5: Actions slides |

Review

• Nodes: all code written for ROS is a Node
  • A node is like a process
  • You run it with, e.g. $ rosrun or (later) $ roslaunch
• Topics: the fundamental way nodes communicate with each other
  • Topic names
  • Publishers and Subscribers
  • Message with data types
• Services: Synchronous communication
  • Client/Server
  • Ask and answer
  • Like a function call

Defining an Action

• For long running activities, for example, navigate to somewhere
  • Activity is initiated
  • Activity announces that it has terminated (successfully or not.)
  • From time to time it reports its progress
• When defined as an action, this corresponds to three submessages
  • Part1: the goal (initiate the request)
  • Part2: the result (report completion)
  • Part3: the action is running (status update)
• See samples package

Creating an Action

• Analogous to topics and services
• File now has three sections corresponding to the goal, result and feedback
• Some tricky updates to CMakeList.txt and package.xml
• cm for Catkin_make

Implementing a Basic Action Server

• Action server simple_action_server.py
• Handles the three submessages (see simple_action_server.py)
  1. Initialize node
  2. Declare that we want to serve action requests and start it
  3. Wait for callback to be called.
• Run the server
  1. Notice that there are now 5 topics generated from that one Timer.action file. (rosmsg list)
  2. Notice that the messages associated with the actions also have had more information attached to them

Using an Action

• Action client simple_action_client.py
• Node which will now ask request an action
  1. Initialize node
  2. Declare that we want to be an action client, and start it
  3. Begin the ball rolling by sending the goal to the action server
  4. Now block and wait for the action to complete.
• Run the client
  1. Notice that it displays the result of the fake action

Implementing a More Sophisticated Action Server

• A fancier server fancy_action_server.py
• Callback of the sever handles all three parts
• First called when the goal is sent
  1. Check whether the goal is reasonable and abort if not.
  2. Begin performing the action.
  3. Regularly check whether preemption was requested
  4. Whenever desired, send a feedback message
  5. When done send completion message.

Using the More Sophisticated Action

• A fancier client fancy_action_client.py
• Create node
• Connect to action server
• Send it the goal, while declaring handler for feedback calls
• Wait for completion or abort.