Robot Control using WebVR

This is a JavaScript library for robotics data visualization using WebXR.

Installation

To run this example

1. Clone the repository

2. install ROS (everything here was tested using our Jasmine setup) found here

3. create an ssl keypair:

   openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout server1.example.com.key -out server1.example.com.pem -days 365 -nodes

   • remember the path to these files or move them to /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/
   • to move the files use

   mv server1.example.com.key /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.key
   mv server1.example.com.pem /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.pem

   • next you have to change the permissions to allow your python server to access the certificate

   chmod 777 /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.key
   chmod 777 /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.pem
   chmod 777 /etc/ssl/certs/localcerts

   TODO: change permissions to be less permissive
   Note: we need SSL/https to be able to use WebXR

4. Create a symlink from opt/hector/share/VRRobot to your cloned repository

   • note this is a very specific step for this project. It's needed because our URDF are being returned with the python server with simple get requests

   ln -s ~/VRRobot /opt/hector/share/VRRobot

5. Allow connections to your firewall

   sudo ufw allow 9090 # for the websocket
   sudo ufw allow 8080 # for the webserver (you can choose any other port)

   note for self signed certificates: before opening the simulation, you have to visit https://127.0.0.1:9090 and https://127.0.0.1:8080 - to accept the certificates

6. make your python server executable

   chhmod +x ~/VRRobot/shttps.py

Usage

on a default TU setup you can install tmux - sudo apt install tmux and just run: ~/VRRobot/dev-tmux
Manual Running
execute these commands in order (wait a few seconds after running roscore to initialize the environment)

1. roscore
2. rosrun tf2_web_republisher tf2_web_republisher
3. roslaunch rosbridge_server rosbridge_websocket.launch ssl:=true port:=9090 certfile:=/etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.pem keyfile:=/etc/ssl/certs/localcerts/server1.example.com.key
   • note that this assumes you have moved the files from the previous step
4. in /opt/hector/share run VRRobot/shttps.py
   • note that you need to run this in opt/hector/share so the correct 3D models can be delivered
   • note that you need to configure the shttps.py file
5. hector sim and start the simulation or use bagfiles

Notes To record bagfiles:

1. rosbag record /tf /tf_static /joint_states /colored_cloud /map /smooth_path /trajectory /front_rgbd_cam/depth/color/points /colored_cloud_world
2. rosrun rqt_robot_steering rqt_robot_steering and drive around

to add a visualization: use any ROS3DJS visualization. eg

 var  cloudClient = addVisualization(rootObjectNode,'cloudClient', ROS3D.PointCloud2,{
        ros: ros,
        tfClient: tfClient,
        topic: '/colored_cloud',
        material: { size: 0.05 },
        colormap: colormap,
        max_pts: 30000000,
        decay:5
      });

Controls

To add a controller you need to modify commons/mappings.js

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.

Known Issues

• CORS Exceptions
  go to https://127.0.0.1:8080 and not https://localhost:8080

License

MIT