micro-ROS for PlatformIO - Call to action! #2

pablogs9 · 2022-04-08T09:17:58Z

pablogs9
Apr 8, 2022
Maintainer

Hi, micro-ROS community!

As you might know, PlatformIO has become a really popular solution for embedded development, it provides a complete embedded development environment compatible with tons of boards, frameworks, and platforms.

Most of you have been using our micro-ROS for Arduino library to integrate micro-ROS in the PlatformIO environment, but we think that we can do it much better. So, we have been developing a proper solution for integrating the micro-ROS build system in the PlatformIO build system.

micro-ROS for Arduino provide a precompiled set of libraries due to the lack of advanced features for building the micro-ROS stack in the Arduino IDE/CLI development environment. Meanwhile, PlatformIO allows complex build processes where the micro-ROS library can be compiled just in time for the used platform avoiding cross-compilation compatibility issues. Also, it provides a much more flexible way of configuring the micro-ROS library with custom packages and/or custom middleware configurations.

We have reached a semi-functional status where some platforms are supported but we need your help to provide feedback and comments about your needs as micro-ROS developers. So we are opening a beta testing period before releasing this tool on the PlatformIO registry.

We ask the community to:

test current available boards and transports
add / request / recommend new boards and transports
test the whole functionality and advice new features

Sincerely, the micro-ROS team.

Technical details

The micro-ROS library for PlatformIO is designed to be modular. It relies on the advanced scripting features of the build system. As you can see in extra_script.py, the library is being built on the fly using the compiler and flags that the environment provides.

In platform_code folder we include sources related to the framework. In this case, only arduino is implemented.

This way, arduino/clock_gettime.cpp provides a the timing functionality required by micro-ROS using the Arduino API. As you can see, there are much more interesting frameworks such as CMSIS, FreeRTOS, libopencm3 or Zephyr RTOS. That means that those frameworks should be integrated creating [FRAMEWORK]/clock_gettime.cpp and adding the corresponding scripting here.

Regarding the transports, they are also included in the framework folder. For example, the Serial transport for arduino is implemented using the Serial API of the Arduino framework. One more time, the extra_script.py takes care of building the required transport. In the same way, by adding folders to this directory tree, more transports can be implemented using different frameworks APIs.

This way you can create a PlaformIO project with the following .ini:

[env:portenta_h7_m7]
platform = ststm32
board = portenta_h7_m7
framework = arduino
microros_transport = serial
microros_distro = galactic
lib_deps =
    https://github.com/micro-ROS/micro_ros_platformio

.meta files can be added to the enviroment configuration just using microros_user_meta = [PATH TO YOUR META] . This will override parameters of the micro-ROS build.

Tasks to be done

The following tasks should be addressed:

Task	PR	Owner
Update repo README.md	#3	micro-ROS team
Add support for Rolling	#17	micro-ROS team
Implement `extra_packages`	#12	micro-ROS team
Create example projects	#16	micro-ROS team
Remove PlatformIO from micro-ROS for Arduino repo	micro-ROS/micro_ros_arduino#957	micro-ROS team
Add clean step for micro-ROS library	#15	micro-ROS team
Create a Renode CI/CD

Board testing

The following use cases shall be tested in hardware:

Board	Platform	Framework	Transport	Owner	Status
`portenta_h7_m7`	`ststm32`	`arduino`	`serial`	@pablogs9	Working
`teensy41`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`serial`	@pablogs9	Working
`teensy40`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`serial`
`teensy36`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`serial`
`teensy35`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`serial`
`teensy31`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`serial`	@pablogs9	Working
`due`	`atmelsam`	`arduino`	`serial`
`zero`	`atmelsam`	`arduino`	`serial`
`olimex_e407`	`ststm32`	`arduino`	`serial`	@pablogs9	Working
`esp32dev`	`espressif32`	`arduino`	`serial`
`nanorp2040connect`	`raspberrypi`	`arduino`	`serial`	@pablogs9	Working
`teensy41`	`teensy`	`arduino`	`native_ethernet`
`nanorp2040connect`	`raspberrypi`	`arduino`	`wifi_nina`	@pablogs9	Working
`portenta_h7_m7`	`ststm32`	`arduino`	`wifi`	@pablogs9	Working
`esp32dev`	`espressif32`	`arduino`	`wifi`

ivankravets · 2022-04-13T17:49:39Z

ivankravets
Apr 13, 2022

Hi @pablogs9,

Thanks for using PlatformIO! 😊 A few comments for integration:

microros_transport = serial, users will see a warning about the unknowing configuration option. Please use board_microros.transport = upload. Later you can get this data via env.BoardConfig().get("microros.transport")
global_env['LIBS'].append(, global_env['_CPPDEFFLAGS'], please don't operate with private SCons scopes. See https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/projectconf/section_env_build.html#build-flags
- global_env.Append(LIBS=['a', 'b', 'c'])
- https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/blob/master/tools/platformio-build-esp32.py

Please ping me when you apply changes in https://github.com/micro-ROS/micro_ros_platformio/blob/main/extra_script.py

Thanks for your work!

19 replies

Acuadros95 Jun 14, 2022

@ivankravets Of course, there you go:

issue_example.zip

ivankravets Jun 17, 2022

Add micro-ROS defines to user application

The user's application has its own isolated environment named projenv. See example https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/manifests/library-json/fields/build/extrascript.html

Please note that you will need to use the latest PIO Core Dev (pio upgrade --dev). Accessing projenv in library extra script was added in PIO Core 6.0.3 that has not been released yet.

Does it work now?

Acuadros95 Jun 17, 2022

Yes!

Is there a way to get the used PIO Core version inside the extrascript?
I would like to keep this working for users with older versions.

ivankravets Jul 6, 2022

Sorry for the delay, PlaformIO Core 6.1 is out! Please upgrade https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/releases/tag/v6.1.0

Acuadros95 Jul 7, 2022

Thanks! Upgrading on #36

Acuadros95 · 2022-04-19T12:33:14Z

Acuadros95
Apr 19, 2022

Just merged extra_packages functionality on #12.
Usage is documented on README.md PR #3.

0 replies

bjsowa · 2022-04-20T12:09:22Z

bjsowa
Apr 20, 2022

I will try to use this library in my project. It should go fairly easy as it already uses PlatformIO. The project requires support for:

custom meta file
custom transport
custom clock_gettime
extra packages

As all of this is possible now, I'll start trying to switch to this library and report any issues or ask questions when unsure about something.

0 replies

bjsowa · 2022-04-20T14:46:48Z

bjsowa
Apr 20, 2022

What should I set board_microros_transport to when I use a custom transport?

5 replies

Acuadros95 Apr 20, 2022

You have to create a <framework>/<board_microros_transport> folder on the [platform_code](https://github.com/micro-ROS/micro_ros_platformio/tree/main/platform_code) folder.

For example:

platform.ini:

framework = arduino
board_microros_transport = wifi

Transport source files: platform_code/arduino/wifi
Also, a MICRO_ROS_TRANSPORT_<FRAMEWORK>_<TRANSPORT> definition will be available:

micro_ros_platformio/ci/src/main.cpp

Line 3 in de7a61c

#if defined(MICRO_ROS_TRANSPORT_ARDUINO_WIFI)

bjsowa Apr 26, 2022

I would rather avoid modifying this project to add my custom transport. I currently have the sources for the custom transport under my project's src directory. The library script:

    # Add platformio library general include path
    global_env.Append(CPPPATH=[
        main_path + "/platform_code",
        main_path + "/platform_code/{}/{}".format(framework, microros_transport)])

    # Add platformio library general to library include path
    env.Append(CPPPATH=[
        main_path + "/platform_code",
        main_path + "/platform_code/{}/{}".format(framework, microros_transport)])

will still add additional include paths no matter what I set board_microros_transport to.

Could we, for example, make setting the board_microros_transport to custom not add the additional include paths?

pablogs9 Apr 27, 2022
Maintainer Author

That's a good idea. We will take a look at that.

pablogs9 Apr 27, 2022
Maintainer Author

Working on it here: #21

Acuadros95 May 19, 2022

#21 merged, the additional include paths will only add the aux micro_ros_platformio.h header.

You can check the custom transport section on the repository README and an actual example on our CI project source, under the #if defined(MICRO_ROS_TRANSPORT_ARDUINO_CUSTOM) conditionals.

@bjsowa Also, we would be happy to add your use case's transport to the repository, feel free to open a PR.

Acuadros95 · 2022-04-21T13:33:29Z

Acuadros95
Apr 21, 2022

Main task completed and merged, we are ready for Remove PlatformIO from micro-ROS for Arduino repo step.

2 replies

pablogs9 Apr 21, 2022
Maintainer Author

Go ahead

Acuadros95 Apr 21, 2022

Done! micro-ROS/micro_ros_arduino#957
Also added to micro_ros_setup docs: micro-ROS/micro_ros_setup#504

patrickwasp · 2023-02-24T16:29:58Z

patrickwasp
Feb 24, 2023

I've tested the seeed_xiao and mkrzero boards with serial and they seem to work fine.

0 replies

nhasbun · 2023-06-16T04:08:55Z

nhasbun
Jun 16, 2023

I have been developing my own custom messages within the extra_packages folder. This is working well so far, but I find the required re-compilation process of microROS to be a little annoying.

It is very slow and downloads many things behind the scenes, so it is a bit inefficient. Is there a way to force a recompilation of libraries without downloading everything again?

2 replies

pablogs9 Jun 16, 2023
Maintainer Author

@Acuadros95

Acuadros95 Jun 16, 2023

It is very slow and downloads many things behind the scenes, so it is a bit inefficient. Is there a way to force a recompilation of libraries without downloading everything again?

No, this is not possible right now.

You can modify the build script to avoid deleting the sources, triggering a colcon build over the updated extra_packages.
But this is not trivial and may take an excesive ammount of time.

Maybe you can use a Linux app to test your micro-ROS app, the rebuild would be quite faster with this approach.

YuriiHordiienko1987 · 2024-06-21T08:12:32Z

YuriiHordiienko1987
Jun 21, 2024

Hello, community!
I was spending many time struggling with that error comes from strdup.c library.
The project includes esp32 platform.
Build command:

pio run -e esp32-espidf

Screen of error.

Learning of solutions in www didn't provide me any positive effect. Could it be fixed somehow? Please, take a look.

UPD:
I detected that context of strdup.c file which comes after classical installation from here differs from context provided this platformio repository.
In the classical we have call rcutils_strndup(str, strlen(str), allocator)
In PlatformIO we have call rcutils_strndup(str, SIZE_MAX, allocator)
There is the root of error behaviour. Could versions of code be aligned in the future?

0 replies

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micro-ROS for PlatformIO - Call to action! #2

pablogs9 Apr 8, 2022 Maintainer

Technical details

Tasks to be done

Board testing

Replies: 8 comments · 28 replies

Add micro-ROS defines to user application

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