Multi-robot Systems Group UAV system

The Multi-robot Systems Group is a robotics lab at the Czech Technical University in Prague. We specialize in multi-rotor helicopters, and for them specifically, we develop this control, estimation, and simulation system. We think real-world and replicable experiments should support excellent research and science in robotics. Thus, our platform is built to allow safe real-world experimental validation of approaches in planning, control, estimation, computer vision, tracking, and more.

⚠️ Attention please: This README needs work.

The MRS UAV System 1.5 is being released, and this page needs updating. Please remember that the information on this page might not be valid. Check this WIP Google Document for the latest news and changes.

TL;DR What has changed from the old system

Note: The MRS UAV system v1.5 is still a Work-In-Progress and the documentation is undergoing maintanance (Issue#169). You can find the changes and new instructions in here WIP Google Document. Any feedback is welcome (you can use the issues in this repo or comment on the Google Doc)!

System properties

The system is

• built on the Robot Operating System Noetic,
• meant to be executed entirely onboard on a companion computer,
• can control underactuated multirotor helicopters,
• contains control, state estimation, mapping, and planning pipelines.

Documentation

The primary documentation source is here: https://ctu-mrs.github.io/. However, the website only scratches the surface of what it should contain (and we know it). Our system is a research-oriented platform, and it evolves rapidly. Most of our users are either researchers (who already know the platform) or freshmen students (who might not know ROS). Maintaining up-to-date documentation for such an audience is hard work since we mostly develop the system while using it for our research. So, instead, we aim at educating our students to look around the packages (each contains its own README), explore the launch files, and be able to read the code, which we strive to keep readable.

The control and estimation system are described in the article doi.org/10.1007/s10846-021-01383-5, pdf:

Baca, T., Petrlik, M., Vrba, M., Spurny, V., Penicka, R., Hert, D., and Saska, M.,
"The MRS UAV System: Pushing the Frontiers of Reproducible Research, Real-world Deployment, and
Education with Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", J Intell Robot Syst 102, 26 (2021).

Installation

Native installation

1. Install the Robot Operating System (Noetic):

curl https://ctu-mrs.github.io/ppa-unstable/add_ros_ppa.sh | bash
sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full

2. Configure your ROS environment according to http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/InstallingandConfiguringROSEnvironment

3. Select which version of the MRS UAV System you want to install.

For stable version, add the stable PPA:

curl https://ctu-mrs.github.io/ppa-stable/add_ppa.sh | bash

For unstable (nightly-build) of the system, add the unstable PPA:

curl https://ctu-mrs.github.io/ppa-unstable/add_ppa.sh | bash

4. Install the MRS UAV System:

sudo apt install ros-noetic-mrs-uav-system-full

5. Start the example Gazebo simulation session:

roscd mrs_uav_gazebo_simulation/tmux/one_drone
./start.sh

Singularity Containers

Please follow this link to learn how to run our system using Singularity.

• MRS Singularity

System components

Main metapackages	Contents	Repository	Package
MRS UAV System	UAV Core & UAV Modules	mrs_uav_system	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-system
MRS UAV System - Full	All of the bellow	mrs_uav_system	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-system-full

Metapackages	Repository	Package
UAV Core	mrs_uav_core	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-core
UAV Modules	mrs_uav_modules	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-modules
Octomap Mapping+Planning	mrs_octomap_mapping_planning	ros-noetic-mrs-octomap-mapping-planning
ALOAM Core	mrs_aloam_core	ros-noetic-mrs-aloam-core
Hector Core	mrs_hector_core	ros-noetic-mrs-hector-core
OpenVINS Core	mrs_open_vins_core	ros-noetic-mrs-open-vins-core

Simulators	Repository	Package
Gazebo Simulation	mrs_uav_gazebo_simulation	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-gazebo-simulation
MRS Simulation	mrs_multirotor_simulator	ros-noetic-mrs-multirotor-simulator
Coppelia Simulation	mrs_uav_coppelia_simulation	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-coppelia-simulation

Hardware API plugins	Repository	Package
PX4 API	mrs_uav_px4_api	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-px4-api
DJI Tello API	mrs_uav_dji_tello_api	ros-noetic-mrs-uav-dji-tello-api

Example packages

Examples	Repository	Build status
MRS Core examples	mrs_core_examples
MRS Computer Vision examples	mrs_computer_vision_examples

Build status (Buildfarm)

PPAs

Stable	Unstable

x86-64/AMD64

	Stable	Unstable
MRS ROS Packages
Thirdparty ROS packages
Non-ROS packages

AARCH64/ARM64

	Stable	Unstable
MRS ROS Packages
Thirdparty ROS packages
Non-ROS packages

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The MRS UAV system is pre-configured for the following UAV platforms operated by the MRS. The UAV platforms can be purchased from our partner company Fly4Future.

Model	Simulation	Real UAV
DJI f330
DJI f450
Holybro x500
DJI f550
Tarot t650
T-Drones m690
NAKI II

Backwards Compatibility and updates

We do not guarantee backward compatibility at any time. The platform is evolving according to the needs of the MRS group. Updates can be made that will not be compatible with users' local configs, simulation worlds, tmux sessions, etc. However, when we change something that requires user action to maintain compatibility, we will create an issue in this repository labeled users-read-me. Subscribe to this repository updates and issues by clicking the Watch button in the top-right corner of this page. Recent changes requiring user action:

• now: Work-in-Progress MRS UAV System 1.5: many changes
• January 17, 2023: Updates for px4 firmware v1.13.2
• March 8, 2022: mrs_lib::Transformer interface updated
• December 09, 2021: not building with --march=native anymore
• December 25, 2020: Updated controller interface, updated thrust curve parametrization
• December 15, 2020: Rework of simulation UAV spawning mechanism, Noetic update
• November 12, 2020: GPS coordinates within Gazebo world need changing
• November 12, 2020: Rangefinder fusion needs enabling in simulation sessions

Disclaimer

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.