7.37 segwayrmp

Authors

John Sweeney sweeney(at)cs.umass.edu,Brian P. Gerkey gerkey(at)stanford.edu,Andrew Howard ahoward(at)usc.edu

Synopsis

The segwayrmp driver provides control of a Segway RMP (Robotic Mobility Platform), which is an experimental robotic version of the Segway HT (Human Transport), a kind of two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooter.

Interfaces

Supported interfaces:

• position
• position3d

Required devices:

• None

Supported configuration requests:

• For the position interface:
  • PLAYER_POSITION_MOTOR_POWER_REQ
  • PLAYER_POSITION_GET_GEOM_REQ
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RESET_ODOM_REQ
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_VELOCITY_SCALE
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_ACCEL_SCALE
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_TURN_SCALE
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_GAIN_SCHEDULE
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_CURRENT_LIMIT
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_RST_INTEGRATORS
  • PLAYER_POSITION_RMP_SHUTDOWN
• For the position3d interface:
  • PLAYER_POSITION_MOTOR_POWER_REQ

Configuration file options

Name Type Default Meaning

canio string "kvaser" The kind of underlying CAN I/O to be used.

Notes

• Because of its power, weight, height, and dynamics, the Segway RMP is a potentially dangerous machine. Be very careful with it.
• This driver is experimental, as has not been widely used or extensively tested. Use at your own risk.
• Although the RMP does not actually support motor power control from software, for safety you must explicitly enable the motors using a PLAYER_POSITION_MOTOR_POWER_REQ request (this request is supported in both position and position3d modes).
• For safety, this driver will stop the RMP (i.e., send zero velocities) if no new command has been received from a client in the previous 400ms or so. Thus, even if you want to continue moving at a constant velocity, you must continuously send your desired velocities.
• Most of the configuration requests have not been tested.
• The position3d interface is entirely new and its use with this driver has not been tested.
• Currently, the only supported type of CAN I/O is "kvaser", which uses Kvaser, Inc.'s CANLIB interface library. This library provides access to CAN cards made by Kvaser, such as the LAPcan II. However, the CAN I/O subsystem within this driver is modular, so that it should be pretty straightforward to add support for other CAN cards.