Introduction

This project contains a set of patches and scripts to compile and run ROS 1 ROS 2 from within a Pepper robot, without the need of a tethered computer.

Pre-requirements:

Download and extract the NaoQi C++ framework and Softbanks's crosstool chain and point the AL_DIR and ALDE_CTC_CROSS environment variables to their respective paths:

export AL_DIR=/home/NaoQi  <-- Or wherever you installed NaoQi
export ALDE_CTC_CROSS=$AL_DIR/ctc-linux64-atom-2.5.2.74

Prepare cross-compiling environment

We're going to use Docker to set up a container that will compile all the tools for cross-compiling ROS and all of its dependencies. Go to https://https://www.docker.com/community-edition to download it and install it for your Linux distribution.

1. Clone the project's repository

$ git clone git clone https://github.com/esteve/ros2_pepper.git
$ cd ros2_pepper

Prepare the requirements for ROS

The following script will create a Docker image and compile Python interpreters suitable for both the host and the robot.

./prepare_requirements_ros1.sh

Build ROS dependencies

Before we actually build ROS for Pepper, there's a bunch of dependencies we'll need to cross compile which are not available in Softbank's CTC:

• console_bridge
• poco
• tinyxml2
• urdfdom
• urdfdom_headers

./build_ros1_dependencies.sh

Build ROS

Finally! Type the following, go grab a coffee and after a while you'll have an entire base ROS distro built for Pepper.

./build_ros1.sh

Copy ROS and their dependencies to the robot

By now you should have the following in the current directory:

• Python 2.7 built for Pepper (Python-2.7.13-pepper) and for your host computer (Python-2.7.13-host)
• All the dependencies required by ROS (ros1_dependencies)
• A ROS workspace with ROS Kinetic built for Pepper (pepper_ros1_ws)
• A helper script that will set up the ROS workspace in the robot

We're going to copy these to the robot, assuming that your robot is connected to your network, type the following:

Make sure you copy Python to the directory Python-2.7.13, without -pepper

$ scp -r .ros-root nao@IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_ROBOT:.ros-root

Run ROS from within Pepper

Now that we have it all in the robot, let's give it a try:

SSH into the robot

$ ssh nao@IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_ROBOT

Source (not run) the setup script

$ source .ros-root/setup_ros1_pepper.bash

Start naoqi_driver, note that NETWORK_INTERFACE may be either wlan0 or eth0, pick the appropriate interface if your robot is connected via wifi or ethernet

$ roslaunch naoqi_driver naoqi_driver.launch nao_ip:=IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_ROBOT roscore_ip:=IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_ROBOT network_interface:=NETWORK_ITERFACE

Enjoy!