RaspberryPI Ros

This tutorial covers the steps required to connect TakkTile sensors to the Raspberry PI directly using the I2C bus. This has been tested connecting the TakkTile Kit for Robotic to the Raspberry PI I2C.

Wiring

Raspberry Setup

These instructions were obtain from this instructable.

Enable I2C

On the Pi, I2C is disabled by default. The first thing to do, is run this command:

$ sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

In this file, there is a comment, and two lines. Add a hash before the I2C line, to comment it out.

Original:

# blacklist spi and i2c by default (many users don't need them)

blacklist spi-bcm2708
blacklist i2c-bcm2708

Convert to this:

# blacklist spi and i2c by default (many users don't need them)

blacklist spi-bcm2708
#blacklist i2c-bcm2708

Enable kernel I2C Module

The next thing to do is add the I2C module to the kernel. Run:

$ sudo nano /etc/modules

You should see the following file:

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
# Parameters can be specified after the module name.
snd-bcm2835

This should have the line i2c-dev added to the end.

Final file:

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
# Parameters can be specified after the module name.

snd-bcm2835
i2c-dev

Install Necessary Packages

$ sudo apt-get install i2c-tools python-smbus

Allow Pi User to Access I2C Devices

$ sudo adduser pi i2c

Now reboot:

$ sudo reboot

Testing the Installation

After that you should see the i2c devices:

$ ls /dev/i2c*
/dev/i2c-0    /dev/i2c-1

Simple test to scan the i2c bus:

$ i2cdetect -y -a 1
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Increasing the I2C Baud Rate

The I2C driver accepts an option - baudrate - which defines the default communication speed for the i2c bus. The default setting is 100000 (Hz).

To change the baudrate you can specify it as an option to modprobe:

$ sudo modprobe -r i2c_bcm2708
$ modprobe i2c_bcm2708 baudrate=375000

If you want to make that change persistent use this command:

$ sudo bash -c "echo options i2c_bcm2708 baudrate=375000 > /etc/modprobe.d/i2c.conf"

375 KHz is the maximum value that I have managed to use with the `smbus` library and the takktile sensors.

Increasing the baud rate from 100 to 375 KHz increases the acquisition rate from 20 to 50 Hz in our setup (12 sensors = 3 strips, 4 sensors per strip).

ROS Packages Installation

Basic Requirements

1. Install ROS Groovy on Raspberry PI/Raspbian (Installing binary packages Recommended)

Repository Installation

Go to your ROS working directory. e.g.

cd ~/catkin_ws/src

Use the wstool to install the repository

$ sudo apt-get install python-wstool
$ wstool init .
$ wstool merge https://raw.github.com/fsuarez6/takktile_ros/groovy-devel/takktile_ros.rosinstall
$ wstool update

Install any missing dependencies using rosdep:

$ rosdep update
$ rosdep install --from-paths . --ignore-src --rosdistro groovy

Now compile your ROS workspace. e.g.

$ cd ~/catkin_ws && catkin_make

Testing the Installation (With ROS)

Be sure to always source the appropriate ROS setup file, which for Groovy is done like so:

$ source /opt/ros/groovy/setup.bash

You might want to add that line to your ~/.bashrc

Try the .launch file in the takktile_raspberry package:

$ roslaunch takktile_raspberry takktile_robotiq.launch

You should be able to echo the tactile values within ROS running in OTHER console:

$ rostopic echo /takktile_robotiq/touch
---
f0: [1.404296875, -1.513671875, -0.20703125, 0.234375]
f1: [3.0390625, 0.0, -0.0518798828125, 0.9111328125]
f2: [0.91851806640625, 0.0, 0.823822021484375, 0.6637859344482422]
---

Be patient, the Raspberry Pi may take a while

Testing the Installation (Without ROS)

If you don't want to use ROS you can use the read_takkstrip python module directly. Go to the folder /takktile_ros/takktile_raspberry/src/takktile_raspberry and run:

$ python read_takkstrip.py --strips 3 --sensors_per_strip 4
(Pressure [KPa], Temperature [C])
Sensor 0x0: (347.248047, 24.439252)
Sensor 0x1: (234.890625, 24.252336)
Sensor 0x2: (266.414062, 24.626168)
Sensor 0x3: (248.351562, 24.439252)
Sensor 0x8: (363.914062, 24.626168)
Sensor 0x9: (421.414062, 24.626168)
Sensor 0xa: (489.779663, 25.186916)
Sensor 0xb: (423.477295, 24.252336)
Sensor 0x10: (447.142822, 25.000000)
Sensor 0x11: (455.427246, 24.252336)
Sensor 0x12: (507.557922, 25.186916)
Sensor 0x13: (1201.648240, 24.065421)

The code

https://github.com/fsuarez6/takktile_ros

Build status: takktile_ros.png?branch=groovy-devel