Multi-robot in ROS2

This is a fundamental repository used when multiple system robots (ROS2) have the same architecture (also the same topics, nodes, ...) within the same network. It can recognize itself and others without conflict. Each robot has a unique name ROBOT_NAME. For instance, in this repo, the robot has the name robot1.

You can run two robots by cloning this repository in two devices, ensuring both are connected to the same network and changing the different name ROBOT_NAME for each robot.

Usage

To change the different name for each robot, change the ROBOT_NAME variable at line 12 in the launch file multi_machine/launch/multi_launch.py:

ROBOT_NAME = 'robot1'

To run launch file:

ros2 launch multi_machine multi_launch.py

Note: Make sure you downloaded the repo in your workspace and built it successfully

To check all topics:

ros2 topic list

Giving:

/parameter_events
/robot1/my_topic
/rosout

The name topic will be /robot1/my_topic where robot1 is the ROBOT_NAME variable you have set in launch file, my_topic is your topic name.

To check data the node is received:

ros2 topic echo /robot1/my_topic

Build a snap package

Let's package this application as a snap to deploy on other robotics devices. This repository uses Jetson Xavier NX with:

• Jetpack 5.0.2 GA
• Ubuntu 20.04
• arm64 architecture platform

First, install snapcraft:

sudo snap install --classic snapcraft

To install core20:

sudo snap install core20

Now let's build the snap:

snapcraft --enable-experimental-extensions --destructive-mode

For quick running without building, if you use it on the same device, download the built snap here

When this snap build completely, let's install it:

sudo snap install <your_snap_file_name>.snap --devmode

Finally, run it:

ros2-multi

Result:

[node_1-1] [INFO] [1679278253.059005344] [node_1_robot1]: Parameter: param1
[node_1-1] [INFO] [1679278254.019700651] [node_1_robot1]: Parameter: param1
[node_1-1] [INFO] [1679278255.018450358] [node_1_robot1]: Parameter: param1

It will get parameters in launch file and print it out.

Reference

Packaging your ROS 2 application as a snap

Author

Nguyen Huy An
Email: [email protected]