Introduction

This package provides the official ROS driver for the 221e Multisensor InerTial CHamaleon (MITCH) V2 device.

Package available for:

• ROS Noetic - Ubuntu 20.04
• ROS Noetic - Windows 10

Installation

Install ROS and create a Catkin workspace

a. Ubuntu 20.04:

• Install ROS Noetic on Ubuntu 20.04

• Create your Catkin Workspace

b. Windows 10:

• Install ROS Noetic on Windows 10

• Open your ROS short cut terminal

• Create your Catkin Workspace (in this tutorial, we assume that your catkin workspace is located in your c:\ directory)

Tips for Windows:

• Remember to start your installation routine from the ROS command short cut (created in the installation step)

• Assuming you are exploiting Microsoft Visual Studio 2019, remember to include the "Desktop development with C++" workload. Moreover, in the Individual Components, select "Windows 10 SDK".

• if you need the Ninja build tool, go to the releases page and download a suitable binary for Windows. Place ninja.exe in a suitable spot, e.g., C:\Ninja. Make sure that CMake can find ninja.exe by adding C:\Ninja to your %PATH%.

To set up the catkin_make tools in Visual Studio 2019:

• From the ROS shortcut, enter devenv to start your Visual Studio IDE;

• Choose to open up your catkin workspace from your local folder;

• As Visual Studio is using different settings for CMake projects, we need to configure the CMake file. Thus, click Project --> CMake Settings for Project and edit the JSON version of your Cmake settings file as follows:

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "x64-Debug",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "configurationType": "RelWithDebInfo",
      "inheritEnvironments": [ "msvc_x64_x64" ],
      "buildRoot": "C:\\catkin_ws\\build",
      "installRoot": "C:\\catkin_ws\\install",
      "cmakeCommandArgs": "DCATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX=C:\\catkin_ws\\devel",
      "ctestCommandArgs": ""
    }
  ]
}

In this way, Cmaking and building your project from Visual Studio will be equal to a catkin_make outside the Visual Studio environment. You can also open the Command Line directly from the Visual Studio Tools button.

Install lib221e

lib221e is the C++ library for the 221e Communication Protocol. Follow the installation instructions available here.

Clone mitch_v2_driver in your Catkin Workspace

a) Ubuntu:

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src/
$ git clone https://github.com/221eROS/mitch_v2_driver.git
$ catkin_make

b) Windows:

$ cd c:\catkin_ws\src
$ git clone https://github.com/221eROS/mitch_v2_driver.git
$ cd ..
$ catkin_make

Usage

Device connection

Switch on your MITCH V2 device. From your catkin workspace, launch the following command to connect to your sensor and enable its ROS node:

$ roslaunch mitch_v2_driver mitch_v2.launch

Among others, this launch file allows you to set: - port name (Default: COM4); - baudrate (Default: 115200).

Device shutdown

Assuming the ROS node of your MITCH V2 sensor is active [step 3(a)], launch the following command to switch off your device:

$ roslaunch mitch_v2_driver shutdown.launch

Battery charge and voltage

Assuming the ROS node of your MITCH V2 sensor is active [step 3(a)], type the following command from your catkin workspace:

$ roslaunch mitch_v2_driver battery.launch

The node will send back the battery charge, its voltage, or both depending on whether the arguments *charge* and *voltage* are set to *true*.

Firmware version

Assuming the ROS node of your MITCH V2 sensor is active [step 3(a)], type the following command from your catkin workspace:

$ roslaunch mitch_v2_driver get_firmware_version.launch