README.md

rosbot-telepresence

Manual ROSbot Driving over the Internet with Real-Time Camera Feed

There are two different setups on two separate branches:

• ros2router (the current one)
• foxglove

Quick start

🌎 Step 1: Connecting ROSbot and Laptop over VPN

Ensure that both ROSbot 2R (or ROSbot 2 PRO) and your laptop are linked to the same Husarnet VPN network. If they are not follow these steps:

1. Setup a free account at app.husarnet.com, create a new Husarnet network, click the [Add element] button and copy the code from the Join Code tab.

2. Connect your laptop to the Husarnet network. If you are Ubuntu user, just run:

   curl https://install.husarnet.com/install.sh | sudo bash

   and connect to the Husarnet network with:

   sudo husarnet join <paste-join-code-here>

3. Connect your ROSbot to the Husarnet network. Husarnet is already pre-installed so just run:

   sudo husarnet join <paste-join-code-here> rosbot2r

   note that rosbot2r is a default ROSbot hostname used in this project. If you want to change it, edit the .env file

📁 Step 2: Cloning the Repo

This repository contains the Docker Compose setup for both PC and ROSbot. You can clone it to both PC and ROSbot, or use the ./sync_with_rosbot.sh script to clone it to your PC and keep it synchronized with the robot

git clone https://github.com/husarion/rosbot-telepresence
cd rosbot-telepresence
export ROSBOT_HOSTNAME=rosbot2r # Replace with your own Husarnet hostname
./sync_with_rosbot.sh $ROSBOT_HOSTNAME

Edit .env file and write down the ROSbot 2R Husarnet hostname here to let the PC part know how to find the ROSbot 2R.

ROBOT_NAMESPACE=rosbot2r

💻 Step 3: Launching the Control Interface on PC

At first start the ROS 2 Router:

docker compose -f compose.pc.yaml up ros2router -d

And run rviz2 and teleop_twist_keyboard directly on the host OS or in Docker (choose one option):

Docker

1. Running rviz2:

   xhost +local:docker && \
   docker compose -f compose.pc.yaml up rviz

2. Running teleop_twist_keyboard:

   docker compose -f compose.pc.yaml run --rm -it rviz ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard --ros-args -r __ns:=/rosbot2r

Host

1. Running rviz2:

Note

You need to install image-transport-plugins package first:

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-image-transport-plugins

export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=$(pwd)/shm-only.xml
rviz2 -d ./params/default.rviz

2. Running teleop_twist_keyboard:

   export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=$(pwd)/shm-only.xml
   ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard --ros-args -r __ns:=/rosbot2r

⚙️ Step 4: Flashing the ROSbot Firmware

SSH to the ROSbot's shell:

ssh husarion@$ROSBOT_HOSTNAME

and execute:

./flash_rosbot_firmware.sh

🤖 Step 5: Launching the Containers on ROSbot

docker compose up

Useful tips

1. Checking a datarate

To assess the data rate of a video stream being transmitted over the Husarnet VPN (which appears in your OS as the hnet0 network interface), execute the following:

husarion@rosbot:~$ ifstat -i hnet0
      wlan0
 KB/s in  KB/s out
    6.83   2744.66
    1.67   2659.88
    1.02   2748.40
    6.73   2565.20
    1.02   2748.65
    1.18   2749.64

2. Sending uncompressed video frames over the network

If raw image data is being transmitted over the network, you need to perform some DDS-tunning (both on ROSbot and PC):

For configs in LAN:

sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ipfrag_time=3 # 3s
sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ipfrag_high_thresh=134217728 # (128 MB)

For configs over VPN:

sudo sysctl -w net.ipv6.ip6frag_time=3 # 3s
sudo sysctl -w net.ipv6.ip6frag_high_thresh=134217728 # (128 MB)

3. Using Logitech F710 gamepad

Rather than employing the teleop_twist_keyboard ROS 2 package, you have the option to use the Logitech F710 gamepad. To utilize it, plug it into your PC's USB port and launch the joy2twist container on your PC:

docker compose -f compose.pc.yaml up joy2twist

Troubleshooting

Packet was not a Theora header warning

The log from your computer where you launched compose.pc.yaml may contain the following message:

[WARN] [1704479601.591809892] [rviz]: [theora] Packet was not a Theora header

Due to an issue in the theora codec, headers are probably sent only at the start. If you've initiated compose.pc.yaml following compose.yaml, it's essential to restart the astra service on ROSbot.

To do so, execute in the ROSbot's terminal in the /home/husarion/rosbot-telepresence folder the following line:

docker compose restart astra