sl-controls 87bb2999c2 feat: Implement VESC UART driver node (Issue #383)
ROS2 driver for Flipsky FSESC 4.20 Plus (VESC dual ESC) motor control.
Replaces hoverboard ESC communication with pyvesc library.

Features:
- UART serial communication (configurable port/baud)
- Dual command modes: duty_cycle (-100 to 100) and RPM setpoint
- Telemetry publishing: voltage, current, RPM, temperature, fault codes
- Command timeout: auto-zero throttle if no cmd_vel received
- Heartbeat-based connection management
- Comprehensive error handling and logging

Topics:
- Subscribe: /cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist)
- Publish: /vesc/state (JSON telemetry)
- Publish: /vesc/raw_telemetry (debug)

Launch: ros2 launch saltybot_vesc_driver vesc_driver.launch.py
Config: config/vesc_params.yaml

Next phase: Integrate with cmd_vel_mux + safety layer.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Haiku 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-03-04 08:44:37 -05:00
..

Jetson Nano — AI/SLAM Platform Setup

Self-balancing robot: Jetson Nano dev environment for ROS2 Humble + SLAM stack.

Stack

Component Version / Part
Platform Jetson Nano 4GB
JetPack 4.6 (L4T R32.6.1, CUDA 10.2)
ROS2 Humble Hawksbill
DDS CycloneDDS
SLAM slam_toolbox
Nav Nav2
Depth camera Intel RealSense D435i
LiDAR RPLIDAR A1M8
MCU bridge STM32F722 (USB CDC @ 921600)

Quick Start

# 1. Host setup (once, on fresh JetPack 4.6)
sudo bash scripts/setup-jetson.sh

# 2. Build Docker image
bash scripts/build-and-run.sh build

# 3. Start full stack
bash scripts/build-and-run.sh up

# 4. Open ROS2 shell
bash scripts/build-and-run.sh shell

Docs

Files

jetson/
├── Dockerfile              # L4T base + ROS2 Humble + SLAM packages
├── docker-compose.yml      # Multi-service stack (ROS2, RPLIDAR, D435i, STM32)
├── README.md               # This file
├── docs/
│   ├── pinout.md           # GPIO/I2C/UART pinout reference
│   └── power-budget.md     # Power budget analysis (10W envelope)
└── scripts/
    ├── entrypoint.sh       # Docker container entrypoint
    ├── setup-jetson.sh     # Host setup (udev, Docker, nvpmodel)
    └── build-and-run.sh    # Build/run helper

Power Budget (Summary)

Scenario Total
Idle 2.9W
Nominal (SLAM active) ~10.2W
Peak 15.4W

Target: 10W (MAXN nvpmodel). Use RPLIDAR standby + 640p D435i for compliance. See docs/power-budget.md for full analysis.