Getting ready for Spring quarter (TECHIN 517)

[mayacakmak]

See issue #1

We have the same question about which version of Ubuntu and ROS to use for the class, and whether the Fetch at GIX and the computers are ready for that.

[mayacakmak]

@Zyu75 responses, pasting from email

• Question: which version of Ubuntu and ROS should we be using?

For 516: Two of the students are using ROS Noetic with Ubuntu 20.04 and the other three are using ROS melodic with Ubuntu 18.04.
For 517: From my knowledge, ROS melodic with Ubuntu 18.04 should work well, and in theory, Fetch does not support ROS Noetic, but in 516 the two students who installed ROS Noetic with Ubuntu 20.04 make fetch simulation work well by changing some launch files and some python codes. They have not used the physical fetch robots yet, so I am not sure the ROS Noetic still works. Bob control the Fetch using ROS Noetic successfully but he told me that he could not check the state using ROS topic. Maybe Bob can elaborate on your findings here?

• TODO: install the right version of Ubuntu and ROS on all computers

I know this is for 418, but for 517, students use their own computers, and do we need to let them install the same version of Ubuntu or ROS? If so, please let me know, and then I can send out the announcement.

• TODO: update lab 0 and lab 1

Do I also need to contribute to this action item?

[mayacakmak]

Let's coordinate @vinitha910 and @Zyu75 to decide on what version of Ubuntu and ROS to use. Ideally we should use the same and as advanced version as possible/supported. Vinitha, what versions does our Fetch support? Might want to check with Nick about what we had planned for RoboCup.

[mayacakmak]

@Zyu75 So there is no dedicated lab computer for using the Fetch at the GIX lab? If not we definitely need one, I don't think we should rely on the students' own laptops. (Or did you mean everyone has a separate computer at the lab?)

[mayacakmak]

@Zyu75 let's wait for @vinitha910 to work on updating Lab 0 and 1 (should be minor edits).

[Zyu75]

@Zyu75 So there is no dedicated lab computer for using the Fetch at the GIX lab? If not we definitely need one, I don't think we should rely on the students' own laptops. (Or did you mean everyone has a separate computer at the lab?)

@mayacakmak For 516, students just use their own computers to access the turtlebot3 and the Kinova arms, and last year for 517, students also use their own computers to access the Fetch. GIX bought a dedicated laptop for Fetch to help students' launch the project last year after 517, but students just still preferred to use their own computers last year for the Fetch launch project.
Is the dedicated lab computer for Fetch a laptop or desktop? Does that mean students can only access Fetch using that dedicated lab computer? I am a bit curious that why students cannot use their own laptops.