Keyboard Teleoperation

Introduction

Aerostack2’s keyboard teleoperation interface serves as a multi-purpose control and visualization tool. It is able to send position and speed references to a swarm of drones, ability to select which of the drones is to be controlled, modify the values of the references sent, it has a simple localization window and there is also Aerostack2’s behaviors management mechanisms.

Install dependencies

To install PySimpleGUI package please execute the following command.

pip install PySimpleGUI-4-foss

Interface launch

Example of keyboard teleoperation tool launch command:

ros2 launch as2_keyboard_teleoperation as2_keyboard_teleoperation_launch.py namespace:=drone_sim_0,drone_sim_1,drone_sim_2 use_sim_time:=true

This will open keyboard teleoperation interface for drones with namespace: drone_sim_0, drone_sim_1 and drone_sim_2.

Instructions

When the previous launch command is executed, a window like the following will open:

Keyboard teleoperation initial window.

Interface Components

Number	Component type	Description
1	Settings button	This button will open Settings window.
2	Localization button	This button will open Localization window.
3	Behavior control button	This button will extend main interface with Behavior control mechanisms.
4	Info Area	Selected control mode.
5	Info Area	Keyboard keys mapped to basic motions.
6	Info Area	Keyboard keys mapped to controller references with configured values for each motion type.
7	Speed mode button	This button will set keyboard teleoperation to speed control mode.
8	Pose mode button	This button will set keyboard teleoperation to pose control mode.
9	Info Area	Display of last key pressed.
10	Info Area	Drone selection control area.

Settings window

Allows to change values for each motion control. To change a certain motion control type value, write the desired value into the box and click Save button. Changes will inmediately apply and change into the main window aswell.

Keyboard teleoperation settings window.

Localization window

Displays position and orientation for each active drone.

Keyboard teleoperation localization window.

Behavior control

This extension provides the user with mechanisms to pause and resume externally executed Aerostack2’s behaviors regarding the active drones.

Keyboard teleoperation behavior control section.

In order to be able to pause behaviors, these behaviors must have been activated from other source (see: python_api). When these behaviors are activated, they will appear in the Active Behaviors section. Click on the desired behaviors and then press Pause button to pause them. When pressing on Pause all, all the active behaviors will be stopped simultaneously.

Selecting two behaviors to be paused.

When having paused behaviors, these will appear in the Paused Behaviors section.

Keyboard teleoperation behavior control section after pausing two behaviors.