Hokuyo URG

From MobileRobots Research and Academic Customer Support

The Hokuyo URG-04LX is a laser rangefinding sensor. While much smaller and lighter than the SICK LMS-200, it is a bit less reliable and has shorter range.

There are several models of the URG. MobileRobots currently (February 2011) supports the URG 04-LX with USB interface and firmware version that uses the SCIP 2.0 protocol, as well as the older serial RS-232 (not USB) interface with a firmware version that uses the SCIP 1.1 protocol.

Introduced

2009

Software

Support for the URG 04-LX with SCIP 1.1 and serial RS-232 interface was added in ARIA 2.7.0.

Support for the URG 04-LX with SCIP 2.0 and USB interface was added in ARIA 2.7.3.

Drivers for Windows as well as device firmware, documentation, and various utilties are available from Hokuyo here: http://www.hokuyo-aut.jp/02sensor/07scanner/download

Enabling use of URG in ARIA

If your robot has an URG, you can set up ARIA to use it in robot parameters or command line options. To set up robot parameters, make a robot parameters file in the ARIA params directory. The name of this file should be the name of your robot (as set in the ARCOS parameters) with the ".p" suffix. You can copy the defaults for your particular robot Pioneer subtype. (For example, if your robot is a p3dx-sh and is named "myrobot", copy p3dx-sh.p to myrobot.p.) The parameter file named for an individual robot will completely override the parameter file for the robot type.

To use command line options instead, use -laserType (or -laserType2) etc. (See CommandLineOptions.txt or the output of the -help option).

ARIA prints out the robot subtype and name when it connects to the robot.

URG 04-LX with SCIP 2.0

In the robot parameters, set LaserType to urg2.0 and the interface (COM port) parameters accordingly. (On Windows check the Hardware Device Manager in the System control panel -- typical ports assigned are COM3 on computers with 2 serial ports enabled and COM5 on computers with 4 serial ports. On Linux check dmesg -- the typical port assigned is /dev/ttyACM0 )

If the URG is the primary laser, change the parameters in the Laser parameters section. If it is the second, third, or greater laser, change the parameters in Laser 2, Laser 3, etc.

URG 04-LX with SCIP 1.1

In the robot parameters, set LaserType to urg and the interface (COM port) parameters accordingly.

If the URG is the primary laser, change the parameters in the Laser parameters section. If it is the second, third, or greater laser, change the parameters in Laser 2, Laser 3, etc.

RS-232 Serial Interface

The default BAUD rate for the RS-232 serial port interface is 192k. ARIA begins trying to connect using this BAUD rate. When it successfully connected, it then sends a request to the URG that it switch to a higher BAUD rate. (It will return to the original speed if there is no response.) To disable this "auto-baud" behavior (when using a Wireless ethernet-serial bridge device as an intermediary, for example), set the LaserAutoBaudChoice and LaserStartingBaudChoice parameter file values to the same speed, or use the -laserStartingBaud and -laserAutoBaud command-line options (See CommandLineOptions.txt or output of the -help command line option for possible values.)