CAVREL Racer

This is the RoboRacer (F1TENTH) repo of the CAVREL Team. The repo has the following components

• The F1TENTH Gym Platform f1tenth_gym
• The simulation environment leveraging the F1TENTH Gym through a ROS bridge sim_ws
• The control software stack for the CAVREL Racer racer_ws

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) or Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) environment
• ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy or ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill (Instructions for ROS Foxy - https://docs.ros.org/en/foxy/Installation/Ubuntu-Install-Debians.html)
• Python 3 (Comes with Ros 2)

System preparation

1. Update and Upgrade System Packages:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

2. Install Pip for Python 3: (if not already installed)

   sudo apt install python3-pip

Download the Repo

1. Navigate to the Home Folder or Desired Directory:

   cd $HOME

2. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/f1tenth-ucf/cavrel_racer

Setting Up F1Tenth Gym ROS Simulation Environment

This guide walks you through configuring your system to set up the F1Tenth Gym ROS environment ¹. This repo also content some control algorithms and some maps as well.

-- Last Tested: 05/13/2025

Setting Up F1tenth Gym

1. Navigate to the Folder that has the repository:

   cd cavrel_racer

2. Navigate to the F1Tenth Gym folder:

   cd f1tenth_gym

3. Install the Python Dependencies For the F1Tenth Gym:

   pip3 install -e .

Setting Up ROS Environment for F1tenth Gym

1. Go to the repository parent folder and navigate to the f1tenth_gym_ros folder:

   cd sim_ws/src/f1tenth_gym_ros

2. Confirm/Update the Map Path Parameter:

   • Open the sim.yaml file located in the folder at config/sim.yaml.

   • Change the map_path parameter to point to the correct location:

   • The maps are in the map folder

     ex:

     map_path: "<your_home_dir>/cavrel_racer/sim_ws/src/f1tenth_gym_ros/maps/levine"

3. Initialize and Update rosdep:

   If you have not yet initialize rosdep on this machine

   sudo rosdep init

   For ROS2 Foxy:

   rosdep update --include-eol-distros --rosdistro foxy

   For ROS2 Humble:

   rosdep update

4. Navigate to the Simulation's Top Level Folder sim_ws and Install ROS Dependencies:

   For ROS2 Foxy:

   rosdep install -i --from-path src --rosdistro foxy -y

   For ROS2 Humble:

   rosdep install -i --from-path src --rosdistro humble -y

5. Build The Workspace

   colcon build

Run the Simulation Environment

1. Source the ROS 2 Setup Script if not Already Sourced

   Replace .bash with .sh or .zsh depending on your terminal

   For ROS2 Foxy:

   source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash

   For ROS2 Humble:

   source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

2. Navigate to the Simulation's Top Level Folder sim_ws and Source the Local Workspace Setup Script:

   source install/local_setup.bash

3. Run the Simulation Environment

   ros2 launch f1tenth_gym_ros gym_bridge_launch.py

   An rviz window should pop up showing the simulation

Topics published by the simulation

/scan: The ego agent's laser scan

/ego_racecar/odom: The ego agent's odometry

/map: The map of the environment

A tf tree is also maintained.

Topics subscribed by the simulation

/drive: The ego agent's drive command via AckermannDriveStamped messages

Keyboard Teleop

The keyboard teleop node from teleop_twist_keyboard is also installed as part of the simulation's dependency.

To run it, make sure kb_teleop is set to True in sim.yaml. Open another terminal, run:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

Then, press i to move forward, u and o to move forward and turn, , to move backwards, m and . to move backwards and turn, and k to stop in the terminal window running the teleop node.

Run CAVREL Racer Control Algorithm

1. Open a new terminal

2. Source the ROS 2 Setup Script if not Already Sourced

   Replace .bash with .sh or .zsh depending on your terminal

   For ROS2 Foxy:

   source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash

   For ROS2 Humble:

   source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

3. Navigate to the top level parent folder of the repository cavrel_racer

4. Go to the racer_ws

5. Build the workspace and source the the packages

   colcon build
   source install/local_setup.bash

6. Run the desired control node

   ex:

   ros2 run gap_follow gap_follow_node

If you are running the simulation and running the gap followind node, you should be able to see the car moves in the simulation

Footnotes

1. Those set of instructions are based on the Installation Instruction for F1Tenth Gym ROS Simulation as of 08/28/2024 ↩