Spot ROS Driver

Prerequisite

pip3 install bosdyn-client bosdyn-mission bosdyn-api bosdyn-core

Documentation

Check-out the usage and user documentation HERE

Environment Variables

This driver supports configuration via environment variables. These can either be manually set in the terminal before starting the driver, or added to $HOME/.bashrc as-desired. The table below lists the available variables and their default values:

Variable	Default Value	Description
SPOT_PACK	0	If 1, enables the standard ROS backpack accessory and adds it to the URDF
SPOT_LIDAR_MOUNT	0	If 1, adds the Lidar mount to the backpack. Requires SPOT_PACK to be 1
SPOT_VELODYNE	0	If 1, adds the a VLP-16 sensor to the lidar mount. Requires SPOT_LIDAR_MOUNT to be 1
SPOT_VELODYNE_AUTOLAUNCH	1	If 1 and SPOT_VELODYNE is also 1, the VLP16 ROS node will start automatically
SPOT_VELODYNE_XYZ	0 0 0	XYZ offset for the VLP-16 from the backpack lidar mount
SPOT_VELODYNE_RPY	0 0 0	RPY offset for the VLP-16 from the backpack lidar mount
SPOT_VELODYNE_HOST	192.168.131.20	IP address of the VLP-16 sensor
SPOT_URDF_EXTRAS	empty.urdf	Optional URDF file to add additional joints and links to the robot
SPOT_JOY_DEVICE	/dev/input/js0	The Linux joypad input device used by the joy_teleop node
SPOT_JOY_CONFIG	spot_control/config/teleop.yaml	Joypad button/axis configuration file for joy_teleop

Building Quick-Start

NOTE: please follow the link above for the complete documentation. You will need to configure the networking on both your computer and the base Spot platform before you can run the driver.

Install Dependencies

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver 'hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80' --recv-key C1CF6E31E6BADE8868B172B4F42ED6FBAB17C654
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-melodic-ros-base

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-pip
pip3 install cython
pip3 install bosdyn-client bosdyn-mission bosdyn-api bosdyn-core
pip3 install empy

If using the Velodyne VLP-16 mounted to the standard Spot backpack you will also need the velodyne_description and velodyne_pointcloud ROS packages. These are included as dependencies in the spot_driver and spot_description packages respectively, and will be installed if you use rosdep install ... in your workspace.

The teleop_joy package is also included as a dependency to allow Spot to be controlled using a bluetooth or USB game controller.

Building for Melodic

Please note that the Spot SDK uses Python3, which is not officially supported by ROS Melodic. If you encounter an error of this form:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/administrator/catkin_ws/src/spot_ros/spot_driver/scripts/spot_ros", line 3, in <module>
    from spot_driver.spot_ros import SpotROS
  File "/home/administrator/catkin_ws/src/spot_ros/spot_driver/src/spot_driver/spot_ros.py", line 19, in <module>
    import tf2_ros
  File "/opt/ros/melodic/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/tf2_ros/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    from tf2_py import *
  File "/opt/ros/melodic/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/tf2_py/__init__.py", line 38, in <module>
    from ._tf2 import *
ImportError: dynamic module does not define module export function (PyInit__tf2)

when launching the driver, please follow these steps:

1. rm -rf devel/ build/ install/ -- this will remove any old build artifacts from your workspace

2. git clone https://github.com/ros/geometry2 --branch 0.6.5 into your src folder

3. rebuild your workspace with

catkin_make --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include/python3.6m -DPYTHON_LIBRARY=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.6m.so

Or if you are using an Nvidia Jetson:

catkin_make --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include/python3.6m -DPYTHON_LIBRARY=/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libpython3.6m.so

4. re-run source devel/setup.bash

5. start the driver with roslaunch spot_driver driver.launch