Simple Autonomous Wheeled Robot (SAWR)

The goal of the SAWR project is to define a basic "example robot" to demonstrate autonomous navigation using ROS with the Intel® RealSense™ 3D cameras. This robot can also be used as a software development and testing platform and to deliver training material.

This repository contains both the hardware specification and the software to enable you to build, set up, and run your own SAWR.

Hardware

For compute and sensing, you can use either the Intel® RealSense™ Robotic Development Kit (which includes an Aaeon UP Board and an Intel® RealSense™ R200 3D camera) or an Intel® Joule™ compute module an Intel® RealSense™ R200 3D camera. The frame can also support a RealSense™ ZR300 3D camera, which has additional capabilities for visual odometry and inertial navigation, but the SW has not yet been fully updated and tested; stay tuned.

The hardware specification, located in sawr_hardware, is intended to be sufficient to allow you to build your own SAWR if you have access to a laser cutter. A general overview of the hardware design is in sawr_hardware/README.md and assembly details are in sawr_hardware/ASSEMBLY.md.

Software

The SAWR software stack enables basic autonomous navigation and currently supports building a 2D map with gmapper and then planning and executing a motion path using move-base. It does not yet support out-of-the-box secure teleoperation, however. You will have to either run ROS over a network isolated for security, set up a VPN, or set up your own secure remote teleoperation interface. See the Release Notes for details. Security updates will be distributed via the Security Notes. If you want to be updated on security issues with the SAWR please watch for updates on that file.

The software stack consists of ROS configuration files and some simple ROS nodes for motor control. For the most part, we have kept the stack as simple as possible. Additional instructions for the SAWR software stack are located in the sawr_master package:

• sawr_master/INSTALL.md: How to install the SAWR software stack.
• sawr_master/LAUNCH.md: How to run the SAWR software stack after installation.

Packages

Here is a list of packages included in this project to provide the software stack for the SAWR and a summary of what each one contains:

• sawr_master: Master package, installation instructions, and launch scripts.
• sawr_description: Run-time physical description (URDF files).
• sawr_base: Motor controller and hardware interfacing.
• sawr_scan: Camera configuration.
• sawr_mapping: SLAM configuration.
• sawr_navigation: Move-base configuration.

For the hardware, CAD files and build instructions are located in the following package. It is located in the same repository but is not actually required for run-time operation:

• sawr_hardware: CAD files and assembly instructions.

Additional Material

Please look for the SAWR project under 01.org for links to additional material. Only basic build instructions included in this package. The 01.org site will contain additional tutorial information including video, as well as a discussion of future plans. This site will also act as a hub pointing to any other resources (for instance, under the ROS wiki) as they become available.

In particular, we hope to make kits available for purchase and link to them from the 01.org SAWR project page. If you want to make and sell a kit, no problem! The licenses used permit commercial use and derivatives; see LICENSES.md for details of the licenses, and the package.xml files in each directory for information on which licenses apply to each component. However, please do let us know if you are producing a kit so we can link to you from the above site.

Contributing

This project welcomes third-party code via GitHub pull requests. Please review the Contribution License Agreement located in the root of the repository. For each pull request submitted, please state your legal name and the text,

"I agree to the terms of the 'Simple Autonomous Wheeled Robot' (SAWR) CLA."