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Maxbotix Ultrasonic Ranger
Description: In this tutorial, we will use an MBED and a Maxbotix Ultrasonic Range Finder.Tutorial Level: BEGINNER
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rosserial allows you to easily integrate MBED-based hardware with ROS. This tutorial will explain how to use a Maxbotix Ultrasonic Ranger along with an MBED.
You will need an MBED board, a Maxbotix Ultrasonic Ranger, and a way to connect your Ranger to your MBED such as a breadboard or protoboard.
The Code
Next, open up your favorite plain text editor and copy in the code below.
1 /*
2 * rosserial Ultrasound Example
3 *
4 * This example is for the Maxbotix Ultrasound rangers.
5 */
6
7 #include "mbed.h"
8 #include <ros.h>
9 #include <ros/time.h>
10 #include <sensor_msgs/Range.h>
11
12 ros::NodeHandle nh;
13
14 sensor_msgs::Range range_msg;
15 ros::Publisher pub_range( "/ultrasound", &range_msg);
16
17 #if defined(TARGET_LPC1768)
18 const PinName adc_pin = p20;
19 #elif defined(TARGET_KL25Z) || defined(TARGET_NUCLEO_F401RE)
20 const PinName adc_pin = A0;
21 #else
22 #error "You need to specify a pin for the sensor"
23 #endif
24
25 char frameid[] = "/ultrasound";
26
27 float getRange_Ultrasound(PinName pin_num) {
28 int val = 0;
29 for (int i=0; i<4; i++) val += AnalogIn(pin_num).read_u16();
30 float range = val;
31 return range /322.519685; // (0.0124023437 /4) ; //cvt to meters
32 }
33
34 Timer t;
35 int main() {
36 t.start();
37 nh.initNode();
38 nh.advertise(pub_range);
39
40 range_msg.radiation_type = sensor_msgs::Range::ULTRASOUND;
41 range_msg.header.frame_id = frameid;
42 range_msg.field_of_view = 0.1; // fake
43 range_msg.min_range = 0.0;
44 range_msg.max_range = 6.47;
45
46 //pinMode(8,OUTPUT);
47 //digitalWrite(8, LOW);
48
49 long range_time=0;
50
51 while (1) {
52
53 //publish the adc value every 50 milliseconds
54 //since it takes that long for the sensor to stablize
55 if ( t.read_ms() >= range_time ) {
56 range_msg.range = getRange_Ultrasound(adc_pin);
57 range_msg.header.stamp = nh.now();
58 pub_range.publish(&range_msg);
59 range_time = t.read_ms() + 50;
60 }
61
62 nh.spinOnce();
63 }
64 }
Compiling and uploading the Code
As seen on the previous tutorial, you must compile the source code by using the makefile in order to generate the .bin file that will be uploaded later to your MBED board. This is no different from uploading any other mbed binary.
Running the Code
Now, launch the roscore in a new terminal window:
roscore
Next, run the rosserial client application that forwards your mbed messages to the rest of ROS. Make sure to use the correct serial port:
rosrun rosserial_python serial_node.py _port:=/dev/ttyACM0
rosrun rosserial_python serial_node.py /dev/ttyACM0
Finally, echo the topic to see the lectures from the sensor:
rostopic echo /ultrasound
