Book Image

Learning Robotics using Python - Second Edition

By : Lentin Joseph
Book Image

Learning Robotics using Python - Second Edition

By: Lentin Joseph

Overview of this book

Robot Operating System (ROS) is one of the most popular robotics software frameworks in research and industry. It has various features for implementing different capabilities in a robot without implementing them from scratch. This book starts by showing you the fundamentals of ROS so you understand the basics of differential robots. Then, you'll learn about robot modeling and how to design and simulate it using ROS. Moving on, we'll design robot hardware and interfacing actuators. Then, you'll learn to configure and program depth sensors and LIDARs using ROS. Finally, you'll create a GUI for your robot using the Qt framework. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a clear idea of how to integrate and assemble everything into a robot and how to bundle the software package.

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Table of Contents (12 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started with Robot Operating System
Getting Started with Robot Operating System
Technical requirements
Introduction to ROS
Summary
Questions
2
Understanding the Basics of Differential Robots
Understanding the Basics of Differential Robots
Mathematical modeling of the robot
Forward kinematics of a differential robot
Inverse kinematics
Summary
Questions
Further information
3
Modeling the Differential Drive Robot
Modeling the Differential Drive Robot
Technical requirements
Requirements of a service robot
Robot drive mechanism
Installing LibreCAD, Blender, and MeshLab
Creating 2D CAD drawing of a robot using LibreCAD
Working with a 3D model of the robot using Blender
Creating a URDF model of the robot
Summary
Questions
Further reading
4
Simulating a Differential Drive Robot Using ROS
Simulating a Differential Drive Robot Using ROS
Technical requirements
Getting started with the Gazebo simulator
Working with a TurtleBot 2 simulation
Creating a simulation of Chefbot
Visualizing the robot sensor data
Summary
Questions
Further reading
5
Designing ChefBot Hardware and Circuits
Designing ChefBot Hardware and Circuits
Technical requirements
Specifications of the ChefBot's hardware
Block diagram of the robot
How ChefBot’s hardware works’?
Summary
Questions
Further reading
6
Interfacing Actuators and Sensors to the Robot Controller
Interfacing Actuators and Sensors to the Robot Controller
Technical requirements
Interfacing DC geared motor to Tiva C LaunchPad
Interfacing quadrature encoder with Tiva C Launchpad
Working with Dynamixel actuators
Working with ultrasonic distance sensors
Working with the IR proximity sensor
Working with Inertial Measurement Units
Summary
Questions
Further reading
7
Interfacing Vision Sensors with ROS
Interfacing Vision Sensors with ROS
Technical requirements
List of robotic vision sensors and image libraries
Introduction to OpenCV, OpenNI, and PCL
Programming Kinect with Python using ROS, OpenCV, and OpenNI
Interfacing Orbbec Astra with ROS
Working with point clouds using Kinect, ROS, OpenNI, and PCL
Conversion of point cloud data to laser scan data
Working with SLAM using ROS and Kinect
Summary
Questions
Further reading
8
Building ChefBot Hardware and the Integration of Software
Building ChefBot Hardware and the Integration of Software
Technical requirements
Building ChefBot hardware
Configuring ChefBot PC and setting ChefBot ROS packages
Interfacing ChefBot sensors to the Tiva-C LaunchPad
Writing a ROS Python driver for ChefBot
Understanding ChefBot ROS launch files
Working with ChefBot Python nodes and launch files
Summary
Questions
Further reading
9
Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python
Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python
Technical requirements
Installing Qt on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Working with Python bindings of Qt
Working with PyQt and PySide
Working with ChefBot's control GUI
Installing and working with rqt in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Summary
Questions
Further reading
10
Assessments
Assessments
Chapter 1, Getting Started with the Robot Operating System
Chapter 2, Understanding the Basics of Differential Robots
Chapter 3, Modeling the Differential Drive Robot
Chapter 4, Simulating a Differential Drive Robot Using ROS
Chapter 5, Designing ChefBot Hardware and Circuits
Chapter 6, Interfacing Actuators and Sensors to the Robot Controller
Chapter 7, Interfacing Vision Sensors with ROS
Chapter 8, Building ChefBot Hardware and Integration of Software
Chapter 9, Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python
11
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Working with point clouds using Kinect, ROS, OpenNI, and PCL

A 3D point cloud is a way of representing a 3D environment and 3D objects as collection points along the x, y, and z axes. We can get a point cloud from various sources: Either we can create our point cloud by writing a program or we can generate it from depth sensors or laser scanners.

PCL supports the OpenNI 3D interfaces natively; thus, it can acquire and process data from devices (such as Prime Sensor's 3D cameras, Microsoft Kinect, or Asus Xtion Pro).

PCL will be included in the ROS full desktop installation. Let's see how we can generate and visualize a point cloud in RViz, a data visualization tool in ROS.

Opening the device and generating a point cloud

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