Configure and Flash a robot

This section describes how to fully configure and flash a robot with a configured OS and your current software to prepare it for games.

Robots

Note

Current status as of September 2023:

Name

Hostname

IP

Camera IP

Amy

nuc1

172.20.1.11

172.20.4.11

Rory

nuc2

172.20.1.12

172.20.4.12

Jack

nuc3

172.20.1.13

172.20.4.13

Donna

nuc4

172.20.1.14

172.20.4.14

Melody

nuc5

172.20.1.15

172.20.4.15

Rose

nuc6

172.20.1.16

172.20.4.16

Flashing

Flashing is the process of preparing a robot for the next game and starting the correct software.

Note

Does DNS not resolve nuc*? See Configure host names to fix this.

At a competition, follow these steps:

  1. Configure Wi-Fi networks for fields: This needs to be done before the competition at the team area (see Configuration of competition Wi-Fi)!

  2. Checkout the latest code: In your local bitbots_main repo run:

    1. Check that you are on the master branch

    2. git pull to get the latest changes

    3. make fresh-libs to clean and update all third party libraries

  3. Sync, configure, compile and launch software: In the bitbots_main directory call the deploy_robots.py tool:

    ./scripts/deploy_robots.py <nuc* | robot_name | ALL>

    This does the 5 following tasks: - Synchronize/Copy the current state of your local bitbots_main directory to the robot(s) - Install ROS 2 dependencies using rosdep on the robot(s), if internet is available - Configure game specific settings and the Wi-Fi connection on the robot(s) - Build/Compile the source code you just synchronized to the robot(s) - Launch the teamplayer software on the robot(s)

    If you need help with this tool, or want other options, look at this README for example usages or call:

    ./scripts/deploy_robots.py -h

  4. Optional: Connect to the robot: Simply copy-paste the command provided by the deploy-tool when its finished.

  5. CURRENTLY DISABLED: Reset foot pressure sensors: Pick up the robot, so that the feet do not touch the ground. Long press the green button on the IMU, which resets the foot pressure sensors.

  6. Profit! The robot is now ready play!

Ansible Configuration

Requirements

  • Ability to connect via SSH to the robot(s)

  • Have our ansible repo checked out

Configure the robot OS with ansible

Our Ansible setup is able to configure the following aspects of the robot:

  • Configuration of kernel type and kernel/boot parameters

  • Configuration of low level system parameters for better performance

  • Setup/Configuration of the bitbots user account on the robot

  • Network/IP configuration including:

    • Configuration of competition Wi-Fi networks (see Configuration of competition Wi-Fi)

    • Configuration of USB-Ethernet adapter as slave of a bridge interface, to allow for removal without losing the interface utilized by ros/dds

    • Configuration of custom MTU of 9000 (jumbo frames) for Ethernet connection to the basler camera

  • Setup of custom apt repositories/packages (e.g. packages.bit-bots.de if applicable)

  • Installation and configuration of ROS and DDS

  • Configuration of Vulkan packages/drivers

To run the whole setup on a specific robot execute the following in the ansible repository folder:

ansible-playbook ./playbooks/setup_robots.yml --ask-become-pass --limit <nuc*>

if you dont have access to the secret git-crypt data you can add --skip-tags git_crypt to the command.

Ansible will execute the playbook with the bitbots user on the robots and will ask for its password to be able to utilize sudo.

Note

Does DNS not resolve nuc*? See Configure host names to fix this.

LEGACY: Sync/Build the software using the robot_compile tool:

We utilize a python script located in bitbots_main/scripts/robot_compile.py to allow doing the following:

  • sync the local code of the whole bitbots_main or a single package onto a robot

  • build the synced code on the robot afterwards

  • automatically install required dependencies with rosdep install if the robot has an active internet connection

  • clean the whole ~/colcon_ws on a robot

  • interactively configure the game_settings.yaml on a robot to prepare it for a game

  • activate the fields Wi-Fi connection and disable all others

A full overview all the options are viewable with the -h flag.

Exemplary commands:

# full sync/build of bitbots_main
./scripts/robot_compile.py nuc1

# rm everything before full sync/compile
./scripts/robot_compile.py --clean-src --clean-build nuc1

# sync/build and configure robot for game after
./scripts/robot_compile.py -k nuc1

# only configure robot for game
./scripts/robot_compile.py -K nuc1

# only sync/build a single package (bitbots_vision)
./scripts/robot_compile.py -p bitbots_vision nuc1

# sync/clean build a single package (bitbots_vision)
./scripts/robot_compile.py -p bitbots_vision nuc1