Setup of Velma robot controller

This page describes how to set up workspace for WUT Velma robot simulation. There are two options:

• installation from a .deb package
• build from sources Both were tested in Ubuntu 18.04 with ROS melodic. All dependencies should be installed automatically during installation / build. In case of any errors during set-up procedure please contact the maintainer.

The software with its all dependencies is installed on machines in labs 012 and P109 at WUT FEIT.

Organisation of workspaces

The software for WUT Velma robot control system uses a concept of stack of catkin workspaces. The full stack of workspaces is (each workspace extends the previous one):

• workspace for ROS melodic (usually in /opt/ros/melodic) - original ROS workspace
• ws_gazebo - workspace for Gazebo simulator and software it depends on
• ws_orocos - workspace for Orocos
• ws_fabric - workspace for FABRIC
• ws_velma_os - workspace for WUT Velma specific software

Installation from package

Packages (.deb) are available at .deb packages.

To install the package, you have to install ros-melodic-desktop first (not ros-melodic-desktop-full). Please refer to ROS installation instructions.

Update you system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Download the latest .deb package, and install it:

sudo dpkg -i velma-system_<version number>_amd64.deb

In the last step, install all dependencies and configure the installed packages:

sudo apt install -f

The procedure will install all woekspaces in /opt directory. After the installation is complete, source to the workspace with command:

source /opt/ws_velma_os/setup.bash

Building from sources

Clone branch melodic-devel of RCPRG_rosinstall repo:

git clone -b melodic-setup-working https://github.com/RCPRG-ros-pkg/RCPRG_rosinstall.git

Change current working directory to the downloaded folder:

cd RCPRG_rosinstall

Source ROS melodic:

source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash

Run the setup script. The script has several arguments. The whole setup procedure may take several hours and consume lots of RAM. Try to avoid consuming all RAM, as it may use swap and make the build very slow or hang the machine. You should limit the number of CPUs used for build:

• 32GB RAM, use up to 12 CPUs
• 16GB RAM, use up to 5 CPUs
• 8GB RAM, use up to 2 CPUs To limit the number of CPUs to e.g. 4, use the parameter “– -j 4”.

To build all required workspaces, using 4 CPUs, run the following command:

./setup.sh -x /opt/ros/melodic -d ~/velma -b Release -g -o -f -v -- -j 4

The command will install 4 workspaces: for Gazebo, Orocos, FABRIC and Velma in directory velma in your home folder. After the build is complete, source to the built workspace with command:

source ~/velma/ws_velma_os/devel/setup.bash