| Note: This tutorial assumes you already know how to start up the PR2. |
 Please ask about problems and questions regarding this tutorial on answers.ros.org. Don't forget to include in your question the link to this page, the versions of your OS & ROS, and also add appropriate tags. |
PR2 dashboard
Description: This tutorial teaches you how to run the PR2 dashboardTutorial Level: BEGINNER
Next Tutorial: Understanding the PR2 power system
Contents
This tutorial guides you through a number of exercises that introduce basic concepts of the PR2 robot, such as the power system, the run stops, the calibration procedure, etc.
Dashboard
For all the exercises in this tutorial you'll need the pr2_dashboard up and running. In fact, you should ALWAYS RUN THE DASHBOARD WHEN USING THE PR2. The dashboard provides detailed information about the 'health' of the PR2. Whenever the PR2 is not behaving exactly like you expected, your reflex should become to check the dashboard.
Starting the dashboard
- First stop the robot
$ sudo robot stop
With the robot stopped, try to run the dashboard, by typing the following on your computer (not on the robot):
$ export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://prx:11311 (replace prx with your robot name) $ rosrun pr2_dashboard pr2_dashboard
You'll get the message "unable to connect to master". This means the robot is not running. You can only connect the dashboard to a running robot.
So, start up the robot, and try running the dashboard again. This time it should work. On the robot:
$ sudo robot start
On your computer:
$ ctrl-c $ rosrun pr2_dashboard pr2_dashboard
This shows the dashboard summary. If everything looks green, you're in good shape. Yellow indicated a problem you might want to look at, and red means something is broken and you won't be able to run the PR2.
Robot restart
- Now, keep the dashboard running, but stop the robot and start it again:
$ sudo robot stop $ sudo robot start
You'll notice that the dashboard stops working when you stop the robot, but then it still does not work when the robot comes up again. This is because every time the robot gets stopped, it kills the new ros master the dashboard is connected to. When the robot is started, a new ros master is started.
To solve this, stop the dashboard, and start it up again.
$ ctrl-c $ rosrun pr2_dashboard pr2_dashboard
Now it will connect to the ros master of the running robot.
