AltiflyALTIFLY

Space ROS Demos Quickstart

Gonzalo Astorga

Gonzalo Astorga

@gonastorga

Space ROS Demos Quickstart

If you're competing in the NASA Space ROS Sim Summer Sprint Challenge, this guide is here to help you quickly set up and run Space ROS demos, like the Curiosity Mars Rover and Canadarm, using Docker on Ubuntu 22.04. We've carefully compiled a comprehensive, easy-to-follow set of instructions to address gaps in the official documentation, ensuring that no one is left out of the competition—something that many participants mentioned as a concern during the webinar.

Prerequisites

  1. Ubuntu 22.04: Ensure you are running Ubuntu 22.04.
  2. Docker: Install Docker and grant Docker sudo permissions.
  3. Earthly: Install Earthly for building Docker images.
  4. ROS 2 Humble and Gazebo Fortress: Install the correct binaries with apt.
  5. Space ROS and Demo Repositories: Clone and build the Space ROS and demo repositories.

Page Index

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Install Docker

First, install Docker:

Follow the instructions in this link Docker Installation Guide

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
 
# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo   "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu   $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" |   sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Grant Docker sudo permissions:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and log back in to apply the new group membership.

Step 2: Install Earthly

Follow the steps here: Earthly Installation Guide

or

Install Earthly for building Docker images:

sudo /bin/sh -c 'wget https://github.com/earthly/earthly/releases/latest/download/earthly-linux-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/earthly && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/earthly && /usr/local/bin/earthly bootstrap --with-autocomplete'

Step 3: Install ROS 2 Humble and Gazebo

Follow the steps here: ROS 2 Humble Installation Guide

or TLDR:

Add the ROS 2 repository and install the required packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y locales
sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl gnupg2 lsb-release
 
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null
 
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
 
sudo apt install -y ros-humble-desktop
sudo apt install -y ros-humble-gazebo-ros-pkgs

Step 4: Clone and Build Space ROS

Follow the steps here: Space ROS Main Repository

or TLDR:

Clone and build the Space ROS image:

git clone https://github.com/space-ros/space-ros.git
cd space-ros
git checkout -b humble-2024.07.0
earthly build +repos-file

Step 5: Clone and Build Demo Docker Images

You can find this information at Space ROS Docker Repository

Clone the space-ros/docker repository to build the space_robots and moveit2 images:

git clone https://github.com/space-ros/docker.git
cd docker
 
cd moveit2
./build.sh
 
cd ..
cd space_robots
./build.sh

This will take a while to build—probably around 1 hour—so grab a coffee, sit back, and relax. You might take this time to read about NASA's Moon to Mars initiatives and Artemis missions to get ideas for new features or demos.

Step 6: Run the Demo Docker

Allow GUI passthrough for Docker:

xhost +local:docker

Run the Docker container:

./run.sh

If you encounter issues with GPU support, you might need to remove the --gpus all flag from run.sh.

Step 7: Running the Demos

Curiosity Mars Rover Demo

Launch the demo:

ros2 launch mars_rover mars_rover.launch.py

To view the camera feed, click the refresh button on the top left corner.

Perform Tasks

Setup

Open a new terminal and attach to the currently running container:

docker exec -it <container-name> bash

Make sure packages are sourced:

source ~/spaceros/install/setup.bash
source ~/demos_ws/install/setup.bash

Available Commands

Drive the rover forward

ros2 service call /move_forward std_srvs/srv/Empty

Stop the rover

ros2 service call /move_stop std_srvs/srv/Empty

Turn left

ros2 service call /turn_left std_srvs/srv/Empty

Turn right

ros2 service call /turn_right std_srvs/srv/Empty

Open the tool arm:

ros2 service call /open_arm std_srvs/srv/Empty

Close the tool arm:

ros2 service call /close_arm std_srvs/srv/Empty

Open the mast (camera arm)

ros2 service call /mast_open std_srvs/srv/Empty

Close the mast (camera arm)

ros2 service call /mast_close std_srvs/srv/Empty

Canadarm demo

ros2 launch canadarm canadarm.launch.py

Available Commands

Open the arm

ros2 service call /open_arm std_srvs/srv/Empty

Close the arm

ros2 service call /close_arm std_srvs/srv/Empty

Moves the arm ramdonly

ros2 service call /random_arm std_srvs/srv/Empty

Credits

See all posts