Project 2: Go Chase It

Use ROS and Gazebo to build a mobile robot for chasing a white ball.

Structure

.RoboND-Go-Chase-It                # Go Chase It Project
├── my_robot                       # my_robot package
│   ├── launch                     # launch folder for launch files
│   │   ├── robot_description.launch
│   │   ├── world.launch
│   ├── meshes                     # meshes folder for sensors
│   │   ├── hokuyo.dae
│   ├── urdf                       # urdf folder for xarco files
│   │   ├── my_robot.gazebo
│   │   ├── my_robot.xacro
│   ├── world                      # world folder for world files
│   │   ├── UdacityOffice.world
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt             # compiler instructions
│   ├── package.xml                # package info
├── ball_chaser                    # ball_chaser package
│   ├── launch                     # launch folder for launch files
│   │   ├── ball_chaser.launch
│   ├── src                        # source folder for C++ scripts
│   │   ├── drive_bot.cpp
│   │   ├── process_images.cpp
│   ├── srv                        # service folder for ROS services
│   │   ├── DriveToTarget.srv
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt             # compiler instructions
│   ├── package.xml                # package info
└──

my_robot: This package defines the world and the robot.

ball_chaser: This package contains two ROS nodes for commanding the robot to chase the white ball.

Prerequisites

1. Install Gazebo and ROS on Linux.
2. Install sudo apt-get install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-gazebo-ros-pkgs (If you are using gazebo11 it should be sudo apt-get install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-gazebo11-ros-pkgs)
3. Cmake and gcc/g++

Build and Launch

1. Clone and initialize project with a catkin workspace

$ mkdir catkin_ws && cd catkin_ws
$ git clone https://github.com/huuanhhuynguyen/RoboND-Go-Chase-It.git
$ mv RoboND-Go-Chase-It src
$ cd src && catkin_init_workspace

2. Move back to catkin_ws\ and build

$ cd ..
$ catkin_make

3. Launch the world

$ source devel/setup.bash
$ roslaunch my_robot world.launch

4. Open another terminal (Ctrl+Shift+T), and launch the ball_chaser package

$ source devel/setup.bash
$ roslaunch ball_chaser ball_chaser.launch

5. Play around! Pick up the white ball and place in front of the mobile robot. The robot will follow the ball.