Clearpath Robotics Boxer User manual

Brand: Clearpath Robotics

Model: Boxer

Category: Bridges & repeaters

Type: User manual

BOXER

INDOOR ROBOTIC PLATFORM

USER MANUAL

CONTENTS

1 Introduction 3

1.1 What’s Included . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2 Hardware Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3 System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Getting Started 5

2.0.1 Static IP Conﬁguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2.0.2 Connect to Boxer via SSH over ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1 Wireless Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.2 Remote ROS Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.3 Boxer Desktop Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Safety Considerations 11

3.1 General Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2 Pinch Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.3 E-Stop and Lockout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.4 Electrical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Charging & Battery Maintenance 13

5 Light Patterns 14

6 Payload Integration Guide 15

6.1 Mechanical Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6.2 Electrical Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6.3 Software Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

7 Contact 17

Rev. 1.0.1 2 Boxer UGV

INTRODUCTION

Boxer is a small, indoor mobile robotic platform designed for academic researchers and corporate innovation centers.

Rugged, fully extensible and ROS-ready, Boxer enables rapid prototyping and development of mobile robotic technolo-

gies.

Boxer includes a standard internal PC, as well as stereo cameras, sonar, 2D LiDAR, speaker, and IMU. Standard

perception modules are available, including URDF and simulator integration, as well as demonstration applications.

Please inquire with Clearpath Robotics for details. See Contact on page 17 for contact information.

What’s Included

Contained in your Boxer shipment are the following items:

• Boxer Robot

• 110V/220V Satiator Charger

• Sony Bluetooth controller

• Boxer User Manual

If you elected to purchase standard payload modules or custom integration services with Boxer, then additional equip-

ment will be included per your speciﬁc conﬁguration, plus further documentation as required.

Hardware Overview

Boxer’s external features include a mounting grid on the top plate of 5 mm spaced at 80 mm, 190 mm diameter wheels,

two cameras, two sonar sensors, one LiDaR, and a human machine interface panel (HMI). The HMI panel is shown in

Figure 1, and includes from left: Ethernet port, Power button, Safety Reset button, charge port.

ETHERNET PORT

POWER BUTTON

RESET BUTTON CHARGE PORT

Figure 1: HMI panel.

Fused user power is available through the top plate through two different connectors. For more information on integrating

payloads electrically, see subsection 6.2, Electrical Integration.

System Architecture

Boxer is built around an x86 PC running Ubuntu, paired with a Logic, Safety and Power Control Unit (LSPCU) and

Traction Drive Control Unit (TDCU). The LSPCU handles power supply monitoring, and the safety system. The TDCU

Rev. 1.0.1 3 Boxer UGV

controls the control of the drive motors. The communication channel between the TDCU, LSPCU, and the PC is a

gigabit ethernet connection.

The communication protocol used is rosserial. One instance of the rosserial_server serial node launched for each

device by boxer_robot.

The key topics which comprise Boxer’s ROS API are given in Table 1.

Topic Message Type Purpose

/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/Twist Input to Boxer’s kinematic controller. Publish here

to make Boxer go.

/odometry/filtered nav_msgs/Odometry Published by robot_localization, a ﬁltered local-

ization estimate based on wheel odometry (en-

coders), and integrated IMU.

/imu/data_raw sensor_msgs/IMU Published by lspcu_server, an orientation estimate

based on Boxer’s internal gyroscope, accelerome-

ter, and magnetometer.

/camera_left/image_color sensor_msgs/Image The current view from the left camera.

/camera_right/image_color sensor_msgs/Image The current view from the right camera.

/bms/battery_status Type: sensor_msgs/BatteryState Current state and usage of the internal batteries

/mcu/traction/status boxer_msgs/TractionStatus Low-frequency status data for Boxer’s systems.

This information is republished in human readable

form on the diagnostics topic and is best con-

sumed with the Robot Monitor.

Table 1: Boxer ROS API Topics

Rev. 1.0.1 4 Boxer UGV

GETTING STARTED

The ﬁrst step is to power up your Boxer and have some fun driving it around! If you’ve just unpacked Boxer from its

shipment packaging, all you have to do is press the power button on the back left of the robot. The LED ring will turn

white, then red, after which you will wait about 30 seconds for the internal PC to ﬁnish booting up.

Once the robot is started, the four corners will be ﬂashing red because the robot starts in an e-stop state. To reset this

state, pull the e-stop out and reset the safety system by pressing the button in the back right of the robot. The front

corners will turn solid white and and the back corners will turn solid red.

Press the PS/P4 button on the Sony Bluetooth controller to sync the controller to Boxer. Once the light bar on the back

of the controller is solidly lit, you’re paired and ready to drive. Hold the L1 trigger button (deadman switch), and push

the left thumbstick forward to drive the Boxer. For full speed mode, hold the R1 trigger. See Figure 2 for the Sony PS4

controls layout.

Deadman Switch [L1]

Turbo [R1]

Full Speed Mode

Steer [Left Thumbstick]

Forward/Right/Backward/Left

Figure 2: PS4 Controls Layout

If you’re not seeing any action, check Contact on page 17 to get in touch with support.

Static IP Conﬁguration

Connect a computer to ethernet port on the back left of the robot with a standard ethernet cable. Set your computer’s

ethernet port to a static IP such as 192.168.131.51. To do this in Ubuntu, follow the steps below:

Rev. 1.0.1 5 Boxer UGV

1. Click on the Wiﬁ icon in the upper-right corner of your screen, and select Edit Connections

2. In the Network Connections window, under Ethernet, select your wired connection and then click Edit

3. Select the IPv4 Settings tab and then change the Method to Manual

4. Click the Add button to add a new address

5. Enter a 192.168.131.51 as the static IP under the Address column, and enter 255.255.255.0 under the NetMask

column, and then select Save

Figure 3: Static IP Conﬁguration

Connect to Boxer via SSH over ethernet

The next step is to connect to Boxer via SSH. To do so execute the following in a terminal window:

ssh administrator@192 .168.131.1

You will be promoted to enter a password. The default password is clearpath.

Wireless Access

To get Boxer connected to your local wiﬁ, you must ﬁrst access the internal computer using a wired connection and

connect through SSH like above. Now that you’re connected via SSH over a wired connection, you can setup Boxer

Rev. 1.0.1 6 Boxer UGV

to connect to a local wiﬁ network. To do this, you will use the wireless interface conﬁguration daemon (WICD) - a

preinstalled network manager.

In a terminal window, execute the following command:

wicd-curses

You should see a browsable list of networks which the robot has detected. Use arrow keys to select the one you would

like to connect to, and then press the right arrow to conﬁgure it. You can enter your network’s password near the

bottom of the page, and note that you must select the correct encryption scheme; most modern networks use WPA1/2

Passphrase, so if that’s you, make sure that option is selected. You also likely want to select the option to automatically

reconnect to this network, so that Boxer will be there for you on your wireless automatically in the future.

When you’re ﬁnished, press F10 to save, and then C to connect. Boxer is now connected to wiﬁ!

While you’re still wired to Boxer, you’ll need to identify the IP address of Boxer’s wireless connection.

In a terminal window, execute:

ifconfig

A list of network connections will be displayed within the terminal. Locate the wireless network and make note of its IP

address. Now that you know Boxer’s wireless IP address, you may now exit the ethernet SSH session by executing

exit.

Remove the ethernet cord because you can now you can SSH into Boxer over the wireless network. To do so, execute:

ssh administrator@ <IP_OF_BOXER >

SSH sessions allow you to control Boxer’s internal computer. You can do various things such as download packages,

run updates, add/remove ﬁles, transfer ﬁles etc.

Remote ROS Connectivity

To use ROS desktop tools, you’ll need your computer to be able to connect to Boxer’s ROS master. This will allow you

to run ROS commands like rostopic list, rostopic echo, rosnode list, and others, from a remote PC and the output

will reﬂect the activity on Boxer’s ROS master, rather than on your own machine. This can be a tricky process, but we’ve

tried to make it as simple as possible.

In order for the ROS tools on your computer to talk to Boxer, they need to know two things:

• How to ﬁnd the ROS master, which is set in the ROS_MASTER_URI environment variable, and

• How processes on the other computer can ﬁnd your computer, which is the ROS_IP environment variable.

Before you start, you will need to ﬁnd the IP address of the robot and your computer. If you are using wireless, make

sure to note the IP of the wireless interfaces on each computer:

ifconfig

Rev. 1.0.1 7 Boxer UGV

The suggested pattern is to create a ﬁle in your home directory called remote-boxer.sh with the following contents:

export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://cpr-boxer-0001:11311 # Boxer’s hostname

export ROS_IP =10.25.0.102 # Your computer’s wireless IP address

If your network doesn’t already resolve Boxer’s hostname to its wireless IP address, you may need to add a correspond-

ing line to your computer’s /etc/hosts ﬁle:

10.25.0.101 cpr -b100-0001

NOTE: You can verify the hostname and IP address of Boxer using the following commands during an SSH session

with the onboard PC.

hostname

hostname -i

Then, when you’re ready to communicate remotely with Boxer, you can source that script like so, thus deﬁning those

two key environment variables in the present context.

source remote-boxer.sh

To verify that everything is set up propelry, you will need to install some ROS packages on your computer:

sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-rqt -robot-monitor ros-kinetic-rqt -console

Once those are installed, try running a few ROS commands, such as the standard visual ROS tools:

rosrun rqt_robot_monitor rqt_robot_monitor

rosrun rqt_console rqt_console

If the tools launch, then everything is setup properly. If not, please see the next section for how to setup ROS on your

local machine.

Please contact Clearpath Support if you need assistance in conifugring remote access. For more general details on

how ROS works over TCP with multiple machines, please see:

http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/MultipleMachines.

For help troubleshooting a multiple machines connectivity issue, see:

http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/NetworkSetup

Rev. 1.0.1 8 Boxer UGV

Boxer Desktop Packages

To command or observe Boxer from your desktop computer, ﬁrst set up a basic ROS installation. See the following

page for details:

http://wiki.ros.org/kinetic/Installation/Ubuntu

When your ROS install is set up, you will need to add a new APT source so you can install Boxer packages. See this

link for instructions on how to do this.

https://packages.clearpathrobotics.com

Once you can install Boxer packages, install the Boxer desktop packages:

sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-boxer -desktop

Once your remote access to Boxer’s ROS master is conﬁgured (see options in subsection 2.2), you can launch rviz, the

standard ROS robot visualization tool:

roslaunch boxer_viz view_robot.launch

Figure 4: View Robot in RVIZ

From within rviz, you can use interactive markers to drive Boxer, you can visualize its published localization estimate,

and you can visualize any attached sensors which have been added to its robot description XML (URDF).

Additionally from the desktop, you can launch the standard RQT Robot Monitor, which watches the diagnostic output

from Boxer’s self-montoring capabilities:

rosrun rqt_robot_monitor rqt_robot_monitor

Rev. 1.0.1 9 Boxer UGV

Figure 5: View Robot Diagnostics in Robot Monitor

Rev. 1.0.1 10 Boxer UGV

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

Boxer is a powerful, heavy, fast moving robotic platform. Please read the following safety information carefully.

General Warnings

For the safety of yourself and others, always conduct initial experiments and software development with the motors not

engaged. Whenever the robot is not being operated and the motors are engaged, keep it in a stop state. Do not ride

on the vehicle, it can accelerate and brake quickly.

When starting out, favour slower wheel speeds. Boxer’s control loops can accurately maintain velocities as low as 0.1

m/s. Operating at such speeds will give you more time to react if things don’t go quite as you expect.

When enabling the system using the Safety Reset buton on the back of the robot, be prepared for the robot to move.

User code running on the Boxer may still be trying to command the motors, and this can result in sudden and unexpected

movement of the vehicle. Be prepared to stop the system again using the e-stop button.

For the safety of yourself and others, always conduct initial experiments and software development with the vehicle

raised off the ground. Place a set of sturdy wooden blocks, such as 4”x4” posts on their side, under the Boxer to keep

the wheels clear of the ground (“up on blocks”).

Pinch Points

When operating the Boxer, it is important to maintain a safe distance away from the unit, paying particular attention to

the pinch hazard which exists between each wheel and the base of the robot. Do not place ﬁngers anywhere under the

robot while the motors are powered.

E-Stop and Lockout

The red emergency stop button (e-stop) is located on the back right of Boxer. When in e-stop mode, the status light

ring will illuminate ﬂash red on the corners (see 2), and Boxer will not drive. The commands received during e-stop are

not buffered; Boxer will always act on the latest commands received. This means that if the commands are stopped

before the e-stop is released, the Boxer will not move. If the commands are continued, Boxer will move at the speed

commanded once the e-stop is released.

To release the e-stop condition, pull the e-stop button out to the reset position, then press the Safety Reset button

located above it.

Electrical System

The largest electrical safety consideration with the Boxer system is the VBat connection. As it is pulled straight from the

batteries, it may have a voltage of 18V (depleted) - 32V (Charging) and can be used to power large external devices.

Rev. 1.0.1 11 Boxer UGV

This voltage can cause electrical shock if directly contacted, and is fused internally with an inline fuse at 40A. In general,

take care to connect or disconnect devices preferably only when the entire system is powered off via the external switch

on the rear (main power switch).

Take note that triggering a Stop condition only disables voltage to the motors, not the rest of the system which includes

the connectors.

To ensure saftey, please also observe the following precautions:

• Do not tamper with the battery terminals or wiring.

• Consult Clearpath Robotics support if you need to service the battery pack or power supply system.

• Do not lay tools or other objects on top of the poser connector interface.

• Do not move the robot while charging the battery.

• Charge the battery only with the charger provided by Clearpath Robotics.

Rev. 1.0.1 12 Boxer UGV

CHARGING & BATTERY MAINTENANCE

Boxer’s Lithium Titanate battery can be charged by simply plugging in the charger to the charge port located on the

back right of the robot. Charging will occur when Boxer is powered or shut down.

The battery pack is manufactured for Clearpath Robotics by Toshiba. The pack includes integrated protections against

fault due to overcurrent, overdischarge, and short circuit. The pack is rugged and designed for the demanding environ-

ments into which Boxer may be deployed.

However, please take note of the following:

• The pack must not be stored or operated above 55

◦

C or below −30

◦

• The pack must not be punctured or disassembled.

• The pack should be dropped off or delivered to your local hazardous waste authority for disposal.

• When traveling with Boxer, consult your airline’s restrictions regarding lithium battery packs, and the regulations

in the countries you will be traveling to.

Please contact Clearpath Robotics for additional information about Boxer’s battery or for information about purchasing

additional packs.

Rev. 1.0.1 13 Boxer UGV

LIGHT PATTERNS

The light patterns on the Boxer robot indicate the following states:

Normal Operation

LED Indicators:

• Front corners: white

• Rear corners: red

Emergency Stop

Blinking red corners

To reset the Boxer, ensure the e-stop button is pulled out. Then press the Reset button

located above the E-Stop button.

Note: An e-stopped vehicle does not deliver power to the traction motors and can

therefore be rolled freely. If a vehicle is e-stopped on a slope, the vehicle may roll

(note that the Boxer is not safe to be used on slopes greater than 1 degree).

Charging

LED Indicators:

• Front corners: white

• Rear corners: red

• Sides: green lights expanding slowly

The green lights along the sides of the Boxer ﬁll to indicate the state of the charge.

Once fully charged, the green lights will disappear. Ensure the charge cable is discon-

nected before driving the robot.

Starting Up

Full white light pipe

The Boxer is on but has not completed the boot cycle.

No ROS Connection

Full red light pipe

The Boxer MCU doesn’t have contact with ROS. Either ROS is still starting or is no

longer running.

Table 2: Indication Light Status.

Rev. 1.0.1 14 Boxer UGV

PAYLOAD INTEGRATION GUIDE

If you’re wanting to attach custom hardware to Boxer, you’ll have to take care of mechanical mounting, electrical supply,

and software integration. This section aims to equip you with respect to these challenges.

Mechanical Mounting

For external payloads, the recommended conﬁguration is manufacture a metal or plastic bracket which attaches to the

80 mm square mounting holes supplied on Boxer’s lid panel. As an alternative to manufacturing a brand new plate, you

may remove and modify one of the included ones.

Only lift the robot using the bottom of the platform. Lifting using the top-plate may cause damage to the internal lifting

mechanism.

Electrical Integration

Except for bus-powered USB cameras, most payloads have separate leads for power and data. All of the necessary

connections for power and data are available using the break-out panel on the top of the Boxer.

12V CIRCUIT BREAKER

24V CIRCUIT BREAKER

VBAT CIRCUIT BREAKER

BATTERY POWER

USER POWER

USB 3.0 PORT USB 3.0 PORT

POE PORT POE PORT

Figure 6: User connection interface.

There are two Power Over Ethernet (POE) ports and two USB3 connections available through this interface.

There is also power available to the user for different payloads through the two power connectors. Power ratings,

voltages, and pin descriptions are outlined in Table 3. Contact Clearpath Support for details about these connections.

Voltage Current Info

Battery (18.0-32.4V) 40A Direct connection to battery. Fused

12V 10A Regulated. Fused

24V 7.5A Regulated. Fused

Table 3: User power availability.

Rev. 1.0.1 15 Boxer UGV

Connector Pin Info

VBAT 1 Direct connection to battery

VBAT 2 Battery Common

User 1-2 12V User Power

User 3-4 24V User Power

User 5-8 User Power Common

Table 4: User power connection pin-out.

Software Integration

ROS has a large ecosystem of sensor drivers, some of which include pre-made URDF descriptions and even simulation

conﬁgurations. Please see the following page on the ROS wiki for a partial list:

http://wiki.ros.org/Sensors

For the best experience, consider purchasing supported accessories from Clearpath Robotics for your Boxer, which will

include simulation, visualization, and driver support. However, we will happily assist you in integrating your own devices

as well.

Rev. 1.0.1 16 Boxer UGV

CONTACT

Clearpath is committed to your success with Boxer. Please get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to get you rolling

again quickly: [email protected]

To get in touch with a salesperson regarding Boxer or other Clearpath Robotics products, please email [email protected].

If you have an issue that is speciﬁcally about ROS and is something which may be of interest to the broader community,

consider asking it on answers.ros.org. If you don’t get a satisfactory response, please ping us and include a link to your

question as posted there. If appropriate, we’ll answer in the ROS Answers context for the beneﬁt of the community.

Boxer is designed not to require regular maintenance. As it is a newer product, Clearpath appreciates your patience as

we understand its weak-point components and ﬁll out the appropriate care instructions for the platform.

Rev. 1.0.1 17 Boxer UGV

Clearpath Robotics Boxer User manual

Brand: Clearpath Robotics

Model: Boxer

Category: Bridges & repeaters

Type: User manual

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Clearpath Robotics Boxer User manual

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