Learning Robotics Using Python

Lentin Joseph

• Verlag: Packt Publishing
• Jahr: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781783287536
• Thema: Computer Science
• Thema: Computer Science General

Learning Robotics Using Python

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Table of Contents

Learning Robotics Using Python

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Introduction to Robotics

What is a robot?

History of the term robot

Modern definition of a robot

Where do robots come from?

What can we find in a robot?

The physical body

Sensors

Effectors

Controllers

How do we build a robot?

Reactive control

Hierarchical (deliberative) control

Hybrid control

Summary

2. Mechanical Design of a Service Robot

The Requirements of a service robot

Robot drive mechanism

Selection of motors and wheels

Calculation of RPM of motors

Calculation of motor torque

The design summary

Robot chassis design

Installing LibreCAD, Blender, and MeshLab

Installing LibreCAD

Installing Blender

Installing MeshLab

Creating a 2D CAD drawing of the robot using LibreCAD

The base plate design

Base plate pole design

Wheel, motor, and motor clamp design

Caster wheel design

Middle plate design

Top plate design

Working with a 3D model of the robot using Blender

Python scripting in Blender

Introduction to Blender Python APIs

Python script of the robot model

Questions

Summary

3. Working with Robot Simulation Using ROS and Gazebo

Understanding robotic simulation

Mathematical modeling of the robot

Introduction to the differential steering system and robot kinematics

Explaining of the forward kinematics equation

Inverse kinematics

Introduction to ROS and Gazebo

ROS Concepts

The ROS filesystem

The ROS Computation Graph

The ROS community level

Installing ROS Indigo on Ubuntu 14.04.2

Introducing catkin

Creating an ROS package

Hello_world_publisher.py

Hello_world_subscriber.py

Introducing Gazebo

Installing Gazebo

Testing Gazebo with the ROS interface

Installing TurtleBot Robot packages on ROS Indigo

Installing TurtleBot ROS packages using the apt package manager in Ubuntu

Simulating TurtleBot using Gazebo and ROS

Creating the Gazebo model from TurtleBot packages

What is a robot model, URDF, xacro, and robot state publisher?

Creating a ChefBot description ROS package

chefbot_base_gazebo.urdf.xacro

kinect.urdf.xacro

chefbot_base.urdf.xacro

Simulating ChefBot and TurtleBot in a hotel environment

Questions

Summary

4. Designing ChefBot Hardware

Specifications of the ChefBot hardware

Block diagram of the robot

Motor and encoder

Selecting motors, encoders, and wheels for the robot

Motor driver

Selecting a motor driver/controller

Input pins

Output pins

Power supply pins

Embedded controller board

Ultrasonic sensors

Selecting the ultrasonic sensor

Inertial Measurement Unit

Kinect

Central Processing Unit

Speakers/ mic

Power supply/battery

Working of the ChefBot hardware

Questions

Summary

5. Working with Robotic Actuators and Wheel Encoders

Interfacing DC geared motor with Tiva C LaunchPad

Differential wheeled robot

Installing the Energia IDE

Interfacing code

Interfacing quadrature encoder with Tiva C Launchpad

Processing encoder data

Quadrature encoder interfacing code

Working with Dynamixel actuators

Questions

Summary

6. Working with Robotic Sensors

Working with ultrasonic distance sensors

Interfacing HC-SR04 to Tiva C LaunchPad

Working of HC-SR04

Interfacing code of Tiva C LaunchPad

Interfacing Tiva C LaunchPad with Python

Working with the IR proximity sensor

Working with Inertial Measurement Unit

Inertial Navigation

Interfacing MPU 6050 with Tiva C LaunchPad

Setting up the MPU 6050 library in Energia

Interfacing code of Energia

Interfacing MPU 6050 to Launchpad with the DMP support using Energia

Questions

Summary

7. Programming Vision Sensors Using Python and ROS

List of robotic vision sensors and image processing libraries

Introduction to OpenCV, OpenNI, and PCL

What is OpenCV?

Installation of OpenCV from source code in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Reading and displaying an image using the Python-OpenCV interface

Capturing from web camera

What is OpenNI

Installing OpenNI in Ubuntu 14.04.2

What is PCL?

Programming Kinect with Python using ROS, OpenCV, and OpenNI

How to launch OpenNI driver

The ROS interface of OpenCV

Creating ROS package with OpenCV support

Displaying Kinect images using Python, ROS, and cv_bridge

Working with Point Clouds using Kinect, ROS, OpenNI, and PCL

Opening device and Point Cloud generation

Conversion of Point Cloud to laser scan data

Working with SLAM using ROS and Kinect

Questions

Summary

8. Working with Speech Recognition and Synthesis Using Python and ROS

Understanding speech recognition

Block diagram of a speech recognition system

Speech recognition libraries

CMU Sphinx/Pocket Sphinx

Julius

Windows Speech SDK

Speech synthesis

Speech synthesis libraries

eSpeak

Festival

Working with speech recognition and synthesis in Ubuntu 14.04.2 using Python

Setting up Pocket Sphinx and its Python binding in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Working with Pocket Sphinx Python binding in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Output

Real-time speech recognition using Pocket Sphinx, GStreamer, and Python in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Speech recognition using Julius and Python in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Installation of Julius speech recognizer and Python module

Python-Julius client code

Improving speech recognition accuracy in Pocket Sphinx and Julius

Setting up eSpeak and Festival in Ubuntu 14.04.2

Working with speech recognition and synthesis in Windows using Python

Installation of the Sp...