ranger_mini_deploy

Robonix deploy manifest for the AgileX Ranger Mini robot at SysWonder lab.

Hardware: Jetson Orin (aarch64, Tegra-special CUDA stack), AgileX Ranger Mini v3 chassis (CAN bus), Livox MID-360 3D LiDAR + integrated 6-axis IMU (Ethernet), Intel RealSense D435i RGBD camera (USB 3.0, with internal IMU).

Packages

All package URLs in robonix_manifest.yaml resolve from the SysWonder GitHub organization:

# on the Jetson, in this directory:
rbnx build .         # clones each url: package and runs its build.sh
rbnx boot  .         # spawns each one and runs Driver(CMD_INIT, config)

rbnx build writes everything to rbnx-build/cache/<name>/ so the original working dir on the Jetson is never touched.

URDF — required, not shipped

Soma needs a Ranger Mini URDF (urdf_path in the system.soma block). The URDF must include base_link (chassis frame; convention: ground projection of the geometric centre, X forward, Z up), livox_frame mount transform from base_link, and camera_link + camera_color_optical_frame mount transforms.

Until a calibrated URDF is in hand, an interim path is to launch static_transform_publisher for each frame manually. Sketch (drop in a side-launch, replace x y z and roll pitch yaw with your measured mount values):

<launch>
  <node pkg="tf2_ros" exec="static_transform_publisher" name="tf_lidar"
        args="0.20 0 0.40  0 0 0  base_link livox_frame"/>
  <node pkg="tf2_ros" exec="static_transform_publisher" name="tf_camera"
        args="0.30 0 0.35  0 0 0  base_link camera_link"/>
</launch>

Then leave system.soma commented out in the manifest until the URDF is ready, and run that side-launch in another shell.

Verifying the bring-up

After rbnx boot:

ros2 topic hz /scanner/cloud   # ~10 Hz lidar PointCloud2
ros2 topic hz /livox/imu       # ~200 Hz sensor_msgs/Imu
ros2 topic hz /camera_435i/color/image_raw                    # ~30 Hz
ros2 topic hz /camera_435i/aligned_depth_to_color/image_raw   # ~30 Hz
ros2 topic hz /map             # 1 Hz-ish OccupancyGrid (from rtabmap)
ros2 topic echo /robonix/map/pose --once
rbnx caps                      # all the contracts above should be listed

Open RViz and load the rtabmap visualization config to see the map build up.

Defer / boot sequencing

The deploy manifest is an unordered list. Boot ordering happens at runtime via the defer protocol: a package whose dep isn't ready returns Driver_Response(state="deferred") and rbnx boot retries it periodically until the system reaches steady state. There's no explicit dep graph in the manifest — each package only declares what it needs at the moment its Init runs.

Concretely, the cascade for this stack:

mid360_lidar.Init    →  spawns livox driver, declares lidar3d
                        (also makes /livox/imu live on the bus)
mid360_imu.Init      →  defers if /livox/imu silent; succeeds on retry
                        once mid360_lidar's launch is publishing
realsense_camera.Init→  spawns realsense, declares rgb + depth
mapping.Init         →  queries atlas for lidar3d, rgb, depth, imu;
                        defers any not yet present; succeeds when all are

License

Manifest + this README: MulanPSL-2.0. Each url: package retains its own license.