Install the 64-bit version of Ubuntu16.04 on a host machine, and make sure that you can checkout and build code. If you are using a virtual machine, please use VMware. Virtualbox doesn't support some of our Gazebo plugins.
sudo apt-get install build-essential git
Note: Please ensure you install the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. We do not support running Astrobee Robot Software on 32-bit systems.
If you are using a VM with a username that does not match your NDC username, please configure the following variable:
export NDC_USERNAME=your_ndc_username
The custom debian packages are currently distributed by the
astrobee.ndc.nasa.gov server. This server is currently on the ARC TI
private network. It is critical to be able to reach this server to
install the pre-built custom debian. If none of the solutions below
allow you to reach astrobee.ndc.nasa.gov, you can use the
instructions on how to build the Debian dependencies manually
following the INSTALL.md instructions (Dependencies section).
This is the typical case for all wired computers in ARC TI, and simplifies your life greatly.
Verify that you are in this situation with the command below should succeed (remove the Release.gpg file after being fetched).
wget -v http://astrobee.ndc.nasa.gov/software/dists/xenial/Release.gpg
Before running the scripts in scripts/setup below, set this variable:
export NO_TUNNEL=1
If you are outside the NASA ARC private network, there are two options to
reach astrobee.ndc.nasa.gov:
- Use VPN to act like if you were inside the ARC TI private network and obtain the correct kerberos credentials inside the VM with the following command (note the capitalization):
kinit [email protected]`
- setup your
.ssh/configto do ssh forwarding. A tutorial on this method is available at: https://babelfish.arc.nasa.gov/trac/freeflyer/wiki/SSHSetup
For either solution, please verify that you can SSH to m.ndc.nasa.gov without
entering your password (m is used to tunnel to astrobee.ndc.nasa.gov):
ssh $[email protected]
The command should succeed without entering your password. Once this is verified,
exit this session on m with +D.
- These notes apply to
install_desktop_16.04_packages.shandmake_xenial.sh
At this point you need to decide where you'd like to put the source code
(SOURCE_PATH) on your machine:
export SOURCE_PATH=$HOME/freeflyer
First, clone the flight software repository:
git clone --recursive https://[email protected]/git/freeflyer \
--branch develop $SOURCE_PATH
(Note: re-enter your username and password for every submodules that are cloned)
Next, install all required dependencies:
pushd $SOURCE_PATH
cd scripts/setup
./add_local_repository.sh
./add_ros_repository.sh
./install_desktop_16_04_packages.sh
popd
- If you do not want to configure your
.ssh/configto just get the dependencies, you can use theNDC_USERNAMEvariable. - By default, the custom debians are installed in
$SOURCE_PATH/.astrobee_deb. If you prefer to install them at a different location, you can use theARS_DEB_DIRvariable.
export NDC_USERNAME=jdoe
export ARS_DEB_DIR=$HOME/freeflyer_debs
./add_local_repository.sh
If you are planning to compile code to run on the robot hardware, you will need to install a cross-compile chroot and toolchain. Select two directories for these:
export ARMHF_CHROOT_DIR=$HOME/arm_cross/rootfs
export ARMHF_TOOLCHAIN=$HOME/arm_cross/toolchain/gcc
Append these lines to your .bashrc file, as you will need these two variables every time you cross compile.
Next, download the cross toolchain and install the chroot:
mkdir -p $ARMHF_TOOLCHAIN
cd $HOME/arm_cross
$SOURCE_PATH/submodules/platform/fetch_toolchain.sh
$SOURCE_PATH/submodules/platform/rootfs/make_xenial.sh dev $ARMHF_CHROOT_DIR
At this point you need to decide whether you'd like to compile natively
[native] (run code against a simulator) or for an ARM target [armhf] (run
the code on the robot itself). Please skip to the relevant subsection.
By default, the configure script uses the following paths:
- native build path (BUILD_PATH):
$HOME/freeflyer_build/native - native install path (INSTALL_PATH):
$HOME/freeflyer_install/native - armhf build path (BUILD_PATH):
$HOME/freeflyer_build/armhf - armhf install path (INSTALL_PATH):
$HOME/freeflyer_install/armhf
You should set these values in your shell.
If you are satisfied with these paths, you can invoke the configure.sh without
the -p and -b options. For the simplicity of the instructions below,
we assume that $BUILD_PATH and $INSTALL_PATH contain the location of the
build and install path for either native or armhf platforms.
The configure script prepares your build directory for compiling the code. Note
that configure.sh is simply a wrapper around CMake that provides an easy way
of turning on and off options. To see which options are supported, simply run
configure.sh -h.
pushd $SOURCE_PATH
./scripts/configure.sh -l
popd
If you want to explicitly specify the build and install directories, use instead:
./scripts/configure.sh -l -p $INSTALL_PATH -b $BUILD_PATH
Cross compiling for the robot follows the same process, except the configure
script takes a -a flag instead of -l.
pushd $SOURCE_PATH
./scripts/configure.sh -a
popd
Or with explicit build and install paths:
./scripts/configure.sh -a -p $INSTALL_PATH -b $BUILD_PATH
Warning: $INSTALL_PATH and $BUILD_PATH used for cross compiling HAVE to be
different than the paths for native build! See above for the default values
for these.
To build, run make in the $BUILD_PATH. Note that depending on your host
machine, this might take in the order of tens of minutes to complete the first
time round. Future builds will be faster, as only changes to the code are
rebuilt, and not the entire code base.
pushd $BUILD_PATH
make -j6
popd
Note: $BUILD_PATH above is either the path for native build or armhf build,
whatever you currently are doing.
In order to run a simulation you must have build natively. You will need to first setup your environment, so that ROS knows about the new packages provided by Astrobee flight software:
pushd $BUILD_PATH
source devel/setup.bash
popd
After this command has completed, you should be able to run a simulator from any directory in your Linux filesystem. So, for example, to start a simulation of a single Astrobee in the Granite Lab, run the following:
roslaunch astrobee sim.launch
This command tells ROS to look for the sim.launch file provided by the
astrobee package, and use roslaunch to run it. Internally, ROS maintains a
cache of information about package locations, libraries and executables. If you
find that the above command doesn't work, try rebuilding the cache:
rospack profile
A simulator readme was created for guest science users. However this readme may be beneficial to interns and/or new members. If you fall into one of these categories, please see the simulation instructions.
In order to do this, you will need to have followed the cross-compile build
instructions. Once the code has been built, you also need to install the code to
a singular location. CMake remembers what $INSTALL_PATH you specified, and
will copy all products into this directory.
pushd $BUILD_PATH
make install
popd
Once the installation has completed, copy the install directory to the robot.
This script assumes that you are connected to the Astrobee network, as it uses
rsync to copy the install directory to ~/armhf on the two processors. It
takes the robot name as an argument. Here we use `p4d'.
pushd $SOURCE_PATH
./scripts/install_to_astrobee.sh $INSTALL_PATH p4d
popd
Here, p4d is the name of the robot, which may be different in your case.
You are now ready to run the code. This code launches a visualization tool, which starts the flight software as a background process.
pushd $SOURCE_PATH
python ./tools/gnc_visualizer/scripts/visualizer --proto4
popd
Please refer to the wiki.