ROBOT WEB TOOLS FOR REMOTE ROVER CONTROL
OVERVIEW
The goal of this project is to control a microcontroller-based rover through an obstacle course with ROS by user input (Leap Motion, Joystick, keyboard, etc.) remotely using a web interface. In particular, this involved using rosserial for communication of the computer with the microcontroller. Next, I had to gain a base level knowledge of HTML/CSS in order to build a web interface to control the robot.
This was a quarter long project for the MSR Program. Click on this link to the code and more detailed instructions on how to use the developed package.
MAJOR STEPS INVOLVED
Setting up microcontroller and ROS communication through rosserial
Write an Arduino sketch that is subscribed to a topic that will change the state of an LED when a particular letter is published to it
Creating a rover teleop package
Begin with writing a keyboard teleop package
Then, modify the package so it can be controlled with a joystick or a web interface
Get feed from webcam on the rover
Use OpenCV to stream video from webcam to a ROS topic
Interfacing with robot web tools
Start with getting the video feed to show up on the website
Add arrow buttons to control movement of the rover, and the rover’s camera servos
Lastly, add controls for headlights, as well as error messages for approaching an obstacle using data from the ultrasonic sensor
NEXT STEPS
I would eventually like to refine this package and move forward with the development of the robot web tools portion. Stay tuned!!!