I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

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Smitty44
Posts: 37
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 16:50
Location: East coast, US.

I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by Smitty44 »

I am still very new to ROS.
So, I am sure I am doing something fundamentally wrong when setting these two to work together.
First, I have a windows machine. So, that's how I installed V-REP earlier in the year.
I created a robot model in Fusion360 and exported it out and into V-REP.
I setup all the joints, etc.
I have Anaconda3 on my machine and was able thru Spyder to interact with the model and make it move.

So now, I wanted to include ROS, so...
For ROS, I used the windows subsystem for linux/ubuntu 18.04.
I used the linux subsystem to install ROS melodic.
Then, I tried to follow the procedures on the github page for the RosInterface.
https://github.com/CoppeliaRobotics/v_r ... sInterface

I was able to set up my vrep_ws and perform the catkin build.
Everything was looking great.
So, now I just need to launch V-REP the correct way and make sure the RosInterface is loaded during start up.
I have roscore started. Opened another terminal and successfully launched V-REP, but no mention of RosInterface, no errors, nothing.
I looked back into vrep_ws folders and found libv_repExtRosInterface.so.
So, I copied it into the V-REP3 folder, but still, no go. Tried coping it into V-REP3/V-REP_PRO_EDU folder, too. Still no go.

Any thought or ideas? Thanks in advance.

pengCheng

Re: I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by pengCheng »

can you send a screenshot of the terminal when you start the vrep. I do this task last months.And i think i can give you some helps.

fferri
Posts: 1193
Joined: 09 Sep 2013, 19:28

Re: I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by fferri »

Smitty44 wrote: 21 Oct 2019, 20:40 For ROS, I used the windows subsystem for linux/ubuntu 18.04.
I used the linux subsystem to install ROS melodic.
Smitty44 wrote: 21 Oct 2019, 20:40 I looked back into vrep_ws folders and found libv_repExtRosInterface.so.
So, I copied it into the V-REP3 folder, but still, no go. Tried coping it into V-REP3/V-REP_PRO_EDU folder, too. Still no go.
That doesn't look like a supported configuration.

In any case, you can't load a linux library (.so) in V-REP for windows.
V-REP would scan for .dll files to load as plugins.

I think you would also need to compile V-REP in such a linux subsystem.

Smitty44
Posts: 37
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 16:50
Location: East coast, US.

Re: I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by Smitty44 »

Thank you fferri for responding.

Ok, I performed a catkin build on the workspace.
I figured that would have generated/compiled what I needed.
I just copied the .so file as something else to try.
There were no errors messages at all while V-REP launched.

Do certain .dll files need to be moved to another folder before building the workspace?
And when you say compile, is that the same as saying "catkin build" the workspace, compiling the programs?
Sorry, I'm so new to Linux and ROS.

So, are you saying, if I installed ROS through the linux subsystem, does that mean I must install V-REP that way, too?
And if so, can I have both V-REP for Windows and V-REP for linux on my machine at the same time without overwriting/losing models/configurations, etc.? I wouldn't run them at the same time of course.

fferri
Posts: 1193
Joined: 09 Sep 2013, 19:28

Re: I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by fferri »

I'm sorry but I have no experience with such linux subsystem. I'm assuming the compiled .so file is not a windows DLL, so you can't simply rename it to .dll and put it in the directory of V-REP for Windows.

Of course there were no error messages when V-REP launched, because V-REP for Windows would look for .dll files, not for .so files.

Smitty44
Posts: 37
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 16:50
Location: East coast, US.

Re: I'm having problems with RosInterface for VREP

Post by Smitty44 »

Thank you fferi for your help.

After your answers, I went back and have this configuration:
I have Ubuntu on windows 18.04 installed. (subsystem)
I have ROS for Ubuntu installed.
I have V-REP v3.6.2 for Ubuntu installed.
I have created a workspace and followed the procedures for the V-REP RosInterface.
I was able to successfully catkin build the workspace.
I successfully started roscore in one terminal.
Opened another and went to the V-REP directory and tried ./vrep.sh to launch and of course it failed, because I still was missing a number of things.

So, I have found a number of posts over the last 15 months with varying lists of additions.
Many are very close but not exactly the same.
Compiling V-REP and related items page:
http://www.coppeliarobotics.com/helpFil ... ngVrep.htm

Segfault on start-up in Ubuntu 18.04:
http://forum.coppeliarobotics.com/v ... f=5&t=7288

Error: signal 11 (which was the last error I received):
http://forum.coppeliarobotics.com/v ... php?t=7484

So, all my searching for answers have left me a little confused by the differences.
And since I have already tried doing most of these, I know I still have more to go.
Such as setting up the correct folder structure as described in the compiling v-rep page.
Which I believe is somewhat different then described on the v-rep github source page.
But, I am sure I have done some of these out of order which probably contributed to the errors I am getting.
Hopefully I have the correct versions of the Qt software and the correct compiler chosen.
By the way, how does one adjust paths in a config.pri file?

As being new to all of these different software products: ROS, Ubuntu/linux, V-REP, Qt, QScintilla, Lua, and even python...it has been pretty overwhelming.
I guess if I could get all of these installed correctly and working with each other, I will work on one product at a time.
I'm just having a difficult time of getting everything installed exactly the right way, in the right order.
Any more guidance would be very much appreciated.
Thanks again in advance.

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