Description: this repository contains the software developed in the L4MS project for the integration of the rbares robot in the EMKA factory using OPIL.
- Ubuntu 18.04
- ROS Melodic
- Python 2.7
- Real or simulated robot
- rbares packages (included as submodule)
- Docker and docker compose
- L4MS docker images
- Robotnik packages (provided as .deb libraries)
Clone and build this repository in a ROS workspace. This documentation assumes that catkin_ws workspace has been created in /home directory
$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
$ git clone https://github.com/robert-ros/opil_riogistics.git
$ cd ..
$ catkin_make
$ source devel/setup.bash
In this folder the configuration files are provided to start the docker that contains the OPIL Server.
$ cd opil_riogistics/opil_local_server
Before to run the docker, set the IP address of the machine where the server will run. Use hostname -I to get the IP and replace <ip-address> with that IP in these files:
docker-compose.yml in lines 58 and 60
- ocb_host=<ip-address>
- ocb_port=1026
- ngsi_proxy_host=<ip-address>
- ngsi_prox...
firos_config.json in lines 9 and 18
"contextbroker": {
"address" : "<ip-address>",
"port" : 1026,
"subs...
"endpoint": {
"address": "<ip-address>",
"port": 39...
ts_fiware_config.ini in line 9
[contextbroker]
host = 192.168.1.14
port = 10...
Once configured these files the docker server can be started. Enable xhost to display the windows created by the OPIL server (this step is optional)
$ xhost local:root
Finally, run the docker
$ docker-compose up
If everything went well, two rviz windows will display. The first shows the route and the annotations while the seconds shows the footprint of each point of the route.
Do not worry if MTB shows the following error at first. It means that MTP look the map but can not find because the map is generating still. Eventually MTB will show something like mtp_1 | 172.19.0.1 - - [15/Dec/2020 12:24:39] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 204 -
To access the HMI open a web browser and introduce the IP of the OPIL Server:
http://<ip-address>/main
If the OPIL Server and the web browser are running in the same machine, another option is to access the localhost:
http://localhost/main
Introduce the following credentials to access as admin
admin: admin
password: admin
A map is needed to monitor the robots running with the OPIL Server. Go to opil_local_server/emka_map.png and upload the image into the server.
Use this configuration:
Select floor plan: emka_map.png
Floor plan name: emka_map
Scale: 0.05
X-offset: 0
Y-offset: 0
In the control tab add the following virtual buttons
- fillRawMaterialButton
- fillProcessedMaterialButton
- loadCompleted
- unloadCompleted
Finally, fill inside the Task Management tab the task of the rbares robot. Go to opil_local_server/opil_tasks and copy-paste it.
# Definitions of the zones
Location pallet_a
name = "pallet_a"
type = "SmallLoadCarrier"
end
Location pallet_b
name = "pallet_b"
type = "SmallLoadCarrier"
end
Location pallet_c
name = "pallet_c"
type = "SmallLoadCarrier"
end
Location pallet_d
name = "pallet_d"
type = "SmallLoadCarrier"
end
# Button events
Event triggerFillRawMaterial
name = "fillRawMaterialButton"
type = "Boolean"
end
Event triggerFillProcessedMaterial
name = "fillProcessedMaterialButton"
type = "Boolean"
end
# Actions events (a button is used)
Event robotLoad
name = "loadCompleted"
type = "Boolean"
end
Event robotUnload
name = "unloadCompleted"
type = "Boolean"
end
# Orders
TransportOrderStep loadWarehouseOld
Location pallet_a
FinishedBy robotLoad == True
end
TransportOrderStep unloadWarehouseOld
Location pallet_d
FinishedBy robotUnload == True
end
TransportOrderStep loadWarehouseNew
Location pallet_c
FinishedBy robotLoad == True
end
TransportOrderStep unloadWarehouseNew
Location pallet_b
FinishedBy robotUnload == True
end
# Task 1
task FillRawMaterial
TriggeredBy triggerFillRawMaterial == True
Transport
from loadWarehouseOld
to unloadWarehouseNew
OnDone FillProcessedMaterial
end
# Task 2
task FillProcessedMaterial
TriggeredBy triggerFillProcessedMaterial == True
Transport
from loadWarehouseNew
to unloadWarehouseOld
OnDone FillRawMaterial
end
With these steps the OPIL Server is ready to work with the rbares robot in the EMKA factory.
L4MS has hosted the OPIL Server in a server of VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. Hence, the user does not need have an second machine to deploy and configure the server. Once started, the server will run all the time.
In order to set and run the server the same steps of the opil_local_server must be followed. Nevertheless, since the OPIL server is in an external machine a SSH connection must done.
In our case the credentials are the following:
IP=130.188.160.88
User: testvmuser
Pass: *******
To perform the connection:
$ ssh testvmuser@130.188.160.88
[IMAGEN AQUI]
This folder contains the configuration files to start the docker containers that control the AGV using the OPIL Server. The OPIL components involved in this folder are RAN (robot agent node) and Local SP (local sensor and perception).
The vast majority of parameters of these files have been set to work with the rbares robot. The only requirement is to set the correct IP of the robot in the network. Go to opil_robot/docker-compose.yml and edit it. In the line 40 replace <ip-address> with the IP of the machine where the server is running. In the line 41 replace <robot-ip-address> with the IP of the robot.
environment:
- FIWAREHOST=<ip-addres> # Opil server IP
- HOST=<robot-ip-addres> # rbares IP
- DISPLAY=$DISPLAY
- SIMULAT...
Command hostname -I returns the IP of the machine.
Once configured the file, the docker can be launched
$ docker-compose up
If everything went well, the robot position will be displayed on the HMI and the robot will be ready to receive tasks.
Go to the control tab of the HMI and press the fillRawMaterialButton button. Immediately the rbares robot will start the task. In this case rbares will load a pallet in the warehouse A and takes it to unload it in the warehouse B.
Sometimes If the connection is slow the robot will take time to receive the task from the OPIL Server. One way to know if the robot has started the task is check the output of the docker container.
Be careful with the real robot and the wireless connection. If the connection is too slow or even lost the robot will start to move in circles.
This folder contains the same docker containers as opil_robot folder. The only difference is this folder is prepared to work with the opil server hosted in the VTT Server in Finland.
In our case the IP of the VTT server is <ip-address-vtt> = 130.188.160.88 and the public IP of the robot is <public-ip-address> = 89.29.201.235
Go to opil_robot_vtt/docker-compose.yml and set the IP address used:
environment:
- FIWAREHOST=<ip-address-vtt> # IP of the OPIL VTT Server
- HOST=<public-ip-address> # Public IP of the real robot
- DISPLAY=$DISPLAY
- SIMULATION=false
¿How to connect the real robot to the VTT server?
In the above configuration file a public IP address is needed instead of the IP address of the robot in the network. The reason is that the robot can send data to the server with a local IP but it can not receive anything. This is because the server does not know where to return the information.
In order to solve this problem, the public IP of the factory network must be used. After that, the network must redirect the requests from the VTT Server to a specific port and IP.
In our case the IP address was the IP of the robot assigned in the factory network. The port was the port of the Local SP docker because FIROS was running there.
From the point of view of the OPIL Server, it sees the public IP of the factory network and is the network who sends the data to the robot. In other words, the OPIL Server knows where is the factory network and the network knows where is the robot.
This folder is a ROS package that contains a docker folder. The purpose of this package is to be a bridge between the SAN module and ROS. In this way, a OPIL sensor can be controlled from ROS.
First of all, the configuration file of the SAN module can be found in the following path:
$ cd ~/opil_san_sensors/docker
Inside config.json file, the parameters must be defined in function of two parts: ip address of the server and the sensors involved.
In the first part, the IP address must be defined. Replace <ip-address> with the IP address of the OPIL server.
{
"contextBroker": {
"host": "<ip-address>",
"port": "1026"
}
"sanCon...
In the second part, the OPIL sensors involved are defined. The definition of the sensors must be add inside the array "sensors" as an object.
"sanConfig": {
"sensors": [
// Sensor 1 here...
// Sensor 2 here..
]
Each sensor is a json object defined for several attributes. These properties depends on the type of the sensor, the manufacturer, ID as so on. Below is a template:
// Sensor 1 here ...
{
"sensorID": "<SENSOR-NAME>",
"operationMode": {
"mode": "<mode>"
},
"driver": "<python-driver-name>",
"driverConfig": {
"sensorType": "<sensor-type-name>",
"measurementType": "<sensor-type>",
"sensorManufacturer": "<company-name>"
},
"sanID": "<ID-SENSOR-NAME>"
},
The following table describes each attribute:
| Attribute | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| sensorID | name | Name of the sensor in capital letters. It must be representative as it will be displayed on the HMI |
| mode | enum | It can be event-driven or time-series. The first, when the sensor change its value, upload the state once. The second, it upload the state every certain time interval. |
| driver | code | Name of the python script where the driver and SANDriver class are running |
| sensorType | name | Name of the type of the sensor. It must be representative as it will be displayed on the HMI |
| measurementType | enum | It can be boolean used by buttons or real used by analog sensors |
| sensorManufacturer | name | Name of the company in charge of the sensor |
| sanID | name | Identification name in capital letters. It must be representative because it is used by OPIL server in the background |
For example, the sensor below describes a button that is updated once:
{
"sensorID": "BUTTON_G1",
"operationMode": {
"mode": "event-driven"
},
"driver": "button_g1_script",
"driverConfig": {
"sensorType": "SWITCH_SENSOR",
"measurementType": "boolean",
"sensorManufacturer": "Robotnik Automation"
},
"sanID": "BUTTON_G1_SAN"
}
Another example is a photocell that updates its value every second:
{
"sensorID": "CELL_2",
"operationMode": {
"mode": "time-series",
"broadcastInterval": "3",
"measurementInterval": "1"
},
"driver": "cell_2_script",
"driverConfig": {
"sensorType": "CELL_SENSOR",
"measurementType": "boolean",
"sensorManufacturer": "Robotnik Automation"
},
"sanID": "CELL_2_SAN"
}
It is emphasized that each sensor must have a driver associated. A driver is a python script that allows to connect the hardware to the SAN module. In order to achieve that, the driver code must inherit from SANDriver class and must be pass the data received to their methods.
The name of the driver class has to match the name of the file. For example if the class is SensorScript the file has to be called SensorScript.py.
Below is a template:
#!/usr/bin/env python
# The the class and the file have to has the same name!!!
import SANDriver
import random
class SensorScript(SANDriver.SANDriver):
def setup(self):
self.setMeta('sensorManufacturer', self.fromConfig("sensorManufacturer"))
self.setMeta('measurementType', self.fromConfig("measurementType"))
self.setMeta('sensorType', self.fromConfig("sensorType"))
def get_reading(self):
sensor_value = random.randint(0,1)
return sensor_value
As shown in the code above, the SensorScript class inherits from SANDriver. In this case the hardware is a random function that returns true or false but in practice it can be a CAN, socket or serial communication.
Finally, on the docker-compose the driver script and config.json file must be loaded as a volume. All files must be at the same directory level.
version: '3'
services:
san:
image: docker.ramp.eu/opil/opil.iot.san:stable
privileged: true
container_name: 'SAN'
stdin_open: true
tty: true
network_mode: 'host'
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- ./SensorScript.py:/code/Drivers/SensorScript.py
- ./config.json:/code/config.json
working_dir: /code
command: python3 ./san.py
In short, a sensor needs to be defined on the config.json file as well as to have a python script where the driver is running.
Go to opil_san_sensors/docker and start the SAN docker.
$ docker-compose up
On the other hand, launch the ROS client to establish communication with the SAN docker:
$ roslaunch opil_san_sensors multiple_client.launch
Now, rosservice list should show one service for each sensor connected to the factory. In our case, for example, if trigger_button or state_cell were called using the ROS service, the OPIL sensors would change their state.
$ rosservice call /san_socket/trigger_button_g1 "{}"
This folder contains a ROS package to detect loading and unloading zones. This package was written because the OPIL Server does not send any signal to the robot when it arrives at the goal.
The problem of loading and unloading
The robot knows that it has arrived but does not where. On the other hand, the OPIL Server knows exactly where is the robot because it compare its position with the zone of the annotations file. (see opil_local_server folder). However, in the annotation file the loading and unloading actions are not specified, only the zones are set.
One possibility is to specify the actions, nevertheless it is not a generic solution because each zone would perform only one action.
Currently, the topic /robot_opil_v2/actual_state, inside the RAN docker, publishes the state of the robot. When the robot reaches the position, the state is MBS_READY. However in this data is not included the loading and unloading action.
How was solved in the rbares robot
In our case since the robot is a pallet truck we needed to know what action to carry out. In that context we implemented the package robot_zone_detection to solve in a specific way this problem.
This ROS node reads the current position of the robot received from the AMCL node. It compares the current position of the robot with the zones set in a file. That file follows the same structure of the annotations.ini file used in the OPIL Server. It was implemented like this because in this way it was only necessary copy-paste. The main difference is that in this file is possible set the load and unload action. Therefore, when the robot is inside a zone and is stopped, it receives the action to perform.
#annotations.ini
[pallet_a]
point_x = 52.65
point_y = 10.65
theta = 270
distance =1.5
action = load
[pallet_b]
point_x = 21.94
point_y = 49.96
theta = 180
distance =1
action = unload
[pallet_c]
point_x = 21.94
point_y = 39.16
theta = 180
distance =1
action = load
[pallet_d]
point_x = 39.15
point_y = 3.04
theta = 270
distance =1
action = unload
[chrg_1]
point_x = 31.1
point_y = 46.273
theta = 270
distance = 1
action = idle
[chrg_0]
point_x = 55.344
point_y = 10.446
theta = 90
distance = 1
action = idle
Once the robot_localization is ready this package can be launched because uses the AMCL algorithm. After, the markers of the zones will be displayed in RViz. Yellow squares represents the points of interest. Blue squares represents the size of the zone in order to detect the robot inside of them.
The status of the robot can be checked using the following ros service:
$ rosservice call /robot/robot_pallet_zone/state
It will return the action to perform and the angle needed to position the robot in front the pallet:
$ "2.4946874:unload"
If the robot call each certain time this service, it will know when OPIL has arrive at a zone and what action, loading or unloading, must to perform.
This folder contains a ROS package used by rbares to perform the loading and unloading of pallets. For debugging purposes a GUI written with Tkinter has been created. To install Tkinter:
$ sudo apt-get install python-tk
This package has three working modes:
1. Manual: the user send each step to the robot manually.
2. Semi-autonomous: the user only has to confirm the next step.
3. Autonomous: when the program is launched or the user press the Run button, the robot will start the loading/unloading automatically when it arrives a loading/unloading zone.
