ROS z_laser_projector Stack

The z_laser_projector stack is a set of tools that allow the user to operate the Z-LASER Projector ZLP1 and simplify the task of developing further advanced features, such as augmented reality applications. The stack provides a ROS API to control the device via topics and services, a visualizer for laser projections and a graphical interface.

The code have been tested for ROS Melodic on Ubuntu 18.04.

This project is licensed under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license.

Set up

1. Create a workspace and clone this repo:

      mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src && cd ~/catkin_ws/src
      git clone https://github.com/fada-catec/z_laser_projector.git
      cd ~/catkin_ws && catkin_make -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 -DPYTHON_VERSION=3.6
      source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash
   

2. Set the correct network to reach projector:

   Connect projector to PC and set a network on IP range 192.168.10.X and submask 255.255.255.0

   To consider:

   • The internal zService is running inside the projector under 192.168.11.11 on port 9090.

   • Projector is always reachable under 192.168.10.10.

3. A device-key license to check the purchase of the device is always required to use the ZLP software. Please, contact your Z-LASER supplier to get a valid license. Save the license file under package directory z_laser_zlp1/lic folder. Then, indicate the license file name on the configuration file z_laser_zlp1/config/communication_settings.yaml.

Dependencies

• ROS Melodic

• This software runs on python 3. You can install dependencies:

      cd ~/catkin_ws
      rosdep install -y --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro $ROS_DISTRO
  

  or

      sudo apt-get install python3-thriftpy
      sudo apt-get install python3-numpy
      sudo apt-get install python3-scipy
      sudo apt-get install python3-ezdxf
      sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5
      sudo apt-get install python3-nose
  

• Install pynput

      sudo apt-get install python3-pip
      pip3 install pynput
  

Usage

Projector Node

You can launch the projector node and operate the device throughout the ROS API provided. Set argument load_user_coorinate_system to true for loading initial values of the reference system from configuration files.

 roslaunch z_laser_zlp1 z_laser_zlp1.launch

Projector Node + Visualizer

You can launch the projector node together with visualizer node. Note: the projector node launch is included in z_laser_viz:

 roslaunch z_laser_viz z_laser_viz.launch

Graphical User Interface

Additionally, you can also launch the GUI node.

 roslaunch z_laser_gui z_laser_gui.launch

DXF Reader

We have created a functionality capable of reading and interpreting a DXF graphic file. By executing the /zlp_dxf_reader node together with the projector node, the elements found in a .dxf file are loaded. Call ~/projection_start service to project them. Specify custom .dxf file name as argument (this file should be placed in /dxf folder from z_laser_zlp1 package).

 roslaunch z_laser_zlp1 z_laser_dxf_reader.launch dxf_file_name:=dxf_test

NOTE: figures’ units are read as millimetres

Libraries

On the other hand, if you prefer to include some projector functionalities into your custom node or application, import the libraries instead:

 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import z_laser_zlp1.zlp_projector_manager

Test

Run unit tests and integration tests automatically:

 catkin_make run_tests -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 -DPYTHON_VERSION=3.6

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