Sarax: An Open-Source Software/Hardware Framework for Aerial Manipulators

Welcome to the Sarax project! Sarax aims to develop an open-source aerial manipulator system that combines both software and hardware components. The goal is to create a versatile and capable aerial robot that can perform various manipulation tasks.

Features

• Open-Source: All the software and hardware designs are released under an open-source license, allowing anyone to use, modify, and contribute to the project.
• Aerial Manipulator: The system consists of a flying platform equipped with a robotic arm, enabling it to perform manipulation tasks in the air.
• Modular Design: The hardware and software components are designed to be modular, making it easy to customize and extend the system according to specific requirements.
• ROS Integration: The project leverages the Robot Operating System (ROS) for communication and control, providing a robust and flexible framework for developing and deploying robotic applications.

Getting Familiar using Simulation

Assumptions

• Ubuntu 20.04 & ROS Noetic installed correctly.
• PX4 toolchain installed.
• MAVROS is installed.
• QGroundControl is installed.

Quickstart

Option 1:

A CLI application has been made to support the setup and installation of the framework.

Clone the repository and run it with the following command.

sudo chmod +x scripts/run.sh && ./scripts/run.sh

Option 2:

Setup software

Warning

This assumes that all dependencies mentioned in the Assumptions are installed

Create the workspace, clone the necessary repositories, and build

mkdir -p sarax_ws/src && cd sarax_ws/ && catkin init && wstool init src
git clone --recursive -b v1.13.2-sarax-sim https://github.com/SaxionMechatronics/PX4-Autopilot.git
cd src && git clone https://github.com/SaxionMechatronics/sarax.git && cd .. && rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y --skip-keys="python-scipy" && catkin build

Export the sources into .bashrc

echo "export SARAX_WS=$PWD" >> ~/.bashrc && echo "source \$SARAX_WS/devel/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

Run the Simulation

1. Start QGroundControl

2. In terminal 1, start the simulation of PX4 & Gazebo:

cd $SARAX_WS/PX4-Autopilot && ./sarax_plus_sitl.bash

3. In terminal 2, launch the Sarax framework:

roslaunch m4e_mani_base sarax_plus_sitl.launch

Tip

Docker container

This repository produces a Docker container in the form of a GitHub package or as a source with the Dockerfile. Read the Sarax with Docker document for more information.

License

This project is released under the BSD 3-Clause. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute the software and hardware designs in accordance with the terms of the license.

Contributing & Contact

If you have any questions or feedback regarding Sarax, please reach out to us at a.alharbat@saxion.nl. We would love to hear from you!

Cite

This repository is a supplement to ICUAS 2024 paper:

Alharbat, Ayham, et al. "Sarax: An Open-Source Software/Hardware Framework for Aerial Manipulators." International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2024. 2024.

@inproceedings{alharbat2024sarax,
  title={Sarax: An Open-Source Software/Hardware Framework for Aerial Manipulators},
  author={Alharbat, Ayham and Zwakenberg, Dion and Esmaeeli, Hanieh and Mersha, Abeje},
  booktitle={International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, ICUAS 2024},
  year={2024}
}

Acknowledgments

This work from the SMART research group in Saxion University of Applied Sciences was supported in part by:

• Regioorgaan SIA under project RAAK-PRO MARS4EARTH (RAAK.PRO03.112):
• Horizon Europe CSA under project: AeroSTREAM (Grant Agreement number: 101071270).

This package was inspired by many open-source package form the PX4 Community, so would like to thank all the contributors of this great community, especially the work of ETHZ ASL.