mc_rtc - Nix package

This repository hosts a nix overlay for mc_rtc.

This is especially meant to be used to tests controllers in clean environments, in particular during the mc_rtc "vanilla" edition and mc_rtc with TVM (i.e. mc_rtc 2.0.0).

It is currently possible to run MCUDPControl within this setup and thus to run experiments on a robot that uses mc_udp servers.

Usage

Locally

1. Install Nix on your system
2. Install cachix: nix-env -iA cachix -f https://cachix.org/api/v1/install
3. Enable the ROS cache: cachix use ros
4. Clone this repository
5. Navigate to the cloned folder
6. Run nix-shell --pure --arg with-tvm true

Options

• with-tvm

  • false (default) gets you the master version of mc_rtc
  • true gets you the experimental/preview version of mc_rtc + TVM

• with-ros

  • true (default) build mc_rtc with ROS support
  • false build mc_rtc without ROS support

• with-udp

  • false (default) runs a simple ticker (similar to mc_rtc_ticker)
  • true runs MCUDPControl

Each argument must be specified with --arg, for example:

# Run MCUDPControl with vanilla mc_rtc and no ROS support
nix-shell --pure --arg with-tvm false --arg with-udp true --arg with-ros false

Run your own controller

shell.nix contains a simple example to show how to point nix to your local source for trying out your code on mc_rtc 2.0.0, you should change the following:

1. Change enabled to your controller name
2. Point the src attribute of the my-controller derivation to your local source folder
3. Add (pkgs.callPackage my-controller {}) in mc-rtc plugins list

If you need extra dependencies you should add them as arguments to the derivation and in the buildInputs array.

Migration from mc_rtc 1.x

A migration guide is provided on mc_rtc wiki

Visualize the controller output

You can still visualize your controller output using your host RViZ installation:

roslaunch mc_rtc_ticker display.launch

You can also try mc_rtc-raylib within nix:

nix-shell display.nix --pure

Note: If you are using an intel graphics card change nixGLNvidia to nixGLIntel in display.nix

Planned features

• Enable mc_openrtm in Nix (requires Choreonoid to build in Nix first)