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Overview

Overview

Installation

To run this repository, you will need ROS Noetic with Python 3.8. First, set up a catkin workspace as outlined below.

Catkin Workspace Setup

  1. Install ROS Noetic
    Follow the instructions on the official ROS documentation: ROS Introduction.

  2. Create a New Workspace
    Open a terminal and execute the following commands:

    mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
cd ~/catkin_ws/

  3. Initialize the Workspace

    cd ~/catkin_ws/src
catkin init

  4. Clone the Repository

    git clone git@github.com:LebinLiang/four_wd_ws.git

  5. Build the Workspace

    Compilation might require multiple attempts to resolve message dependencies.

    cd ~/catkin_ws
catkin build

  6. Set Up Environment Variables

    source devel/setup.bash

    (Optional) Automatically source the workspace in every terminal session:

    echo "source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Deployment Guide

This repository provides various automated scripts for launching core functionalities, located in the /sh folder.

Available Scripts

  1. 0-Close-all-terminals.sh - Closes all open terminals.
  2. 1-Start-Simulation.sh - Starts the simulation environment.
  3. 2-Start-Vehicle-Functions.sh - Launches vehicle functionalities.
  4. 3-Data-Collection.sh - Collects trajectory data.
  5. 4-Generate-CSV.sh - Converts trajectory data into CSV format.

Simulation Setup

  1. (Optional) Enable or Disable Gazebo GUI

    Modify the gui argument in the 4ws_car/launch/gazebo.launch file:

      <arg name="gui" default="false"/>
  • Set false to disable the Gazebo GUI (default).
  • Set true to enable the GUI.

  1. Start the Simulation

    Open a new terminal and run

    cd sh/
sh 1-Start-Simulation.sh

  2. Script Details for 1-Start-Simulation.sh

    The script will automatically open two new terminal windows and an RViz visualization window:

  • Terminal 1: Outputs simulation localization data.
  • Terminal 2: Displays the navigation controller menu.
  • RViz Window: Used to set waypoints and visualize robot trajectories.

Commands executed by the script:

roslaunch taurus_control simulation.launch    # Launch simulation environment.
roslaunch four_ws_navigation four_ws_navigation.launch # Start navigation controller.

Real-World Experiments

Hardware Prerequisites！！

  • A NUC computer connected to:
    • An IMU.
    • GNSS receiver.
    • Chassis embedded controller via serial port.

Steps

  1. Start Vehicle Functions

    Open a new terminal and run:

    cd sh/
sh 2-Start-Vehicle-Functions.sh

  2. Script Details for 2-Start Vehicle Functions.sh

The script automatically opens five terminal windows and one RViz visualization window, launching:

  • Sensor drivers.
  • Localization nodes.
  • Navigation controllers.
  • MAVLink communication nodes (TODO).
  • Serial communication nodes.

Commands executed by the script:

roslaunch robot_launch launch_robot.launch         # Start robot sensor nodes.
roslaunch robot_launch launch_location.launch      # Start localization nodes.
roslaunch four_ws_navigation four_ws_navigation.launch # Start navigation controller.
roslaunch mavlink_ros mavlink.launch               # Start MAVLink communication nodes.
roslaunch simple_robot robot.launch                # Start serial communication nodes.

Trajectory Modification & Data Collection

Modify Trajectories

  1. Edit predefined trajectories in the four_ws_navigation.py file located at: src/four_ws_wd/four_ws_navigation/scripts/four_ws_navigation.py Example endpoints (auto-linear interpolation between points):
test_goal = [[0,0],[8,0],[8,-5],[0,-5],[0,-10],[8,-10],[8,-15],[0,-15]]
test1_goal = [[0,0],[10,0],[12,-5],[0,-5],[0,-10],[14,-10],[15,-12.5],[15,-15],[0,-15]]
test2_goal = [[0,0],[5,0],[10,0]]
  1. Use the RViz interface to manually select waypoints.

Collect Trajectory Data

  1. Use rosbag for data collection.
  2. Open a new terminal and execute: 
    cd sh/
sh 3-Data-Collection.sh
  3. Topics recorded in the rosbag file:
  • /odom
  • /target_odom 
    rosbag record -o dataset /odom /target_odom
  1. Convert rosbag Data to CSV

Update the filename dataset_xxxxxxx.bag in the script:

rostopic echo -b dataset_xxxxxxx.bag -p /odom > odom_pid.csv
rostopic echo -b dataset_xxxxxxx.bag -p /target_odom > target_odom_pid.csv

Then execute:

cd sh/
sh 4-Generate-CSV.sh

Trajectory Evaluation with evo_traj

  1. Visualize Data Using evo_traj

The collected rosbag files can be directly visualized using evo_traj.

  1. Common Commands：
evo_ape tum target_odom.tum odom.tum  -r trans_part -v  --plot --plot_mode xy
evo_traj bag dataset_full.bag --all_topic --ref /target_odom --plot --plot_mode xy --save_as_tum
  1. For detailed usage, refer to the official documentation: evo

Velocity Control: /cmd_vel Simulated GPS Coordinates: /fix Odometry Data (origin at the starting point): /odom

Key ROS Topics

  1. Velocity Control: /cmd_vel
  2. Simulated GPS Coordinates: /fix
  3. Odometry Data (origin at the starting point): /odom
  4. 4WS Parm: /4ws
  5. IMU YAW: /imu/imu_yaw

Thanks

If you found our work useful, please do cite us!

@INPROCEEDINGS{11377803,
  author={Liang, Lebin and Lu, Dewei and Li, Dong and Chen, Zilong and Liu, Shucun and Wang, Can and Wu, Xinyu},
  booktitle={2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO)}, 
  title={A Biomimetic 4WS–4WD Robotic Platform with Single-Neuron PID Control for Autonomous Field Navigation}, 
  year={2025},
  volume={},
  number={},
  pages={829-835},
  keywords={Solid modeling;PI control;Trajectory tracking;Navigation;Biomimetics;Biological system modeling;Kinematics;PD control;Tuning;Tendons},
  doi={10.1109/ROBIO66223.2025.11377803}}