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Drop-in Robot Navigation system (Patreon)

Published:
2021-01-18 09:54:59
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Here's next week's video, early for Patrons. This one goes out publicly on Tuesday 26th.

It seems to be working pretty well, I think it would be even better with a better LIDAR. Note that I'm running the wheel velocities totally open loop, so no wheel encoders, and the only interface between the Arduino and the robot hardware is essentially two PWM pins - so this gives me quite a lot of hope for controlling any other type of robot in the future.

I'll be documenting it as best I can on Github by the time the video goes public.

Files

Previews only

Drop in Navigation System - PREVIEW VERSION

This is part 2 of experimenting with an Intel Realsense T265 Tracking Camera to replace the TF and Odom topics produced by wheel odometry, so use Gmapping and the Navigation stack in ROS. it seems to work pretty well so this has a lot of potential to just drop into any robot and make it navigate autonomously. I'm running the wheels totally open loop having removed the wheel encoders from the robot, so all positioning is carried out by the tracking camera. You can support me on Patreon or buy my Merchandise: *************************** Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/xrobots Merchandise: https://teespring.com/stores/james-bruton *************************** Affiliate links - I will get some money of you use them to sign up or buy something: *************************** Matterhackers 3D printing supplies: http://www.matterhackers.com?aff=7500 Music for your YouTube videos: http://share.epidemicsound.com/xrobots *************************** Other socials: *************************** Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xrobotsuk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xrobotsuk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/xrobotsuk *************************** CAD and Code for my projects: https://github.com/XRobots Huge thanks to my Patrons, without whom my standard of living would drastically decline. Like, inside out-Farm Foods bag decline. Plus a very special shoutout to Lulzbot, Inc who keep me in LulzBot 3D printers and support me via Patreon. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE Below you can also find a lot of the typical tools, equipment and supplies used in my projects: Filament from: https://www.3dfuel.com/ Lulzbot 3D Printers: http://bit.ly/2Sj6nil Lincoln Electric Welder: https://bit.ly/2Rqhqos CNC Router: https://bit.ly/2QdsNjt Ryobi Tools: http://bit.ly/2RhArcD Axminster Micro Lathe: http://bit.ly/2Sj6eeN 3D Printer Filament: http://bit.ly/2PdcdUu Soldering Iron: http://bit.ly/2DrNWDR Vectric CNC Software: http://bit.ly/2zxpZqv Why not join my community, who are mostly made up of actual geniuses. There’s a Facebook group and everything: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287089964833488/ XROBOTS Former toy designer, current YouTube maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it. XRobots is the community around my content where you can get in touch, share tips and advice, and more build FAQs, schematics and designs are also available.

Comments

Richard Jelbert

Great video! Could this module be a head/face for the dog rather than being put on it's back?

XRobots
>>51669852

Yes potentially, although I'm finding the dog is a bit overloaded now, which is one of the main reasons I didn't try it out. You'll notice in the last video it can't always lift its feet properly. Might be time for openDog v3 ;-)

Anonymous
>>51669852

I ordered an RMD-x8 just to learn and experiment with. I feel like there might be potential for upgrading your existing actuators to be more similar.

XRobots
>>51669852

Maybe, I'd really like to stick to open source hardware though, and 3D printing all the parts will always be a reasonable cost and accessible.

Anonymous
>>51669852

After seeing things like the tarmo4 car, I think there is a lot of potential say if you wanted to look at printing gears in PLA.

Anonymous
>>51669852

right! You have to really think about how to get PLA to work mechanicaly without breaking. But the way I think about it is one good actuator design will be duplicated and affect the performance of the robot greatly! How that gets done is all to be discovered, but I'm really liking the planetary gears on my RMD-x8. It's so compact.

Anonymous
>>51669852

compact PLA gears might not be a great idea though. Fragile parts always seem like they need to be bigger.

XRobots
>>51669852

I think there's a balance between size and toughness, it would probably still save a bit of space if I could get the tolerances right.

Doug Cooper

You have really come a long way with Ros and the integration of sensor data. The ability to adjust it's world model in really time without reliance on wheel odometry is key. Is it possible to do something similar with the arm so that it can compensate for slight inaccuracies in floor position?

XRobots
>>51704245

Yes I guess it would be, although that will be largely driven by vision recognition rather than dead-reckoning so hopefully that won't be such an issue.

Anonymous

For what purpose are you using the expensive LIDAR sensor? Shouldn't the depth cameras not provide enough distance information for mapping? Beside the price of the. LIDAR you have the disadvantage that this LIDAR sensor is working in one plain only. If you want to capture the full 360 degree vision you could stitch up to four depth cameras together. Even going with four cameras you should be not that much more expensive than the the LIDAR sensor. If you want a second source for redundancy I would suggest to incorporate some ultrasound sensors in your system. They are much more cheap and would operate on different physics and so shiny surfaces are not a problem for this technology as for LIDAR and video sensors which have some very similar problems with some surfaces.

XRobots
>>51764691

This camera only does tracking. I could use the depth camera as well but it only looks in one direction whereas the LIDAR is 360'. The more expensive laser is installed on the Really Useful Robot.

Polydeukes
>>51764691

You should also not forget that it would require a more sophisticated mapping software and more processing power to convert the point clouds of the depth cameras into a map. In my experience LIDARs are just perfect for mapping they deliver exactly the information you need with a high acurracy. Also, basically every robot vacuum with proper mapping uses a LIDAR. There must be a reason.