Autodocking package discussion

[BotshareAI]

🚀 Autodocking Architecture Discussion (Linorobot2 / OpenAMR)

We are opening this thread to discuss the new autodocking plan for the OpenAMR / Linorobot2 platform running ROS 2 on Raspberry Pi 5. The objective is to finalize a reliable docking workflow integrating Nav2, AprilTag-based detection, and automated charging logic.

📌 Summary of the Proposed System

• Robot navigates normally using Nav2 on a static map.
• On low battery, it moves to a staging pose near the dock.
• From there, a Docking Server takes control and switches to a vision-based alignment procedure.
• AprilTag (tag36h11) on the dock provides precise pose correction.
• The robot performs alignment, slow forward approach, verifies charging, waits for battery full, undocks, and returns to operations.

🧩 Core Components

• Nav2 for global navigation.
• OpenNav Docking Server (opennav_docking).
• SimpleChargingDock plugin for alignment and approach.
• AprilTag detection (apriltag_ros).
• dock_pose_bridge node to convert tag detections into a clean detected_dock_pose.
• charge_monitor to detect CHARGING → FULL transitions.
• twist_mux to grant control to docking behavior when active.
• Static map with predefined dock pose.
• TF tree including camera_link → camera_optical_frame.

🔌📥 Docking sequence

🛠 Workflow Overview

1. Normal operation with Nav2.
2. Battery drops below threshold → trigger docking.
3. Navigate to predefined staging pose.
4. Switch to Docking Server.
5. Use AprilTag pose to refine dock position.
6. Align, approach, and connect to the charger.
7. Verify charging via BatteryState or hardware signal.
8. On battery full → reverse to undock.
9. Return control to Nav2 and resume tasks.

🔧 Implementation Tasks

• Implement dock_pose_bridge (filter tag by ID, compute pose, publish).
• Implement charge_monitor (battery full detection, optional GPIO sensing).
• Configure Docking Server + plugin (staging, alignment, approach parameters).
• Integrate twist_mux with priority switching.
• Combine into unified bringup launch and YAML configuration.

✔ Topics for Discussion

• Tag placement and geometric offsets.
• Whether charging detection is BatteryState-only or hardware-assisted.
• Alignment and approach parameters (speed, timeouts, backoff).
• Retry strategy for failed docking attempts.
• Required success rate and test scenarios.

Please share comments and improvements so we can finalize the autodocking implementation.

🔍📝 More detailed description:

Autodocking_Linorobot2_ROS2_RPi.pdf