johannhaselberger/coros repository overview

Jumpstart ROS developent with no headache! Full browser support. OpenGL support with no need of a physically atachted GPU.

⁠📦 Included

⁠ROS

• full ros distro (currently melodic)
• rqt and all plugins
• rviz

⁠IDE (accessible through the browser)

• full python (2.7) environment
• visual studio code server

⁠🏃 Start the service

There are two provided start and stop scripts - one for windows, the other one for unix systems. First pull the github project to get these scripts with git clone https://github.com/gismo07/coros.git.

⁠windows

1. cd utils-windows
2. .\start-windows.cmd

⁠unix

1. cd utils
2. sudo chmod +x ./start.sh
3. ./start.sh

⁠💻 Access the environment

• to open the IDE, simply open the browser and go to localhost:80⁠
• The password is currently set to dev@ros
• to see rviz or some other gui stuff, open another browser tab localhost:6080/vnc.html⁠ and click connect

⁠💾 Data storage

Per default all perisistent data is located at the host pc (assuming windows for now) under C:/ros-persistent-data. Create this folder before starting the container.

⁠How to bind to a local folder

If you want to bind a existing folder of the host to the docker container, the docker-compose.yaml file is used for that. For each folder, a new volume section has to be added:

        volumes:
            - type: bind
              source: /<PATH_TO_FOLDER_ON_HOST>
              target: /<TARGET_DESTINATION_ON_THE_CONTAINER>
              volume:
                nocopy: true  # just keep that

⁠🚘 Carla integration

Since version 1.1 COROS comes with a preinstalled version of the Carla PythonAPI⁠ and ROS bridge⁠. Currently we use Carla version 0.9.10.1.

⁠Start Carla

To use the Carla-Ros bridge, make sure that Carla is running and accessible over the network.

⁠Linux users with NVIDIA GPU

1. Get the right carla docker image:

   sudo docker pull carlasim/carla:0.9.10.1
   

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2. start carla while forwarding the x context:

   sudo docker run \
     -e SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 \
     -e DISPLAY=:99 \
     -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
     -p 2000-2002:2000-2002 \
     -it \
     --gpus all \
     carlasim/carla:0.9.10.1 ./CarlaUE4.sh -opengl
   

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3. alternatively, carla can also be started without graphical output:

   sudo docker run \
     -e SDL_VIDEODRIVER=offscreen \
     -e DISPLAY=:99 \
     -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
     -p 2000-2002:2000-2002 \
     -it \
     --gpus all \
     carlasim/carla:0.9.10.1 ./CarlaUE4.sh -opengl
   

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⁠Windows users

1. Download the 0.9.10.1 version from the offical carla releases⁠.

2. Start the carla exe located under CARLA_0.9.10.1\WindowsNoEditor\CarlaUE4.exe:

   ./CarlaUE4.exe -Carla-server -windowed
   

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⁠Start the ROS bridge

Within COROS everything is allready setup to communicate with carla.

Open a new terminal and start the ros bridge example:

roslaunch carla_ros_bridge carla_ros_bridge_with_example_ego_vehicle.launch

⁠🔧 Configuration

The environment comes shipped with a docker-compose.yaml to start the service and manage some parameters:

version: '3.7'
services:
    headless-ros-vnc:
        ports:
            - '80:8080'
            #- '5900:5900'
            - '6080:6080'
        volumes:
            - type: bind
              source: C:/ros-persistent-data
              target: /my_ros_data
              volume:
                nocopy: true
        image: johannhaselberger/coros

coros makes use of three open ports:

• 8080: access to visual studio code server
• 5900: the default vnc port (could be theoretically accessed with any vnc client, however, as the port is forwarded via noVNC that's not intended)
• 6080: access to the novnc web interface

Important: for each instance of coros these ports have to be assigned to available host-ports!

⁠😱 Known issues

⁠Mounting errors on windows

1. start docker with admin rights
2. right click on the docker system tray icon -> Settings
3. Under Shared Drives set the checkbox for the C drive

⁠Access denied errors

Try to start the service with sudo rights. On windows open our shell with admin rights.

⁠Operating system linux cannot be used on this platform error

This is mainly a windows error. Right klick on the docker tray icon and select switch to linux containers.

⁠I can see some remote topics, however no data can be received

That's a very common ROS network issue:

1. make sure you can ping the remote machine
2. add all remote host names and your own host name to \etc\hosts on all machines
3. restart the ROS master

⁠Timeout from Carla ROS bridge

Depending on your specific setup, make sure you enter the correct IPs within the Carla launch files. These can be found at: /carla_rb_ws/src/carla_ros_bridge/launch/. Also there is a configuration file at /carla_rb_ws/src/carla_ros_bridge/config/settings.yaml.