This repository contains some tools for driving a jetbot, written in Go.
Why Go instead of the usual python and/or ROS? Mainly as a learning experience and to see how much support there is for Go in a robotics environment. Also, the concurrency and parallelism of Go seems like it could be a good fit.
So far there is only a very basic drive application; I'm planning on building on it as I have time.
You need the golang compiler installed on the jetbot. The download page is here. I downloaded this one:
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.20.5.linux-arm64.tar.gz
Expand and install on the jetbot at /usr/local/go:
sudo tar xzf go1.20.5.linux-arm64.tar.gz -C /usr/local
Then add the path to your ~/.profile file:
if [ -d "/usr/local/go/bin" ] ; then
PATH="/usr/local/go/bin:$PATH"
fi
That's all. The dependencies needed to build should be downloaded automatically.
Simply run make at the top level and the tools will be built and placed in a top-level
bin directory.
Like it says, it stops the robot. If one of the other applications is stopped abruptly, for example with ctrl-c, and the robot is still on the move, you can stop it with this.
./bin/stop
This is the base level drive application. It uses the gamepad controller to drive the wheels directly.
There are two controller options:
- '0' - left and right joysticks directly control the left and right motors (lr)
- '1' - right joystick controls longitudinal and angular speeds (lw)
To stop cleanly, press the 'X' button.
Full usage is:
Usage: drive [-x] [-s top-speed] [-c controller]
-c int
select the controller to use (0 - lr, 1 - lw)
-s int
set the top speed scale (1 - 8) (default 2)
-x motors are wired the other way around
If you've wired your motors the same way I have, then you can start with simply:
./drive
If the controls are the wrong way for you, you've wired your motors the opposite way to me. To fix it, run the command like this:
./drive -x
The speed setting controls the duty cycle of the PWM signal driving the motor and sets the top speed. This starts with a value of 1 (12.5%) and ends at 8 (100%). The default is 2 (25%) and is a pretty good place to start.