ROS 2 Node¶

This node handles the communication of the Neobotix USBoard-USS5.

The USBoard-USS5 node has been tested with:

Note

We also have extended our support to Galactic and Humble. Please checkout to the corresponding branch as needed.

Installation¶

Clone the neo_usboard_v2-2 repository into your ros2 workspace source folder:

cd your_ros2_workspace/src
git clone https://github.com/neobotix/neo_usboard_v2-2.git

Clone neo_msgs into your catkin workspace source folder:
```
git clone https://github.com/neobotix/neo_msgs2.git
```
Fetch the submodules vnx-base, pilot-base and pilot-usboard:
```
cd neo_usboard_v2-2
git submodule update --init
```

Install vnx-base onto your system.

ROS Foxy:

sudo dpkg -i vnx-base/x86_64/vnx-base-1.9.3-x86_64-ubuntu-20.04.deb

ROS Humble:

sudo dpkg -i vnx-base/x86_64/vnx-base-1.9.6-x86_64-ubuntu-22.04.deb

Compile your workspace:

cd your_ros2_workspace
colcon build --symlink-install
. install/setup.bash

In case of using CAN, the bus needs to be configured first:

sudo ip link set can0 down
sudo ip link set can0 type can bitrate 1000000
sudo ip link set can0 up

To launch the USBoard-USS5 ROS node use:

ros2 launch neo_usboard_v2 neo_usboard_v2.launch.py

The following parameters can be changed according to your needs in neo_usboard_v2.yaml:

Parameter	Value	Note
can_id	1024	Needs to be a multiple of 32.
can_device	None or can0
serial_port	/dev/ttyUSB0
can_baud_rate	1000000 (bit/s)	Needs to match what is configured on the board.
update_rate	5 (Hz)	Relevant only in transmit mode “Request”, see USBoardV2 GUI.

Note

If can_device is set, the CAN bus will be used for communication, otherwise the serial interface specified in serial_port is used.

The following parameters can be changed from the parameter server once the ros2 node is executed.

Parameter	Value	Note
low_pass_gain	1	low pass filter gain (1 = no filtering)
enable_analog_input	false	if to enable reading analog inputs
enable_legacy_format	false	if to use old message format (when transmitting automatically)
enable_can_termination	false	if to connect CAN bus termination resistance on the board
relay_warn_blocked_invert	false	if to invert warn relay output when a sensor is blocked
relay_alarm_blocked_invert	false	if to invert alarm relay output when a sensor is blocked
active_sensors(0 to 15)	true	Active sensors from 1-16
warn_distance(0 to 15)	100 cm	Warning distances of sensors 1-16
alarm_distance(0 to 15)	30 cm	Alarm distances
enable_transmission(0 to 4)	true	if the group transmits in continuous mode
fire_interval_ms	20 ms	time between pulses
sending_sensor	0	index of the sensor which will send the pulse (cross echo mode)
cross_echo_mode	false	if to enable cross echo mode

The following ROS topics are available:

If you receive the error unable to connect to port /dev/ttyUSB0, run the following command:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

and restart your PC.