Hey all,
Here’s a quick round-up of some of the new software that’s been released for Stretch these past few weeks.
New tutorial for developing on web interface
If you’re interested in learning how write frontend React components that can call into ROS2 APIs, I’ve written a new tutorial called Developing on the Web Interface. The web interface is sophisticated web app that enables user to call and teleoperate their Stretch robot over the internet. I hope this tutorial makes it easier to approach adding new features to or forking the Stretch Web Teleop codebase.
Fix for Dex Teleop’s fast mode
Dex Teleop’s “fast mode” enables the robot to move quicker while tracking your demonstations. A poorly tuned current limit on the lift joint caused stuttering/jerky motion from the robot. This makes collecting demonstrations quite difficult. The fix is now merged mainline, so simply git pull in the folder to get it.
Make it easier to install Stretch AI
Peiqi has made it easier to install Stretch AI and its Dynamem module in his fix here. This has been merged mainline, so simply follow the installation instructions to get started!
Fix for mapping with Nav2
Using the gamepad controller with Nav2 to create a map previously involved the teleop_twist node. The UX of the controller from this node was just okay. Recently, we’ve introduced an “gamepad” mode in Stretch ROS2, which has the same UX as stretch_gamepad_teleop.py (the same gamepad teleop from the Getting Started tutorial). In this fix, we switch Nav2 to use “gamepad” mode. Update your ROS workspace to get it!
Make it easier to start/stop web teleop
The web interface is launched through scripts called launch_interface.sh and stop_interface.sh. Internally, they use screen to manage the backend. While this provides reliability, it makes it harder to debug issues because the logs are not saved. Improvements to these scripts have merged in this PR and instructions on collecting debug logs is now available in the troubleshooting section here.
Two fixes for Stretch’s Python library
Two small fixes for Stretch Body. See each PR for details:
- Check calibration directory exists by hello-binit · Pull Request #360 · hello-robot/stretch_body · GitHub
- Fix for reject waypoint trajectories mismatch joints by hello-binit · Pull Request #361 · hello-robot/stretch_body · GitHub
Get the fixes by updating your Python libraries.
Many small fixes for Stretch’s ROS2 packages
See each PR for details:
- Default to uncalibrated urdf / params by hello-binit · Pull Request #186 · hello-robot/stretch_ros2 · GitHub
- Added colcon and vscode generated files to .gitignore by hello-robot-shehab · Pull Request #185 · hello-robot/stretch_ros2 · GitHub
- Remove Unused Teleop Type Param in Mapping Launches by hello-vinitha · Pull Request #183 · hello-robot/stretch_ros2 · GitHub
- Make it easy to run stretch_driver separately by hello-binit · Pull Request #182 · hello-robot/stretch_ros2 · GitHub
Get the fixes by updating your ROS workspace.