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2 | | -<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>All Day I Dream About Science</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/" rel="alternate"></link><link href="/atom.xml" rel="self"></link><id>http://siddhantsci.org/</id><updated>2015-07-31T19:53:52+00:00</updated><entry><title>Telerobotics and Bodytracking - The Rendezvous</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/blog/2015/07/31/telerobotics-and-bodytracking-the-rendezvous/" rel="alternate"></link><updated>2015-07-31T19:53:52+00:00</updated><author><name>Siddhant Shrivastava</name></author><id>tag:siddhantsci.org,2015-07-31:blog/2015/07/31/telerobotics-and-bodytracking-the-rendezvous/</id><summary type="html"><p>Hi! The past week was a refreshingly positive one. I was able to solve some of the insidious issues that were plaguing the efforts that I was putting in last week.</p> |
| 2 | +<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>All Day I Dream About Science</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/" rel="alternate"></link><link href="/atom.xml" rel="self"></link><id>http://siddhantsci.org/</id><updated>2015-08-14T19:53:52+00:00</updated><entry><title>Telerobotics - The Penultimate Crescendo</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/blog/2015/08/14/telerobotics-the-penultimate-crescendo/" rel="alternate"></link><updated>2015-08-14T19:53:52+00:00</updated><author><name>Siddhant Shrivastava</name></author><id>tag:siddhantsci.org,2015-08-14:blog/2015/08/14/telerobotics-the-penultimate-crescendo/</id><summary type="html"><p>Hi! As the hard-deadline date for the <em>Google Summer of Code</em> program draws to a close, I can feel the palpable tension that is shared by my mentors and fellow students at the <strong>Italian Mars Society</strong> and the <strong>Python Software Foundation</strong>.</p> |
| 3 | +<h1>All-Hands Meeting</h1> |
| 4 | +<p>We at the <em>Italian Mars Society</em> had the third all-hands meeting last evening (13th August). The almost two-hour Skype Conference call discussed a gamut of topics in-depth. Some of these were-</p> |
| 5 | +<h2><strong>Software Testing</strong> guidelines</h2> |
| 6 | +<p>Ezio described the various ways of <strong>Unit Testing</strong> in different applications like rover movements, bodytracking, etc. In my case I had been checking for setup prerequisites and establishing the serializability of the ROS system before other modules could start up. That way the it is successfully ensured that all the required distributed systems are up and running before they are used. <strong>Integration Testing</strong> is crucial in the ERAS application where things like Telerobotics, Bodytracking, and the EUROPA Planner all blend together seamlessly. I've integrated Telerobotics and Bodytracking which can be observed in <a href="https://bitbucket.org/italianmarssociety/eras/commits/e87a0c1bfb46e0b8ba4b684b51060f8527aa1d6b">this commit</a>.</p> |
| 7 | +<h2>Telerobotics</h2> |
| 8 | +<p>Telerobotics is more precise than ever. This video demonstrates this fact -</p> |
| 9 | +<p>.. youtube:: 94vfIr1cu7k</p> |
| 10 | +<p>The YouTube link for the video is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94vfIr1cu7k">this</a>.</p> |
| 11 | +<p>I improved upon the previous integration with Bodytracking and handled the possible exceptions that may occur. The results have been stunning. I used the updated version of <a href="https://vigentile.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/enhancement-of-kinect-integration-in-v-eras-fifth-report/">Vito's bodytracker</a> which can detect closed hands. Since the sensor refresh-rate has been reduced to 30 times per second, the Telerobotics module has much smoother movements. Here is a snapshot of the Bodytracking application running in a Windows Virtual Machine -</p> |
| 12 | +<p><img alt="Visual Tracker" src="http://siddhantsci.org/images/visual-3.png" /></p> |
| 13 | +<h2>EUROPA Planner and Navigation Integration</h2> |
| 14 | +<p>Shridhar has been working on the Planner which outputs Cartesian coordinates in the format <code>(x,y)</code> to which the rover must navigate. I am using the <code>AMCL</code> navigation algorithm for known maps in addition to the <code>actionlib</code> server of ROS to facilitate this integration. The challenge here is to resolve between the Cartesian coordinates of <code>EUROPA</code> and that of <code>ROS</code>. This should be hopefully complete in the next couple of days.</p> |
| 15 | +<h2>AMADEE15 mission</h2> |
| 16 | +<p>Yuval described that the the recently concluded mission was a huge success which focused on the following frontiers-</p> |
| 17 | +<ul> |
| 18 | +<li>GPS integration with Blender</li> |
| 19 | +<li>Photogrammetry to reproduce Blender scenes for Virtual EVAs.</li> |
| 20 | +<li>Unity3D and Oculus Integration</li> |
| 21 | +<li>AoudaX realtime software</li> |
| 22 | +<li>Generic ERAS Data Logger</li> |
| 23 | +<li>Husky navigation</li> |
| 24 | +</ul> |
| 25 | +<p>Franco explained in brief about the <em>Neuro-vestibular</em> and <em>Husky</em> Scientific experiments.</p> |
| 26 | +<h2>Other things</h2> |
| 27 | +<p>Final efforts with Docker - After a lot of success, I have just one gripe with <strong>Docker</strong>. Running the Gazebo simulator, <code>rviz</code> (ROS visualizer), and the Telerobotics module requires THREE terminals.Working with ROS as a master inherently requires access to a lot of terminals for logging, echoing topic messages, starting programs, etc. The current ways to achieve multiple terminals and Qt applications in Docker are at best makeshift workarounds. To handle a graphics-heavy application like Telerobotics, we require a Graphical Environment. Docker is great for providing a common service framework but not so good at graphical applications like ROS. That's why I have been unable to get Docker working with the graphical aspects of ROS.</p> |
| 28 | +<h1>Documentation</h1> |
| 29 | +<p>In the final leg of the program, it is vital to go all-guns-blazing with the documentation of the software work that the students do. This is to ensure future development, maintainability, and clarity of thought. I recently added instructions in the Documentation directory - <code>telerobotics/doc/</code> to <strong>replicate my setup</strong>. This can be found in my <a href="https://bitbucket.org/italianmarssociety/eras/commits/dcd59b09d09f2e782e8c596f9f76b529eafd2151">current commit</a>.</p> |
| 30 | +<p>I am ensuring that my mentors would be able to replicate my setup and give feedback very soon. The last week of GSoC is quite frenzied with the action to produce a consistent wrap-up of the project. The next post will officially be the last post of my GSoC 2015 experience. In reality, of course, I would keep working on the project and keep blogging :)</p> |
| 31 | +<p>Till then, ciao.</p></summary><category term="GSoC"></category><category term="Python"></category><category term="PSF"></category><category term="computers"></category><category term="science"></category><category term="exploration"></category><category term="space"></category><category term="mars"></category><category term="IMS"></category><category term="Italian Mars Society"></category></entry><entry><title>Fine-tuning Telerobotics</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/blog/2015/08/07/fine-tuning-telerobotics/" rel="alternate"></link><updated>2015-08-07T19:53:52+00:00</updated><author><name>Siddhant Shrivastava</name></author><id>tag:siddhantsci.org,2015-08-07:blog/2015/08/07/fine-tuning-telerobotics/</id><summary type="html"><p>Hi! As discussed in the previous week, I have been <strong>able</strong> to get the <strong>integration of Telerobotics and Bodytracking</strong> up and running. Huge Victory :) Let me say the same thing in a much bolder typeface -</p> |
| 32 | +<h2>Integration Successful!</h2> |
| 33 | +<p>The following screenshot demonstrates what I'm talking about -</p> |
| 34 | +<p><img alt="Telerobotics Integration" src="http://siddhantsci.org/images/telerobotics-0.png" /></p> |
| 35 | +<h2>Screen recording - YouTube Video</h2> |
| 36 | +<p>I used the same tool for screen capturing this integration that I used for real-time streaming from a 3-D camera. The output is as follows -</p> |
| 37 | +<p>.. youtube:: T3qbZaGvYao</p> |
| 38 | +<p>If my blogging platform is unable to embed the video on the page, you could <a href="https://youtu.be/T3qbZaGvYao">use this link</a> to watch the first version of Telerobotics and Bodytracking integration. The Visual Tracker designed by Vito looks like this -</p> |
| 39 | +<p><img alt="Visual Tracker" src="http://siddhantsci.org/images/visual-2.png" /></p> |
| 40 | +<h2>Current Status</h2> |
| 41 | +<p>It is evident from the video that the setup is functional but not efficient. Moreover, it is buggy. The velocity values are way off the mark that ROS can take which results in jerks in Husky's motion. Also there is a disparity between the refresh rates of ROS and Tango-Controls which is identified by the Device not being unavailable intermittently.</p> |
| 42 | +<p>I strongly hope I'll be able to solve these issues in the next post. Of all the <strong>aha</strong> moments that I have been privy to, watching the Integration working was probably the biggest one of them all. It looks futuristic to me. With the Internet of Everything, a lot of things are going to use Teleoperation. I am so glad that we at the Italian Mars Society are gauging the future trends and experimenting with them in the present. I am honored to be facilitate that experiment.</p> |
| 43 | +<p>My next post is surely going to be a much more exciting run-down on how Telerobotics progresses :)</p> |
| 44 | +<p>Stay Tuned. Ciao!</p></summary><category term="GSoC"></category><category term="Python"></category><category term="PSF"></category><category term="computers"></category><category term="science"></category><category term="exploration"></category><category term="space"></category><category term="mars"></category><category term="IMS"></category><category term="Italian Mars Society"></category></entry><entry><title>Telerobotics and Bodytracking - The Rendezvous</title><link href="http://siddhantsci.org/blog/2015/07/31/telerobotics-and-bodytracking-the-rendezvous/" rel="alternate"></link><updated>2015-07-31T19:53:52+00:00</updated><author><name>Siddhant Shrivastava</name></author><id>tag:siddhantsci.org,2015-07-31:blog/2015/07/31/telerobotics-and-bodytracking-the-rendezvous/</id><summary type="html"><p>Hi! The past week was a refreshingly positive one. I was able to solve some of the insidious issues that were plaguing the efforts that I was putting in last week.</p> |
3 | 45 | <h2>Virtual Machine Networking issues Solved!</h2> |
4 | 46 | <p>I was able to use the Tango server across the Windows 7 Virtual Machine and the Tango Host on my Ubuntu 14.04 Host Machine. The proper Networking mode for this turns out to be <strong>Bridged Networking mode</strong> which basically tunnels a connection between the Virtual Machine and the host.</p> |
5 | 47 | <p>In the bridged mode, the Virtual Machine exposes a Virtual Network interface with its own IP Address and Networking stack. In my case it was <code>vm8</code> with an IP Address different from the IP Address patterns that were used by the <em>real</em> Ethernet and WiFi Network Interface Cards. Using bridged mode, I was able to maintain the Tango Device Database server on Ubuntu and use Vito's Bodytracking device on Windows. The Virtual Machine didn't slow down things by any magnitude while communicating across the Tango devices.</p> |
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