ROSbot XL

Overview

ROSbot XL is a 4x4 drive autonomous mobile robot platform equipped with LIDAR, RGB-D camera, IMU, encoders, etc. Powered by ROS / ROS 2.

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ROSbot is an affordable robot platform for rapid development of autonomous robots. It can be a base for industrial robots, custom service robots, inspection robots and robots working in swarms.

• Aluminium chassis
• 4 x DC motors + quadrature encoders
• IMU
• Built-in USB hub (2 external and 2 internal ports available)
• Built-in Li-Ion 3S battery (11.1V 7800mAh 86Wh)
• Power board with advanced energy management (USB-C Power Delivery compatible, protection circuits, contactless charging option)
• Selectable power for SBC supply (5V, 12V, 19V)
• Programmable RGB perimeter LEDs, speaker
• Ethernet based communication between SBC and STM32F4 based digital controller
• Variety of compatible SBC (Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, Intel NUC i3)
• Universal mounting plate (for LIDARs, robot arms etc.)

Hardware guide

Specification

Attribute	Description
Dimensions without camera and LiDAR	332 x 284 x 131 mm / 13.1 x 11.2 x 5.2 in [L x W x H]
Chassis material	Powder-coated aluminum plate, 1.5 mm thick, top plate 3 mm
Maximum translational velocity	0.8 m/s
Maximum rotational velocity	180 deg/s (3.14 rad/s)
Maximum load capacity *	Up to 10 kg / 352 oz
Battery life	2h - 6h

*Applicable with mecanum wheels

Components

Component	Quantity	Description
Digital Board	1	Real-time controller based on STM32F407 microcontroller.
Power Board	1	USB-C Power Delivery input (12-20V) which supports simultaneous power delivery and battery charging.
DC motor	4	37 mm DC motor with 50:1 gearbox and 64CPR encoder.
IMU sensor	1	Intelligent 9-axis absolute orientation sensor BNO055, more details
LIDAR	1	RPLIDAR S1, 360 degree and up to 40 m range, more details
RGBD camera	1	Orbbec Astra with RGB image size 640x480 and depth image size 640x480.
Li-Ion Batteries	1	11.1V 7800mAh 86Wh
Antenna	1	Connected directly to Wi-Fi module.
Speaker	1	Driven from Digital Board or from SBC (selectable source).

Block diagram

A graphic representation of ROSbot XL components and connections between them. The detailed version: [PDF] ROSbot XL block diagram.

Rear panel description

Item	Quantity	Description
Antenna connector	1 (2)	Wi-Fi antenna RP-SMA socket. Required for Wi-Fi connectivity. For some SBCs, 2 antennas are used.
USB	2	USB 2.0 host ports from SBC.
HDMI	1	HDMI output from SBC.
Power button	1	Turns ROSbot ON or OFF. Hold for 1.5 seconds to turn robot on, 0.5 seconds to turn off.
LEDs	4	LED1(green), LED2(red), LED3(green), LED4(red)
DB Reset	1	Button used for reset digital board.
PB Reset	1	Hidden button used for reset power board.
User button	1	Programmable button.
USB type C power input	1	USB-C Power Delivery input (15-20V) which supports simultaneous power delivery and battery charging.

LED statuses

LED	color	State	Message
LED1	green	ON	Firmware finished booting
LED2	red	Toggling	Error of RTOS'a or microROS
Low bat	red	ON	Batery level is low
Charging	green	Toggling	Battery is charging
Charging	green	ON	Battery is fully charged
Power button	white	ON	Power is ON
Power button	white	Toggling	System is shuting down
Pixel panels	RGB	Programmable	In default shows looped animation

Battery & charging

tip

An internal battery is disconnected during transport. Connect the battery plug before the first use. You need to unscrew the battery cover first. See Quick start for more detailed guide.

When you receive the robot, the battery level should be about 30-40%. You do not need to perform any initial procedures, however, we recommend to begin the first software setup with the charger plugged. The battery will charge to a higher level and you avoid draining it to zero, which is not recommended just after the storage/transport period. The current battery voltage can be read from the ROS API. The voltage should never fall under 9V, which is the "0%" level, and should not exceed 12.6V, which is "100%" level.

Battery & charger parameters

Parameter	Value	Comment
Battery type	Li-Ion	3S configuration
Battery voltage & capacity	11.1V 7800mAh	86.5Wh
Max. discharge current	8A
Max. charge current	2.5A	limited by robot
Charging temp. range	0°C - 45°C
Operating temp. range	-20°C - 60°C
Charger	20V 65W	PD2.0/3.0 compatible

Charging

ROSbot XL integrates an on-board battery charger. The charging process starts automatically after connecting the power adapter and terminates when the battery is full. The low battery level is indicated by "Low bat" LED on the rear panel.

We strongly recommend to use the power adapter delivered with the robot. However, it is also possible to supply/charge the robot with any adapter that is compatible with Power Delivery (PD2.0/PD3.0) and provides 15V or 20V output with the minimum 3A current (the current draw is internally limited to 2.8A).

There are 4 possible modes of operation:

• a) Active, battery only.
• b) Active, battery + power adapter. In this mode the robot can be used and charged simultaneously. The battery is used only when the robot current consumption exceeds the power adapter maximum current.
• c) Inactive (powered off), battery only. Robot in this state does not draw current from battery and can remain in this state for weeks. The battery state should be checked every 6-8 weeks and recharged if the battery level is below 25%. For a prolonged storage, the best battery level is 40-50%.
• d) Inactive, battery + power adapter. In this state the battery charges with the maximum speed (2.5A maximum). Robot can be switched on at any time, with transition to mode "b)".

The battery charging process should take about 5-6 hours in d) mode (from 0% to 100%).

CAD models

To facilitate the work with the project based on ROSbot XL platform, we have prepared CAD models for download in two extension formats:

• STEP
• IGES
• STL

Software

ROS / ROS 2 packages and Docker containers

All software on ROSbot XL are based on docker containers. List of avaliable containers you can find here.

ROS / ROS 2 API

Use bringup.launch.py from rosbot_xl_bringup to start all base functionalities for ROSbot XL. It consists of the following parts:

• scan_to_scan_filter_chain from laser_filters, it subscribes to /scan topic and removes all points that are within the robot's footprint (defined by config laser_filter.yaml in rosbot_xl_bringup package). Filtered laserscan is then published on /scan_filtered topic

  Subscribes

  • /scan (sensor_msgs/LaserScan)

  Publishes

  • /scan_filtered (sensor_msgs/LaserScan)

• ekf_node from robot_localization, it is used to fuse wheel odometry and IMU data. Parameters are defined in ekf.yaml in rosbot_xl_bringup/config. It subscribes to /rosbot_xl_base_controller/odom and /imu_broadcaster/imu published by ros2 controllers and publishes fused odometry on /odometry/filtered topic

  Subscribes

  • /rosbot_xl_base_controller/odom (nav_msgs/Odometry)
  • /imu_broadcaster/imu (sensor_msgs/Imu)

  Publishes

  • /tf (tf2_msgs/TFMessage) - base_link->odom transform
  • /odometry/filtered (nav_msgs/Odometry)

• controller.launch.py from rosbot_xl_controller, it loads robot model defined in rosbot_xl_description as well as ros2 control rosbot_hardware_interfaces. It also starts controllers:

  • joint_state_broadcaster
  • rosbot_xl_base_controller - depending on the value of mecanum argument it can be DiffDriveController or MecanumDriveController
  • imu_broadcaster

  Subscribes

  • /cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist)
  • /_motors_responses (sensor_msgs/JointState)
  • /_imu/data_raw (sensor_msgs/Imu)

  Publishes

  • /tf (tf2_msgs/TFMessage)
  • /tf_static (tf2_msgs/TFMessage)
  • /_motors_cmd (std_msgs/Float32MultiArray)
  • /rosbot_xl_base_controller/odom (nav_msgs/Odometry)
  • /imu_broadcaster/imu (sensor_msgs/Imu)

Use micro_ros_agent to communicate with Digital Board, it provides the following interface:

Subscribes

• /_motors_cmd (std_msgs/Float32MultiArray)

  Publishes

• /_motors_responses (sensor_msgs/JointState)

• /_imu/data_raw (sensor_msgs/Imu)

• /battery_state (sensor_msgs/BatteryState)

Operating System image reinstallation

In some cases you will need to restore ROSbot system to its default settings:

• in case of accidential damage of the system,
• to update the OS (it can be udpated remotely, but flashing the microSD card can be easier sometimes),
• to clear all user changes and restore factory settings.

This process will differ depending on ROSbot version that you have. Find the full instruction here

Reference projects

Running ROS natively is fine for relatively small projects. For more complex ones, the full dockerized setup is a better approach.

Find available projects below:

link	description
rosbot-xl-gamepad	Control the robot manually using a Logitech F710 gamepad
rosbot-xl-mapping	Create a map (using slam_toolbox) of the unknow environment with ROSbot controlled in LAN or over the Internet
rosbot-navigation	Autonomous navigation (using navigation2) on a given map.

Docs and links

All helpful documents and links in one place:

• ROSbot XL Overall Dimensions

• ROSbot XL detailed block diagram