micro-ROS based RCCar Firmware

Quick Start

1. Clone this repository
2. Open the repo in a DevContainer
3. In the root of the repository, run idf.py set-target esp32c6
4. Connect to the ESP32-C6 board on the back of the car
   • Use the JTAG USB-C port for this, so that micro-ROS can use the UART port for communication
5. You can run idf.py build flash monitor -p /dev/ttyACM0 to build flash and monitor the system all through the JTAG port. When doing everything through the JTAG, the micro-ROS agent can stay running on ttyUSB0 without interference
6. On the host (where the UART port is connected), run the micro-ROS agent using the command:

   docker run -it --rm -v /dev:/dev --privileged --net=host microros/micro-ros-agent:jazzy serial --dev /dev/ttyUSB0

7. If everything is correctly configured, you should see the ESP32 connecting to the micro-ROS agent and the node with topics and parameters being listed in the ROS 2 environment

Notes

• You can configure the project through idf.py menuconfig
  • Application-specific settings contain the most important settings for the RCCar
• For UDP transport, the micro-ROS agent must be running in the same network as the ESP32
  • Use docker run -it --rm --net=host microros/micro-ros-agent:jazzy udp4 --port 8888 to run the agent
• You can run another container with ros to interact with the system
  • Use docker run -it --rm --net=host osrf/ros:jazzy-desktop to run a container with ROS
  • ros2 node list should show the ESP32 node
  • ros2 param list should show the parameters of the ESP32 node
  • Parameters can be retreiaved and set using ros2 param get and ros2 param set
• Custom message definitions can be added as a package in "components/micro_ros_espidf_component/extra_packages"
  • After changing anything within the micro-ros component, you must run idf.py clean-microros to clean the component before building the project again
• For debugging:
  • first execute openocd -f board/esp32c6-builtin.cfg to start the OpenOCD server (assuming you have the ESP32-C6 board)
  • then you can simply add breakpoints and use the debugger in VSCode
• For logging to the USB JTAG:
  • Configure menuconfig -> Component config -> ESP System Settings -> Channel for console output ---> USB Serial/JTAG Controller
  • In the code, set it up using usb_serial_jtag_driver_install(&usb_serial_jtag_config);
• To configure the ODrives with the correct configuration, call odrivetool restore-config ./scripts/working_config_HIGH_CURRENT_AUTO_CALIBRATION_M0.json and odrivetool restore-config ./scripts/working_config_HIGH_CURRENT_AUTO_CALIBRATION_M1.json respectively for both motors
  • It is configured for auto calibration on startup and node id 0 and 1 respectively on the CAN bus
• To test the steup, stamped twist messages need to be published to the /cmd_vel topic
  • Use ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard --ros-args -p stamped:=True to publish the messages

On Debugging and Tracing

• The ESP32C6 has two USB type C ports, one of which is used for the JTAG interface and the other one is used for the USB serial interface
• For logging to have minimal impact on the performance (or if the serial interface is for example used for micro ros transport), the JTAG interface should be used
  • For this, configure the firmware with

      const size_t BUF_SIZE = 1024;
    usb_serial_jtag_driver_config_t usb_cfg = {
        .rx_buffer_size = BUF_SIZE,
        .tx_buffer_size = BUF_SIZE,
    };
    ESP_ERROR_CHECK(usb_serial_jtag_driver_install(&usb_cfg));

  • And port the logging config using the menuconfig option

  `menuconfig -> Component config -> ESP System Settings -> Channel for console output ---> USB Serial/JTAG Controller`
  

• To use debugging, the devcontainer already has the OpenOCD server installed
• To start the OpenOCD server, run the following command in the devcontainer:

  openocd -f board/esp32c6-builtin.cfg

For Tracing:

openocd   -f interface/esp_usb_jtag.cfg   -f board/esp32c6-builtin.cfg

Separate window:

telnet localhost 4444

Then in the telnet window:

reset init
resume
esp sysview start file://traces/mros_trace_01.SVDat 0 -1 -1 0 0

Future Enhancements

• Add cleaner parameter handling
• Test odometry correctness and accuracy
• Add torque control
• Add IMU support (hardware is already there, but not yet implemented)