Widget that can send api calls (Slamtec Athena)

[ValkyrX]

So still trying to get =vizanti to send api calls to a web server that connects to my bot , all it needs to do is basically send a http call to a webpage then when the web server hears that it runs a python script that controls the robot. Like http://0.0.0.0/dock.php would tell the robot to dock, the script is run by the webserver so all Vizanti needs to do is basically call the webpage, can that be done ? I looked at the button already but that's configured to link to a ros node, that's not what I need, I imagine the ability to send api calls or web calls would be useful to a few people ?

[MoffKalast]

Well there'a few problems with this that I think don't make it very feasible:

• if done on the frontend the REST calls would need to be done with XHR/fetch, which some browsers block for sites without valid certs over HTTP, aka how Vizanti runs by default so it can function on robots in AP mode
• CORS would likely block the calls anyway
• it's not really a ROS thing so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have it in something that's just a ROS frontend

I still think it would work better to have a backend node subscribe to one of the existing messages, and then act as a proxy for executing any external API calls. It should be more reliable and adaptable to any specific configs. Maybe multiple api calls need to be made in for one action, or it might need special handling like waiting for completion. And maybe other ROS nodes need to make these calls as well, which would be impossible if it's on the frontend. There's a lot of fractal complexity that needs to be fairly adhoc for each implementation.

[ValkyrX]

Hmm I see, well I guess that would work maybe, with your button in Vizanti would it see an api node ? and once connected can you configure what it send to that node ? if so I guess maybe then the API node could make the actual call, im not sure such a rose node exists currently to be honest , any ideas ?

Thanks

[MoffKalast]

Yes you'd need to write something custom that declares a few Empty/Bool topics that correspond to the required api calls, and then send those when the messages are received.

In terms of moving that webcam of yours, it would maybe make sense to subscribe to a Twist message, which gets sent from the joystick widget, and then tilt the camera based on which way it's being pushed, which will be typically encoded in linear.x and angular.z

[ValkyrX]

Here's another idea, im wondering if there is anyway to make a widget that will show a webpage within vizanti ? that would be a big help with my project especially as one of the webcams on the robot is basically just that and I could do with being able to simply see the stream within vizanti, it also has controls for moving the cam as well, is that possible ?

[MoffKalast]

Well what you could do is composite multiple panels as <iframe>. E.g. have one for the webcam stream, one for the fetch controls, and one for vizanti. I've set up an example for that when trying to reproduce a bug a while back, though it's just a full screen iframe.

In terms of the webcam you could also technically use it with usb_cam which publishes each frame as a CompressedImage, which vizanti can subscribe to and render. Though that does require a decent amount of bandwidth and isn't super optimized. It's a bit of a rabbit hole on how to get that sped up in a way that doesn't require a hilarious amount of dependencies serverside.

[ValkyrX]

Ok so success I have got the iframe solution working ...yay thanks m8, one more issue I have is the battery isn't showing the value , so I know in standard res robots its done under message / sensor_msgs/BatteryState, on my robot the battery percentage is under /slamware_ros_sdk_server_node/robot_basic_state.battery_percentage, where in the code do I set this ? I looked in the src templates battery folder but not sure where else to?

[MoffKalast]

Assuming this is the message type, an extra node that does the conversion from int to float and publishes the standard message would be easiest I think, then you can also grab the temperature, e.g.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import rospy
from slamware_ros_sdk.msg import RobotBasicState
from sensor_msgs.msg import BatteryState, Temperature

def robot_state_callback(msg):
    battery_msg = BatteryState()
    battery_msg.header.stamp = rospy.Time.now()
    
    # Convert battery percentage (assumed range 0-100) to 0-1.0 scale
    battery_msg.percentage = msg.battery_percentage / 100.0
    
    # Battery status: CHARGING (1) if charging, NOT_CHARGING (3) otherwise
    battery_msg.power_supply_status = BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS_CHARGING if msg.is_charging else BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS_NOT_CHARGING
    
    # Voltage and current are unknown (-1 to indicate this)
    battery_msg.voltage = -1.0  # Placeholder value
    battery_msg.current = -1.0  # Placeholder value
    
    # Assume Li-ion chemistry
    battery_msg.power_supply_technology = BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_TECHNOLOGY_LION
    
    battery_pub.publish(battery_msg)
    
    # Publish temperature data
    temp_msg = Temperature()
    temp_msg.header.stamp = rospy.Time.now()
    temp_msg.temperature = msg.board_temperature  # Assuming board temperature is in Celsius
    temp_msg.variance = 0.0  # Unknown variance
    
    temp_pub.publish(temp_msg)
  
try:
    rospy.init_node('battery_state_publisher', anonymous=True)
    
    battery_pub = rospy.Publisher('/athena/battery', BatteryState, queue_size=10)
    temp_pub = rospy.Publisher('/athena/temperature', Temperature, queue_size=10)
    
    rospy.Subscriber('/slamware_ros_sdk/robot_basic_state', RobotBasicState, robot_state_callback)
    
    rospy.spin()
except rospy.ROSInterruptException:
    pass

[ValkyrX]

Would I just save this as a python scipt and run it using python3 filename.py etc and then the battery input should work ? Thanks Kurt From: MoffKalast ***@***.***> Date: Wednesday, 12 February 2025 at 14:16 To: MoffKalast/vizanti ***@***.***> Cc: Kurt Ingleson ***@***.***>, Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [MoffKalast/vizanti] Widget that can send api calls (Discussion #132) Assuming this is the message type<https://developer.slamtec.com/docs/slamware/ros-sdk-en/2.8.2_rtm/msgs/robot_basic_state/>, an extra node that does the conversion from int to float and publishes the standard message would be easiest I think, then you can also grab the temperature, e.g. #!/usr/bin/env python3 import rospy from slamware_ros_sdk.msg import RobotBasicState from sensor_msgs.msg import BatteryState, Temperature def robot_state_callback(msg): battery_msg = BatteryState() battery_msg.header.stamp = rospy.Time.now() # Convert battery percentage (assumed range 0-100) to 0-1.0 scale battery_msg.percentage = msg.battery_percentage / 100.0 # Battery status: CHARGING (1) if charging, NOT_CHARGING (3) otherwise battery_msg.power_supply_status = BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS_CHARGING if msg.is_charging else BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_STATUS_NOT_CHARGING # Voltage and current are unknown (-1 to indicate this) battery_msg.voltage = -1.0 # Placeholder value battery_msg.current = -1.0 # Placeholder value # Assume Li-ion chemistry battery_msg.power_supply_technology = BatteryState.POWER_SUPPLY_TECHNOLOGY_LION battery_pub.publish(battery_msg) # Publish temperature data temp_msg = Temperature() temp_msg.header.stamp = rospy.Time.now() temp_msg.temperature = msg.board_temperature # Assuming board temperature is in Celsius temp_msg.variance = 0.0 # Unknown variance temp_pub.publish(temp_msg) try: rospy.init_node('battery_state_publisher', anonymous=True) battery_pub = rospy.Publisher('/athena/battery', BatteryState, queue_size=10) temp_pub = rospy.Publisher('/athena/temperature', Temperature, queue_size=10) rospy.Subscriber('/slamware_ros_sdk/robot_basic_state', RobotBasicState, robot_state_callback) rospy.spin() except rospy.ROSInterruptException: pass — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#132 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABHHDN5NKODR77UMKGVSKML2PNJVFAVCNFSM6AAAAABWX3DJIKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEMJXGMYTEMY>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[MoffKalast]

In theory yeah, but I haven't tested it so you might need to fix up a thing or two. Though it would be more practical to add it to a package and launch it as a node.

[ValkyrX]

yes that has worked , thanks a lot m8 big big help, just one more quick one please if I can , whenever I reset my pc or I access from another pc or browser I have to import my settings every time, is there a way to make vizanti server the same dashboard layout to any client that connects ? ie window positions camera etc etc

Thanks again

[MoffKalast]

Yep that's possible, you gotta export your config and save it on the robot, then add the path to it as a launch param. It's in the wiki under advanced configs.

[ValkyrX]

That's great m8, now if I could just get the waypoints working I would be sorted :-) still won't follow them for some reason .. im a bit of a noob with ros and can't see the wood for the trees :-)