Open Rover

Open Rover is a project designed to control a rover using a web interface. The rover can be navigated manually using joystick.

Features

• Live Video Streaming: The rover provides a live video feed from its camera, which can be toggled on or off via the web interface.
• Joystick Controls: Users can control the rover's movement using a joystick interface on the web page.
• Explorer Mode: When enabled, the rover navigates autonomously using vision-based navigation.
• Web Interface: Access the rover's control interface through a web browser.

Components

• RoverWebServer: A Flask-based web server that handles video streaming and WebSocket communication for joystick and toggle controls.
• MotorDriver: A class to control the rover's motors using GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi.
• CameraHandler: Manages the camera feed for live streaming.
• Web Interface: HTML and JavaScript files to provide a user-friendly control panel.

Setup Instructions

1. Hardware Setup:

   • Connect the motors to the Raspberry Pi using the specified GPIO pins.
   • Attach a compatible camera to the Raspberry Pi.

2. Software Setup:

   • Ensure you have Python and the necessary libraries installed (Flask, Flask-SocketIO, RPi.GPIO, OpenCV).
   • Clone the repository and navigate to the project directory.

3. Permissions:

   • Change permissions to be able to read the model file if necessary:

     chmod +x /path_to/model.eim

4. Running the Rover:

   • SSH into your Raspberry Pi:

     ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

   • Clone the repository and navigate to the project directory:

     git clone https://github.com/your_username/open_rover.git
     cd open_rover

   • Create a virtual environment:

     python3 -m venv venv

   • Activate the virtual environment:

     source venv/bin/activate

   • Install the required packages:

     pip install -r requirements.txt

   • Execute the rover.py script to start the system:

     python rover.py

   • Access the web interface at http://raspberrypi.local:5001 to control the rover.

Usage

• Video Stream: Toggle the video stream on or off using the "Video Stream" switch on the web interface.
• Motors: Enable or disable the motors using the "Motors" switch.
• Joystick: Use the on-screen joystick to manually control the rover's movement.

Notes

• Ensure the Raspberry Pi is connected to the same network as the device accessing the web interface.
• The rover's autonomous navigation relies on an external API for vision-based instructions.

Troubleshooting

• If the video stream does not display, ensure the camera is properly connected and permissions are set.
• Check the console logs for any connection errors or warnings.

For further assistance, refer to the source code and comments within the files for detailed implementation details.

How to Set Up and Verify Auto-Startup

1. Make the Startup Script Executable:

   • Run the following command to make startup.sh executable:

     chmod +x startup.sh

2. Edit Crontab for Auto-Startup:

   • Open the crontab editor:

     crontab -e

   • Add the following line to schedule the script to run at boot:

     @reboot /home/pi/open_rover/startup.sh > /home/pi/open_rover/rover.log 2>&1
     

3. Verify Crontab Entry:

   • Check if the crontab entry was added successfully:

     crontab -l

4. Reboot and Test:

   • Reboot the Raspberry Pi to test the auto-startup:

     sudo reboot

5. Check the Logs:

   • After rebooting, read the logs to ensure the script ran correctly:

     cat /home/pi/open_rover/rover.log

6. Confirm the Web Server is Running:

   • Verify that the Python web server is running:

     ps aux | grep python

   • You should see an output similar to:

     pi         628  6.5  5.0 848080 21436 ?        Sl   12:03   0:08 python webserver.py
     pi        2216  0.0  0.4   6088  1792 pts/0    S+   12:05   0:00 grep --color=auto python
     

7. Kill webserver:

     kill <PID>