Web Interface

// TODO mention browser console

roslibjs

This is the how the basic structure is for the web interface.

Installing rosbridge

This library makes it possible to use ros commands with javascript over a chosen port. The first two lines goes to the source in the catkin workspace and creates a package for ros:

cd ~/flexbot_ws/src
catkin_create_pkg robot_gui_bridge rosbridge_server

Next we install the rosbridge package

apt-get install ros-melodic-rosbridge-server 

Now we create the launch file directory and the file used for launch

mkdir ~/flexbot_ws/src/robot_gui_bridge/launch
touch ~/flexbot_ws/src/robot_gui_bridge/launch/websocket.launch

Now at last we write the the necessary launch commands into the file and source it so we can use it from any directory om this terminal:

echo '<launch> <include file="$(find rosbridge_server)/launch/rosbridge_websocket.launch"/></launch>' >> ~/flexbot_ws/src/robot_gui_bridge/launch/websocket.launch
source ~/flexbot_ws/devel/setup.bash

To test if it works run and look for errors:

roslaunch robot_gui_bridge websocket.launch

Setting up the connection

First check if the following command gives multiple ip's if so find a way to extract the correct one:

hostname -I 

Now to setup the client, which is the computer not on the robot, write the following 3 lines in your "~/.bashrc" script:

# write these inside ~/.bashrc
export ROS_HOSTNAME='hostname -I'
export ROS_IP="hostname -I"
export ROS_MASTER_URI='http://flexbot.local:11311/'

Now to setup the server, which is the computer on the robot, write the following 2 lines in the "~/.bashrc" script:

# write these inside ~/.bashrc
export ROS_IP=flexbot.local
export ROS_MASTER_URI='http://flexbot.local:11311/'

Web Interface - Interface for ROS and browser