Simulator

The simulator profile is similar, again, but in this case you do not need a physical robot. Instead, you will run a simulation of the robot and control this.

Getting Started

On a workstation, install ROS, install the MDK, and then install Gazebo.

You will need a ROS master running on your workstation, so open a window and proceed as follows.

$ roscore ...

You will now be able to run the simulation by following the procedure below in a second window.

$ cd ~/mdk/sim $ ./launch_sim.sh ...

The simulator will start, as shown.

Please note the limitations of the simulator versus the physical robot.

Examples

You can now control MiRo as follows—the robot will swing its head from side to side. Press CTRL+C to stop the controller.

$ cd ~/mdk/bin/shared $ ./client_test.py yaw ...

There are various example clients provided—see Examples for more details.

GUI client

The provided GUI client is a great way to familiarize yourself with your robot's sensors and actuators. Proceed as follows to start it.

$ cd ~/mdk/bin/shared $ ./client_gui.py ...

Simulation parameters

A configuration file is installed at ~/.miro2/config/simulation_parameters which provides some control over the simulator.

frame: Override the default camera configuration at simulator start-up.
use_wideanglecamera_eyes: A value of 1 causes the simulator to use a wide-angle camera model that closely matches the cameras on the physical robot. This model produces somewhat less clear images, however—if you want a clearer image and are less concerned about matching the robot's cameras, you can turn this off to use a narrow-angle camera model. For this reason, the default is to use the narrow-angle model.
enable_*: Disabling sensors that are not in use may reduce processor load.