#nao_dcm

##ROS Stack for Aldebaran's Nao Humanoid

• Goal is to connect to the machine of Nao and not the API provided by Aldebaran.
• Ιt makes use only of the DCM and Memory Proxies.
• Supports V4.0 robots (H21 and H25 Body Types).
• Written purely in C++ and uses the latest C++ SDK (1.14.5).

Version

0.0.1 (Beta)

Requirements

nao_dcm requires several packages to be installed in order to work properly:

• ROS - ROS >= Hydro (should also work on the forthcoming Indigo)
• NaoQi C++ SDK - Version 1.14.5
• ROS MoveIt! - Used for motion planning
• ROS Control - Version >=0.6.0
• Webots for Nao - The best simulator so far [optional]
• Gazebo - Work in progress but with satisfactory results (Version >= 2.2.2 alongside gazebo-ros-pkgs >= 2.3.4) [optional]
• Nao Robot - A real working Nao is the best "simulator" you'll ever get!! Version >= V4.0 and flashed OpenNao OS >= 1.14.5

Basic Usage

###Bringup nao_dcm driver (remotely)

roslaunch nao_dcm_bringup nao_dcm_{BodyType}_remote.launch

{BodyType} is either H21 or H25.

This will connect to Nao Robot, start the cameras and open up a simple dashboard for monitoring and basic control over Nao.

###MoveIt Demo

roslaunch nao_dcm_moveit_config moveit_planner_{BodyType}.launch

{BodyType} is either H21 or H25.

This requires that you have connected to the Robot/Simulation via nao_dcm driver and will open up rviz with the Navigation plugin configured to give Nao trajectories to execute.

###Webots Simulation

Launch your Webots for Nao Simulator and then follow the instructions above to bringup nao_dcm driver (remotely). On some versions of Webots, it is required that you move the head before you get camera feedback. Also, changing the camera resolution via dynamic reconfigure will not have any effect as Webots uses fixed resolution.

###Gazebo Simulation

roslaunch nao_dcm_gazebo nao_dcm_gazebo_{BodyType}.launch

{BodyType} is either H21 or H25.

**NOTE: **This is work in progress and may not work very well.

This will launch Gazebo Simulator and trajectory controllers to simulate the real robot. This is somewhat equivalent as bringing up nao_dcm_driver (remotely). Thus, then for example you can use MoveIt Demo to give trajectories to Nao to execute.

Notes/Limitations

• Before using the nao_dcm driver on your real Nao (because DCM needs calibration but Aldebaran does not provide enough documentation on how to calibrate it), it is recommended that you connect to your Nao (e.g. via choreographe/motion proxy) and increase the stiffnesses of the joints.
• Currently nao_dcm can only be run remotely, as Nao Robot only supports ROS Groovy locally and nao_dcm requires ros_controls packages (available only on >= Hydro). Yet, nao_dcm_robot folder is made to be run locally, so when ROS Hydro support for Nao locally is available users can use it directly.
• Tutorials will become available as soon as possible.
• Integration with nao_meshes for better visual feedback is in progress.
• Efforts for making ROS Hydro available locally on Nao, because only this way nao_dcm will get its maximum performance. Help is welcomed.
• Although my intension is to provide ROS integration to the machine, basic gait and motion planning schemes are on the way for those that want quick results/feedback.
• Integration for LED, IR and Audio hardware is not available and is not on my agenda. So, feel free to contribute in that direction.
• This is only ONE part of my Diploma Thesis ("Navigation of Humanoid Robots in Unknown Space With Dynamic Obstacles"), so many parts of the code are not perfect and well-thought. E.g. initialize method of Nao class. So, Pull-Requests for code improvement are welcomed.

Origin of the Name

Since my intention is to use the lowest level of Aldebaran's API possible and its name is DCM, I decided to name the ROS Stack nao_dcm.

License

BSD

Copyright (c) 2014, Konstantinos Chatzilygeroudis