Offboard Computer Setup
An offboard computer can be used to visualise and interact with the robot. The robot can also be simulated on an offboard computer to safely test software before deploying to a physical robot.
Operating System (OS)
ROS 2 Humble uses Ubuntu 22.04 as its Tier 1 operating system. Though other operating systems are supported, it is highly recommended to use Ubuntu 22.04. For the offboard computer, Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop should be installed.
Networking
The offboard computer should be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the robot computer, or should be connected via
ethernet. If connected over ethernet, set the static IP of the offboard computer to use the 192.168.131.1/24 network
with an IP address that won't interfere with other devices on the network, such as 192.168.131.99.
ROS 2 Humble
Follow the official instructions for installing ROS 2 Humble from debian packages.
Clearpath Desktop metapackage
Once the ROS 2 Humble has been installed, the Clearpath Desktop metapackage can be installed.
sudo apt install ros-humble-clearpath-desktop
This package will install launch and configuration files for visualising and interacting with the robot.
Setup Folder
The offboard computer will need a copy of the robot.yaml file to generate the same setup.bash
file as the robot.
- Create the folder
For the offboard computer we can create the clearpath folder in the home directory:
mkdir ~/clearpath/
- Copy the
robot.yamlfile into the setup folder
cp /path/to/robot.yaml ~/clearpath/
If you have workspaces defined in the robot.yaml that do not exist on the offboard computer, remove them.
- Generate the
setup.bashfile
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
ros2 run clearpath_generator_common generate_bash -s ~/clearpath
Add the following line to your ~/.bashrc file to automatically source the generated setup.bash file in new terminals:
source ~/clearpath/setup.bash
- If you are using Fast DDS Discovery Server, follow the instructions on the ROS 2 networking page.