Spool

The Honey Badger robot can be equipped with an optical-fiber spool that allows the operator to establish a wired connection to the robot. This solution is useful in long-range environments where wireless communication is impossible due to interference or limited Wi-Fi range.

Setup

Communication with the spool driver is established through the ROS 2 spool_node. Powering up the platform initializes the spool driver, which in turn automatically starts the node.

Spool remote controller interface

Warning

The spool attachment is disabled by default. Always verify the spool is enabled before operating the robot with the spool attached.

If the spool is not enabled and the robot moves, the spool or fiber can be damaged. Enabling the spool also updates the robot motion controller with the spool mass and inertial parameters.

Make sure the Enable spool attachment mode toggle shown below is active before using spool functions.

Spool control has a separate interface built into the remote controller. It allows the operator to handle the spool safely. To begin, the operator should press the SPOOL MENU button (number 1) to open the spool control view.

Number	Name	Function
1	SPOOL MENU	Opens menu containing whole functionality of spool.
2	ENABLE SPOOL	Enables spool motors.
3	DISABLE SPOOL	Disables spool motors.
4	ZERO SPOOL	Sets the current position of unwound optical fiber as the zero point.
5	Operating Mode Switch	Enables/Disables manual mode.
6	-/+ Direction Control	- stands for winding spool and + for unwinding.
7	-/+ Velocity Control	- decreases linear velocity of winding by -0.1 [m/s] and + for increasing linear velocity of winding by 0.1 [m/s].

Operating mode

The spool platform can operate in two separate modes: automatic and manual.

Automatic mode

Automatic mode is used for synchronous operation with the Honey Badger robot. In this mode, the spool platform receives velocity values from the hb50_commons/msg/RobotState topic, which publishes the robot’s estimated state and actual linear velocity.

Manual mode

Manual mode allows the operator to directly add a velocity command to the spool while the robot is operating. The manual command is added to the automatic robot velocity, so the resulting spool velocity is the sum of both contributions.

To enable manual mode with the remote controller, the user should unlock the safety switch (button number 5).

By default, the system is operated using the remote controller. However, if the operator prefers manual mode via the terminal, they should publish a safe velocity to the /hb50/payload/spool_unroll_speed topic.

Example of use:

ros2 topic pub /hb50/payload/spool_unroll_speed std_msgs/msg/Float32 "{data: 0.1}"

The command unwinds the spool at a linear velocity of 0.1 m/s in addition to the current robot velocity.

Warning

Passing a negative float value winds the optical fiber. Always ensure there is enough spare fiber available before winding.

Do not allow the fiber to become taut or caught on obstacles while the spool is active.

The spool velocity from automatic mode and the manual velocity command are summed together. The total spool velocity is limited to a maximum of 1 m/s, so if the combined robot and manual velocities exceed 1 m/s, the spool speed is capped at 1 m/s.

Spool topics

spool_node subscribes to the following topics:

Topic	Message Type	QoS	Publish Rate
/hb50/payload/spool_unroll_speed	std_msgs/msg/Float32	Reliable	10 hz
/hb50/robot_state_10hz	hb50_commons/msg/RobotState	mabRT	10 hz

And publishes to the topics:

Topic	Message Type	QoS	Publish Rate
/hb50/payload/spool_unroll_length	std_msgs/msg/Float32	Reliable	10 hz

Note

For precise definition of QoS check: Quality of Service.

Spool services

Spool uses a single service to enable different features.

Service	Interface Type	QoS
/hb50/payload/spool_control	hb50_commons::srv::EnableFeature	Reliable

The interface type defined as hb50_commons::srv::EnableFeature has the following parameters:

Type	Name of parameter	Function
string	feature	Describes function that should be applied.
bool	state	Represents logic value of 0 or 1 that stands for disabling or enabling feature.
bool	success	Informs about result of applied service.

The operator has two feature names available for calibration or safety control. The argument is passed as a string and can be one of the following:

feature name	Function
zero_length	Sets the current position of unwound optical fiber as the zero point.
enable_motors	If 1 is passed to the state, enables motors and allows them to be ready to work; if 0 is passed, disables motors.