Send commands to the pixhawk using ROS

ArduRover Miscellaneous
1

Hi all,
i’m using a pixhawk to manage the low level of my rover.
Now i want to use a board with ROS to send command directly to the rover that can be converted by the pixhawk into PWM signals for the servo steering and motors.
I’ve found the mavlink_ros stack and i can get infos from the pixhawk using the /fcu/imu topic, but i can’t recognize how to send command directly.
There is a mavlink/to topic too.
anyone can help me?
thanks in advance

2

In my opinion it is not possible in this way.

Have a look to the project called “roscopter”. With that you are able to read some sensor data. I did additionally some changes to the Rover-Firmware and to the roscopter node to send PWM commands for motor and steering. But this is A LOT OF WORK!

Good luck with your project.

3

Hi,
i’ve done it using roscopter, now i am able to move the rover with ROS using a gamepad, it’s amazing!!!
My next step will be the autonomous navigation/obstacle avoidance

4

[quote=“dottantgal”]Hi,
i’ve done it using roscopter, now i am able to move the rover with ROS using a gamepad, it’s amazing!!!
My next step will be the autonomous navigation/obstacle avoidance[/quote]

Hi @dottantgal,

I’m trying to do the same thing as you for my MSc project. Can you please explain me how you used roscopter to send commands to Pixhawk (a step by step and repo code if possible)?

I’m planning to do autonomous nav using a RGB-D camera. Still preparing the hardware though.

Best,

TSC

5

Hi,
at the moment i’m working on an “how to” that i will post later this month.
I ll advise you .
Cheers

6

[quote=“dottantgal”]Hi,
at the moment i’m working on an “how to” that i will post later this month.
I ll advise you .
Cheers[/quote]

Thank you very much! Your help is truly aprecciated.

Best regards

7

This is a video about my first test using ROS and ARDUROVER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NotJ7h4o7Wg

8

[quote=“dottantgal”]This is a video about my first test using ROS and ARDUROVER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NotJ7h4o7Wg[/quote]

Hi @dottantgal,

I sent you a PM through Youtube message system. You should have received it in Gmail account or something. If you please could take a look at it would be awesome.

Thank you. Best,
TSC21

9

Guys,

This is cool stuff I want to do the same:
have my rover use APM:rover in combination with ROS

@dottantgal any luck in getting a how to put together?

regards,

hugo