ROS + Lego NXT + Kinect?

asked 2011-02-15 12:40:31 -0600

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Here's a question I received recently, thought it would be good to put up here:

My project group is going to try programming a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot and the Kinect.

We are currently still trying to figure how to interface the Kinect with our NXT robot.

We have read on the internet that it is possible to used ROS-Kinect and ROS-NXT. Also, we have explored the possibility of using C# on OpenKinect. However, we are unable to figure how to interface both the NXT and Kinect such that the Kinect is able to control the NXT. Also, may we ask which software/IDE/platform which we could use to program both the NXT and Kinect at the same time?

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when you see an answer you like, mark it as an accepted answer

mmwise ( 2011-02-17 09:32:58 -0600 )edit

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answered 2011-02-17 07:41:49 -0600

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I don't have experience with NXT, just the RCX, but I will try to help out.

You will need a host computer to act as the remote brain. This computer will connect to the USB of the Kinect, and it will also connect to the NXT over USB. ROS does not actually run -on- the NXT, it will simply command it from the remote computer.

The remote computer must be Linux. You won't have any luck in Windows or Mac with ROS + Kinect + NXT. I don't use an IDE. I use GVim and vim to edit files and compile and run things from the command line. ROS is very friendly with the command line.

So get Ubuntu running and see http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Installation

If you haven't gone through the ROS tutorials I suggest you start there, it'll only take a day or two to get through them all: http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Tutorials

Then figure out how to control your NXT robot from ROS http://www.ros.org/wiki/nxt So make a ROS node to control your robot.

The next step is to get the Kinect working http://www.ros.org/wiki/openni_kinect

Then you can make a ROS node to listen to the Kinect data and send commands to the node controlling your NXT robot.

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copied to work around http://askbot.org/en/question/293/how-can-an-admin-answer-own-question-and-accept-it so you can accept the answer

tfoote ( 2011-02-17 07:43:48 -0600 )edit

I use both command line (gedit, rosmake) and Eclipse IDE as described at http://www.ros.org/wiki/IDEs. The gdb (debugger) integration with ROS and Eclipse works fine, but you have to set up the debug config ROS environment variables properly if using multiple networked computers.

Bart ( 2011-05-03 13:21:11 -0600 )edit

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answered 2011-02-15 12:41:49 -0600

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

I don't have experience with NXT, just the RCX, but I will try to help out.

You will need a host computer to act as the remote brain. This computer will connect to the USB of the Kinect, and it will also connect to the NXT over USB. ROS does not actually run -on- the NXT, it will simply command it from the remote computer.

The remote computer must be Linux. You won't have any luck in Windows or Mac with ROS + Kinect + NXT. I don't use an IDE. I use GVim and vim to edit files and compile and run things from the command line. ROS is very friendly with the command line.

So get Ubuntu running and see http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Installation

If you haven't gone through the ROS tutorials I suggest you start there, it'll only take a day or two to get through them all: http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Tutorials

Then figure out how to control your NXT robot from ROS http://www.ros.org/wiki/nxt So make a ROS node to control your robot.

The next step is to get the Kinect working http://www.ros.org/wiki/ni

Then you can make a ROS node to listen to the Kinect data and send commands to the node controlling your NXT robot.

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answered 2011-05-02 08:22:45 -0600

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I am doing something similar at the moment.

What is the status about the project?

Cheers

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We have released a project to manage a NXT brick with a Kinect together. http://www.ros.org/wiki/nxt_lejos

Juan Antonio Breña Moral ( 2012-03-19 03:48:45 -0600 )edit

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ROS + Lego NXT + Kinect?

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