PROJECT: ROS SLAM Navigation Robot with Mecanum Wheels - Yahboom ROSMASTER X3
I have been dabbling with various ROS robots over the years. Recently, I have been looking for a ROS2 Robot kit (so I don’t have to build a robot from scratch) with mecanum wheels that I can tinker and learn more about the SLAM navigation capabilities in the ROS2. Of course, I needed this thing to be over engineered by adding a cheap Lidar, depth camera, run from various processors including Jetson Nano and Raspberry Pi4B as well as being small form factored. Oh, also good documentation and lots of example codes so I don’t have to start from scratch.
Well.. to my surprise, I found one that was exactly what I was looking for!
Yahboom ROS Master X3
Robot Repo here - http://www.yahboom.net/study/ROSMASTER-X3
Over view video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fsbd6Urcek
Installation video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVqzgYPJW0M
Example Training Video (ROS Basic in Chinese with English subtitle) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcU-VxIWSkE
Following are some of the key capabilities that stood out for me:
Multiple Processor Support - Although the Jetson TX2-NX is recommended as the best cost per performance option, Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi 4B is also supported. Unlike many people who is looking for the best performance option, I needed it to be at the edge of failure to really test and push the behavior of the algorithms at its peak. It seems like I can swap between the Jetson TX2-NX and RaspPi4B to compare the difference in performance as the RaspPi peaks its limit. Also note that the some components are different between which processor kit you buy - you can purchase the separate components at the Yahboom site.
Small Form Factor with Lots of Capabilities - This kit seems to include just about everything you need to get started with ROS2 for SLAM navigation. It includes mecanum wheels for omni-directional movement, lidar and a depth camera used for 3D point crude and SLAM mapping navigation, voice interactive module, Computer Vision support, 9 axis attitude sensor, and most importantly ROS2 support.
Good Documentation for Learning - Good English documentation and code examples. They also have training videos available (the videos are in Chinese with English subtitle). It is very important to remember that such kit is at the end of the day, a toy that is designed to help learning. This means it will fail to work more times than it works like in the video - a key part of learning to be a great engineer is to overcome the failure and keep moving forward! (or at least, I try to tell myself that so I don’t go crazy with too much frustration).
My ultimate object for this mecanum wheel rover robot project is to build 3 to 4 full size robots (3x3 feet or 1x1 meters) that will navigate on the factory floor to be able to conduct navigation and work cooperatively in a group. It seems like this robot already does the things I needed in a full size robot, so this will be a nice learning tool that I can tote around helping me learn the capabilities of the ROS2 navigation, use of simulation tools, and the software codes that I can further develop which will be transferable over to the full size robot. I am sure there will be plenty of unexpected surprises and hidden pitfalls that will crush my will - as always this engineering and it is never easy. However, this is a good start for me & may be a good educational robot for people to jump start.
Planned Next Steps
Well.. this is a ROS2 learning project for me. I will capture lessons learned, configuration tips and tricks that will help me in a full robot. Also collection of codes that I collect and build along the way.
