Kinect on the end-effector.

  • Less exploration is leading to a very sparsely generated mesh which is improper.

  1. Issue 2- Extra octomap being created due to TF issues
  • A flipped redundant octomap is generated due to what seems like delays in receiving TF transforms.

<<<<<<< HEAD

  • Are Gazebo simulated objects may give unsatisfiable results while applying ICP. This is yet to be understood/ confirmed.

=======

  1. Integrate the yak library with the workflow. YAK library uses Kinect fusion with Truncated Signed Distance Fields(TSDFs) used for created a probabilistic representation of solid surfaces in 3-D space [DONE].

    1. Integrate reconstruction node and octomap server node with given package.[DONE]
    2. Integrate the exploration_controller_node with the given package [DONE].

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Upcoming Tasks

  1. Figure out why the robotic manipulator does not produce many paths while trying to explore the next best views.

  2. Utilise the gl_depth_sim package to simulate organised depth camera data and test out the YAK package on the collected data.

  • This is to avoid all problems regarding flipped octomaps which could be primarily created due to Gazebo and the way it represents simulated objects.

Documentation tasks

<<<<<<< HEAD

  1. Create a blog post to introduce the Google Summer of Project in general and introduce the goals of the Robot WorkCell Discovery repository. [DONE]

  2. Create series of blog posts to explain the following

    • Create a blog post to summarise Kinect fusion uptil TSDF
    • Explain how TSDF is used for fusion and explain the process of raycasting.
    • Explain the use of the Next Best-View planner and the exploration_node.
  3. Make a list of all files which had to be changed which can help in quicker integration of the yak package for new users.


=======

  1. Create a blog post to talk about GSoC in general and introduce the Robot WorkCell Exploration project.
  1. Create a blog post to summarise Kinect fusion and mention how it's going to be used with TSDF for the project using yak library. Explain the use of the nbv_planner and the exploration_node files for the process of workcell exploration.

a50d10cb5aa2f76151942bf79b5267765bd1d472

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