vrpn_client_ros

This fork aims to add velocity and acceleration support to ros2

Usage

sudo apt install -y \
     ros-$ROS_DISTRO-geometry-msgs \
     ros-$ROS_DISTRO-tf2 \
     ros-$ROS_DISTRO-tf2-ros \
     ros-$ROS_DISTRO-vrpn 
source /opt/ros/$ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash
cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone -b foxy-devel https://github.com/NOKOV-MOCAP/vrpn_client_ros
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select vrpn_client_ros  --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

nokov@ubuntu:~/ros2_ws/src/vrpn_client_ros/config$ gedit sample.params.yaml

vrpn_client_node:
  ros__parameters:
    server: 192.168.2.148
    port: 3883
    frame_id: "world"
    use_server_time: false
    refresh_tracker_frequency: 0.2
    update_frequency: 60.0
    broadcast_tf: true

This is a ROS parameter configuration file for vrpn_client_node. Here is a description of each parameter:

• server : indicates the IP address of the VRPN server. In this example, the server's IP address is' 192.168.2.148 ', which you can change to 10.1.1.198
• port : indicates the port number of the VRPN server. In this example, the port number is' 3883 '.
• frame_id : name of the frame on which to publish VRPN data. In this example, the name of the coordinate system is' world '.
• use_server_time : a Boolean value that indicates whether the server timestamp is used. If set to true, vrpn_client_node will use the timestamp received from the server. If set to false, vrpn_client_node will use its own timestamp. In this example, the parameter is set to 'false'.
• refresh_tracker_frequency : This is a frequency value indicating how often vrpn_client_node refreshes the status of the tracker. In this example, the frequency is refreshed every 5 seconds (0.2 Hz).
• update_frequency : This is a frequency value indicating how often vrpn_client_node updates data and publishes it to ROS. In this example, this frequency is 60 times per second (60 Hz).
• broadcast_tf : a Boolean value that indicates whether the tf broadcast is enabled. If set to true, vrpn_client_node will broadcast the trackers pose to tf topic. If set to false, vrpn_client_node will not boradcast trackers pose. in this example, the parameter is set to 'false'.

Launch Default Configuration from Command Line

Run the following command,

ros2 launch vrpn_client_ros sample.launch.py

Then with ros2 topic list, you should be able to see the following topics

/vrpn_client_node/<tracker_name>/pose
/vrpn_client_node/<tracker_name>/twist # optional when mocap reports velocity data
/vrpn_client_node/<tracker_name>/accel # optional when mocap reports acceleration data
/tf                                    # optional when broadcast_tf is set to true

where <tracker_name> is usually the name of your tracked objects.