Foxtech VG-450 UGV User manual

VG-450 User Manual
VG-450 UGV
User Manual
V1.0 2021.09

VG-450 User Manual
Content
Introduction..................................................................................................1
Overview................................................................................................1
Specification.......................................................................................... 1
Connection Steps......................................................................................... 3
Remote Controller Control.......................................................................... 3
Keyboard Control........................................................................................ 3
Waypoint Planning and VFH Obstacle Avoidance Function...................... 3
2D Mapping................................................................................................. 4
3D Mapping................................................................................................. 4
Simulation Introduction...............................................................................5
Simulation System.................................................................................5
Navigation Function.............................................................................. 5
RtabMap 3D Mapping Function............................................................7
OctoMap 3D Mapping Function........................................................... 7
SLAM 2D Mapping Function............................................................... 8

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Introduction
Overview
VG-450 is a fast, agile, compact robotic open-source research platform specially
designed for UGV developers and scientific researchers, providing abundant demo
routines, such as outdoor waypoint planning, 2D LiDAR mapping and obstacle
avoidance, 3D mapping, etc.
This development platform is based on ROS open-source system and APM auto
navigation system and also equipped with multiple sensors, such as LiDAR, binocular
camera, depth camera, RTK, which is suitable for applied research on autonomous
delivery vehicles, service robots, and add-on function development.
Specification
Scout MINI
Size 627x549x502 mm
Wheelbase 452mm
Front/rear wheel base 450mm
Weight 26kg
Load capacity 7kg
Battery type 24V 15Ah lithium battery
Motor brushless DC motor 4*150W
Drive type independent four-wheel drive
Suspension independent suspension with rocker arm
Steering four-wheel differential steering

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Safety equipment Servo brake/anti-collision tube
No-load highest speed 10.8km/h
Minimum turning radius 0m (In-situ rotation)
Maximum climbing capacity 30°
Minimum ground clearance 107mm
Max travel 10km
Control mode remote control/command mode
Remote controller 2.4Ghz/1km extreme distance
Communication interface CAN
Onboard Computer
Model X86
CPU Intel i7 8565U, quad-core and eight-thread
GPU Intel UHD Graphics 620
Hard drive 128GB
RAM 8GB DDR4
Binocular Camera
Model Intel Realsense T265
Chip Movidius Myraid2
Field of view Two fisheye lenses,
close to hemispherical 163+5°FOV
IMU BMIO55, allows for accurate measurement of
rotation and acceleration of the device
Depth Camera
Model Intel Realsense D435i
Depth technology active IR stereo
Depth output resolution up to 1280*720
Depth output frame rate up to 90fps
Min. depth distance 0.1m
LiDAR
Laser ranging technology TOF
Ranging radius 0.15m~40m
Sample rate 9200 times/sec
Ranging accuracy 2~10cm（typical 5cm）
Ranging resolution 1cm
Scanning angle 360°
Scanning frequency 7~15Hz（typical 10Hz）
RTK Positioning Module
Frequency BDS/GPS/GLONASS/QZSS
Positioning accuracy 10cm (typical)
Initialization time < 10 s ( typical)
Time to first fix cold start: 40s ( typical); hot start: 5s ( typical)
Interface serial port、TF card、USB 2.0 OTG、CAN、PPS、
EVENT

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Data format NMEA-0183、BINEX、Femtomes ASCII、Binary
GNSS data rate 1Hz / 5Hz / 10Hz / 20Hz(optional)
WIFI Transmission System
Weight 146.8g
Size 88x66x19mm
Transmission distance 800m(without obstacles)
Frequency 5.1GHz~5.9GHz
Power 6W
Delay 200ms
Bandwidth 40MHz or 20MHz
Transmitting power 20mW
Work temperature -10℃～45℃
Connection Steps
Connect to the UGV’s Wifi, and connect to the onboard computer of the UGV
through the Nomachine software
Remote Controller Control
1. Long press the power button of the UGV and wait for about 10S
2. Turn on the remote controller and turn the SWB shift lever to the middle position to
switch the UGV to the remote control mode
3. Use the joystick to control the UGV to move forwards, backwards, left, and right
Keyboard Control
1. Press the power button of the UGV
2. Turn on the remote controller
3. Connect to the UGV’s WiFi, and use the Mission Planner ground station and
NoMachine to connect to the UGV
4. Find the sh script folder of the UGV's onboard computer desktop in the NoMachine
interface
5. Click the right mouse button in the folder, select the Open in Terminal option to
open a terminal, and enter the following command to start the keyboard control
function
./r300_keyboard_control.sh
6. Press the corresponding button in the terminal window to control the movement of
the UGV
W: Press once, the line velocity of the UGV increases a certain value
X: Press once, the line velocity of the UGV decreases a certain value
A: Press once, the angular velocity of the UGV increases a certain value
D: Press once, the angular velocity of the UGV decreases a certain value
S: After pressing, the linear velocity and angular velocity of the UGV is reset to zero
Waypoint Planning and VFH Obstacle Avoidance Function
1. Press the power button of the UGV

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2. Turn on the remote controller and turn the SWB shift lever to the middle position to
switch the UGV to the remote control mode, so that the UGV can move to the test site
(*Because the point when the navigation control panel is activated is considered to be
the home point, it is recommended to restart the UGV after arriving at the test site)
3. Connect to the UGV’s WiFi, and use the Mission Planner ground station and
NoMachine to connect to the UGV
4. Click the flight plan in the upper left corner in the ground station to enter the
waypoint setting interface. And click any point on the map with the left mouse button
to set the waypoint. The attributes and settings of the waypoint will be displayed in
the upper left corner and the lower corner, which can be modified according to the
situation. After setting the waypoint, click the write waypoint on the right. (*After
completing the above steps, restart the onboard computer to obtain a new waypoint.)
5. Turn on the onboard computer power, connect to the UGV X86 computer through
NoMachine, and open the sh script folder on the desktop
6. Click the right mouse button in the folder, select Open in Terminal option to open a
terminal, and enter the following command to start waypoint planning and VFH
obstacle avoidance function
./r300_vfh.sh
7. In the Mission Planner ground station, select Action -> Mode (AUTO or GUIDED)
-> Set Mode to set the UGV to AUTO or GUIDED mode (* In AUTO mode, the UGV
will move according to the waypoint plan. In GUIDED mode, the UGV will move
according to the waypoint plan and has the VFH obstacle avoidance function)
2D Mapping
1. Press the power button of the UGV
2. Turn on the remote controller
3. Connect to the WiFi of the UGV, and start NoMachine to connect to the UGV's
onboard computer
4. Find the sh script folder of the UGV's onboard computer desktop in the NoMachine
interface
5. Click the right mouse button in the folder, select Open in Terminal option to open a
terminal, and enter the following command to start 2D mapping function
./r300_cartographer_slam.sh
6. Under normal circumstances, each node starts normally, and you can see the map
displayed in rviz
7. Use the remote controller to control the UGV to move. After the map of the area is
built, enter the following command to save the map
rosrun map_server map_saver -f map_name
*tip (map_name in the command is the name of the saved map-related file, and a pgm
and yaml format file will be generated. The file will be saved in the folder path of the
terminal where the command is entered)
3D Mapping
1. Press the power button of the UGV

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2. Turn on the remote controller
3. Connect to the WiFi of the UGV, and start NoMachine to connect to the UGV's
onboard computer
4. Find the sh script folder of the UGV's onboard computer desktop in the NoMachine
interface
5. Click the right mouse button in the folder, select Open in Terminal option to open a
terminal, and enter the following command to start 2D mapping function
./r300_rtabmap.sh
6. Use the remote controller to control the movement of the UGV to establish a 3D
map of the area
*tip (If the node starts abnormally, please use the rs-sensor-control command to check
whether the T265 and D435i cameras appear. If they do not appear, it means that the
device is not connected to the onboard computer normally. Please try to change the
USB port or restart the UGV)
Simulation Introduction
Simulation System
The R300 simulation system is based on ROS and Gazebo simulation system. It
provides UGV body models, and sensor simulations such as 2D lidar, 3D lidar and
depth camera. It is currently equipped with navigation function, RtabMap 3D
mapping function, OctoMap 3D mapping function, and SLAM mapping function.
Navigation Function
The started sh script is /src/R300/r300_simulation/sh/r300_simulation_navigation.sh.
The sh file contains the following parts:
1. Start the ros master node
2. Start R300 simulation, including simulation environment, UGV model, sensor
simulation, TF, etc.
3. Keyboard control node to control the movement of UGV
4. Navigation function
5. The rviz visual interface, which is set for the navigation function, displays routes
planning, maps, positioning, lidar data, and UGV models.
Open a terminal arbitrarily, drag the r300_simulation_navigation.sh file into the
terminal window, and a command to start the sh script will appear. Press Enter to start
it.

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Check the terminal window that pops up and whether the nodes in each terminal are
started normally. After confirming that the nodes are running normally, press the A or
D key in the third keyboard-controlled terminal to give the UGV an angular velocity
(Angular velocity is recommended to control within 0.5). After the UGV's positioning
has converged, under normal circumstances, the UGV can rotate for one full circle.
Press crtl + c in the keyboard control terminal to close the node.
Select the 2D Nav Goal plug-in in rviz, select any point in the map, click the left
mouse button and long press to select the direction, and then release it to send the
navigation target point, and the UGV will automatically navigate to the target point.

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RtabMap 3D Mapping Function
The started sh script is /src/R300/r300_simulation/sh/r300_simulation_rtabmap.sh.
The sh file contains the following parts:
1. Start the ros master node
2. Start R300 simulation, including simulation environment, UGV model, sensor
simulation, TF, etc.
3. Keyboard control node to control the movement of UGV
4. Rtabmap mapping function. This function mainly uses the visual image and the
depth image of the depth camera to make 3D mapping.
Open a terminal arbitrarily, drag the r300_simulation_rtabmap.sh file into the terminal
window, and a command to start the sh script will appear. Press Enter to start it.
Check the terminal window that pops up and whether the nodes in each terminal are
started normally. After confirming that the nodes are running normally, enter the
corresponding control instructions in the third keyboard-controlled terminal to control
the movement of the UGV for 3D mapping.
OctoMap 3D Mapping Function
The started sh script is /src/R300/300_simulation/sh/r300_simulation_octomap.sh.
The sh file contains the following parts:
1. Start the ros master node
2. Start R300 simulation, including simulation environment, UGV model, sensor

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simulation, TF, etc.
3. Keyboard control node to control the movement of UGV
4. Octomap mapping function, mainly using 3D lidar point cloud data for mapping
5. The rviz visual interface, which is set for the octomap function, displays maps and
UGV models.
Open a terminal arbitrarily, drag the r300_simulation_octomap.sh file into the
terminal window, and a command to start the sh script will appear. Press Enter to start
it.
Check the terminal window that pops up and whether the nodes in each terminal are
started normally. After confirming that the nodes are running normally, enter the
corresponding control instructions in the third keyboard-controlled terminal to control
the movement of the UGV for 3D mapping.
After the map is created, you can enter the following command to save the map:
rosrun octomap_server octomap_saver -f map_name.ot
To view the 3D map, enter the following commands: octovis map_name.ot
Install sudo apt-get install octovis
SLAM 2D Mapping Function
The started sh script is amovcar/src/R300/r300_simulation/sh/r300_simulation_slam.sh.
The sh file contains the following parts:

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1. Start the ros master node
2. Start R300 simulation, including simulation environment, UGV model, sensor
simulation, TF, etc.
3. Keyboard control node to control the movement of UGV
4. 2D mapping function, mainly using 2D lidar data for mapping
5. The rviz visual interface, which is set for the SLAM 2D mapping function, displays
maps and UGV models.
Open a terminal arbitrarily, drag the r300_simulation_slam.sh file into the terminal
window, and a command to start the sh script will appear. Press Enter to start it.
Check the terminal window that pops up and whether the nodes in each terminal are
started normally. After confirming that the nodes are running normally, enter the
corresponding control instructions in the third keyboard-controlled terminal to control
the movement of the UGV for 2D mapping.
After the map is created, you can enter the following command to save the map:
rosrun map_server map_saver -f map_name
After entering this command, files in .pgm and .yaml formats will be generated in the
current folder, and the saved map file map.yaml and map.pgm can be viewed through
the ls command.

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