RoAH Devices

This repository contains a ROS package designed to control devices of the RoCKIn Home Automation Network directly. When using this package, commands will NOT go through the RoCKIn@Home Referee, Scoring and Benchmarking Box.

Here are provided:

• The roah_devices node, that provides ROS services and topics to control the devices;
• A dummy server so that the real devices are not needed for testing.

Dependencies

You need to use at least ROS Hydro.

This was tested with Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS (Precise Pangolin) and 14.04.1 LTS (Trusty Tahr).

Compiling

Compile as a normal ROS package in your Catkin workspace.

Running

Run the ROS node roah_devices either manually or using the launch file:

roslaunch roah_devices run_real.launch

For a quick test with the dummy server, use:

roslaunch roah_devices run_dummy.launch

Using the Control Interface

Use the launch file:

roslaunch roah_devices control_real.launch

For a quick test with the dummy server, use:

roslaunch roah_devices control_dummy.launch

Using

Output Devices

Output devices can be controlled by the available services:

/devices/blinds/max
/devices/blinds/min
/devices/blinds/set
/devices/dimmer/max
/devices/dimmer/min
/devices/dimmer/set
/devices/switch_1/off
/devices/switch_1/on
/devices/switch_1/set
/devices/switch_2/off
/devices/switch_2/on
/devices/switch_2/set
/devices/switch_3/off
/devices/switch_3/on
/devices/switch_3/set

The set services take an integer parameter: 0 or 1 for the switches and a percentage from 0 to 100 for the dimmer and blinds. All other services take no parameters and act simply as shortcuts to the respective set service.

Services can easily be called from the command line:

rosservice call /devices/switch_2/on
rosservice call /devices/dimmer/set 50

Or from C++ code:

#include <ros/ros.h>
#include <std_srvs/Empty.h>
#include <roah_devices/Bool.h>
#include <roah_devices/Percentage.h>

int main (int argc, char** argv)
{
  ros::init (argc, argv, "try_service_call");
  ros::NodeHandle nh;

  // Call /devices/switch_2/on
  if (ros::service::waitForService ("/devices/switch_2/on", 100)) {
    std_srvs::Empty s;
    if (! ros::service::call ("/devices/switch_2/on", s)) {
      ROS_ERROR ("Error calling service");
    }
  }
  else {
    ROS_ERROR ("Could not find service");
  }

  // Call /devices/dimmer/set
  if (ros::service::waitForService ("/devices/dimmer/set", 100)) {
    roah_devices::Percentage p;
    p.request.data = 75;
    if (! ros::service::call ("/devices/dimmer/set", p)) {
      ROS_ERROR ("Error calling service");
    }
  }
  else {
    ROS_ERROR ("Could not find service");
  }

  ros::spinOnce();
  return 0;
}

Don't forget that your ROS package must depend on std_srvs and roah_devices.

(Python should also be easy, contribution of an example is welcome.)

Input Devices

Bell rings can be detected by subscribing to the topic /devices/bell . This topic passes no data, when an empty message is published it means the bell was rung.

The bell can be monitored from the command line:

rostopic echo /devices/bell

Or from C++ code:

#include <ros/ros.h>
#include <std_msgs/Empty.h>

void callback(std_msgs::Empty::ConstPtr const& /*msg*/){
  ROS_INFO("The bell was rung!");
}

int main (int argc, char** argv)
{
  ros::init (argc, argv, "try_bell_sub");
  ros::NodeHandle nh;
  ros::Subscriber sub = nh.subscribe("/devices/bell", 1, callback);

  ros::spin();
  return 0;
}

Don't forget that your ROS package must depend on std_msgs.

(Python should also be easy, contribution of an example is welcome.)

Mock bell rings can be generated by calling a service:

rosservice call /devices/bell/mock 

Devices State

The state of all devices can be monitored with the topic /devices/state .

From the command line just do:

rostopic echo /devices/state

For the bell, the ring is detected by detecting a difference in the timestamp. If the timestamp changes, the bell rung. If everything is running on the same machine or the machines are synchronized with NTP, the timestamp reflects the moment the bell was last rung.

When the node starts, the state is set to 0 on all devices. It is not possible to acquire hardware state.