Robot Remote Control
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Overview

The Robot Remote Control is a component of the Isaac AMR Navigation Stack. It can be used to remote control a robot with a gamepad. It can only remote control robots that can consume a differential base control input, ie. linear and angular velocity.

In addition to pure remote control, this extension can also be used to manually override a robot that is moving autonomously with the navigation stack and it can be used to implement a deadman switch on robot (s.t. a robot only moves when a button is pressed).

Inputs

  • Joystick State: Message containing the state of the joystick/gamepad. See Linux Joystick.

  • Automoy Command: Optionally the command from an autonomy stack can be provided. The remote control will either forward this command or override it with the values from the joystick.

Outputs

  • Command: The command containing linear and angular velocity that can be sent to the robot.

flowchart LR JS[Linux Joystick] --> |Joystick State| RRC A:::hidden --> |"Autonomy Command <br>(optional)"| RRC RRC[Robot Remote Control] --> |Command| OUT:::hidden

Autonomy Override

The Robot Remote Control can also be used on a robot that is using the autonomy stack. In that case per default the robot remote control will forward the autonomy commands to the robot. But if the joysticks on the gamepad are used / touched the remote control will override the autonomy commands and send the manual commands from the gamepad instead.

Deadman Switch

When the deadman switch mode is enabled the robot will only move when the specified deadman switch button is pressed. This holds for both autonomous or manual mode, meaning that for the robot to move the button needs to be pressed, both in manual or autonomous mode.

Running

Run the following command to execute this app:

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docker run -it --gpus all --rm --network=host --privileged \
  -v /dev:/dev \
  -v /sys:/sys \
  nvcr.io/<your_staging_area>/robot_remote_control_segway:isaac_2.0-aarch64

API Documentation

NvIsaacRobotRemoteControlExtension

Reads Joystick messages and generates base commands

nvidia::isaac::RobotRemoteControl

Codelet to translate from joystick messages to differential base commands. (Deprecated, will be replaced by JoystickToCommandMapper)

Parameters:

name

Joystick State
lookup_name

rx_joystick_state
description

Current state of the Joystick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_OPTIONAL
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Autonomy Command
lookup_name

rx_autonomy_command
description

Command calculated by the autonomy stack
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_OPTIONAL
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Command Output Channel
lookup_name

tx_command
description

Target differential drive robot state
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Memory Allocator
lookup_name

allocator
description

Handle to the memory allocator used for output messages
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Atlas Frontend
lookup_name

atlas
description

Handle to atlas frontend to access pose tree
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Linear Speed Limit
lookup_name

speed_limit_linear
description

Maximum linear speed allowed to travel at (m/s)
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_FLOAT64
default

1.1
name

Angular Speed Limit
lookup_name

speed_limit_angular
description

Maximum angular speed allowed to rotate at (rad/s)
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_FLOAT64
default

1.0
name

Timeout (in seconds)
lookup_name

timeout_s
description

Duration for which a received message (e.g. joystick state or autonomy command is valid. If nothing is valid a null command is used instead.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_FLOAT64
default

N/A
name

Linear Speed Joystick Axis
lookup_name

linear_speed_axis
description

Which axis or stick to use for linear speed control
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Angular Speed Joystick Axis
lookup_name

angular_speed_axis
description

Which axis or stick to use for angular speed control
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Deadman Switch Button Index
lookup_name

deadman_switch_button_idx
description

Index of the button used as a deadman switch. Is only used if enable_deadman_switch is true.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_OPTIONAL
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Invert Linear Speed Axis Values
lookup_name

invert_linear_speed_axis
description

Use to invert the direction for the linear speed control stick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_BOOL
default

False
name

Invert Angular Speed Axis Values
lookup_name

invert_angular_speed_axis
description

Use to invert the direction for the angular speed control stick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_BOOL
default

False
name

Enable Deadman Switch
lookup_name

enable_deadman_switch
description

Use to enable/disable the deadman switch. If true the button specied with deadman_switch_button_idx has to be pressed for the robot to move.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_DYNAMIC
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_BOOL
default

True
name

Robot Frame
lookup_name

robot_frame
description

Robot pose frame.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A

nvidia::isaac::JoystickToCommandMapper

Codelet to translate from joystick messages to differential base commands.

Parameters:

name

Joystick State
lookup_name

rx_joystick_state
description

Current state of the Joystick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Command Output Channel
lookup_name

tx_command
description

Message channel containing the produced command.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Toggle Mode Signal Channel
lookup_name

tx_toggle_mode
description

Message channel that is used to trigger a mode switch.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Deadman Switch Heartbeat Channel
lookup_name

tx_deadman_switch_heartbeat
description

Message channel that is used to send the deadman switch’s heartbeat
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Memory Allocator
lookup_name

allocator
description

N/A
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Composite Schema Server
lookup_name

composite_schema_server
description

N/A
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_HANDLE
default

N/A
name

Linear Speed Joystick Axis
lookup_name

linear_speed_axis
description

Which axis or stick to use for linear speed control
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Reverse Linear Speed Axis Values
lookup_name

reverse_linear_speed_axis
description

Use to reverse the direction for the linear speed control stick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_BOOL
default

False
name

Linear Speed Limit
lookup_name

speed_limit_linear
description

Maximum linear speed allowed to travel at (m/s)
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_FLOAT64
default

1.1
name

Angular Speed Joystick Axis
lookup_name

angular_speed_axis
description

Which axis or stick to use for angular speed control
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Reverse Angular Speed Axis Values
lookup_name

reverse_angular_speed_axis
description

Use to reverse the direction for the angular speed control stick
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_BOOL
default

False
name

Angular Speed Limit
lookup_name

speed_limit_angular
description

Maximum angular speed allowed to rotate at (rad/s)
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_FLOAT64
default

1.0
name

Index of the button used to toggle the mode.
lookup_name

toggle_mode_button
description

Which button is used to toggle the mode switch between autonomy and manual.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A
name

Index of the button used for the deadman switch.
lookup_name

deadman_switch_button
description

Which button is required to stay pressed when using the deadman switch.
flags

GXF_PARAMETER_FLAGS_NONE
type

GXF_PARAMETER_TYPE_INT32
default

N/A

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