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MicroROS Node

The MicroROS node is responsible for communicating between MiniSub's hardware and the ROS nodes responsible for driving MiniSub.

The node is built using micro-ROS for Arduino, which offers a low-level entry into MicroROS development, especially when used in combination with PlatformIO. It is also easier to build and flash microcontrollers from PlatformIO than using (Micro)ROS's own, custom build toolchain.

Note

Recently, MicroROS has released MicroROS for PlatformIO, which has not yet been tested / integrated with this project.

A single codebase is used to implement all functionality required by MiniSub. Publishers and Subscribers can be enabled and disabled using build flags, but all components can run on a single node as well.

Currently used hardware

  • An ESP32 is used as the main microcontroller
  • Currently only Wifi transport is supported, though ethernet and serial transports will be supported in the near future
  • An MPU9250 is used to gather IMU data
  • Generic reversible ESCs are used, simply driven using a PWM signal straight from the ESP32
  • Inside MiniSub, a LM2596 voltage regulator is used to regulate battery voltage (which should be between 12-24V) down to 5V.