Setup conda environment to run the ergoCub walking controller in Gazebo

[xela-95]

I am trying to reproduce the test performed by @carloscp3009 of running the walking controller on Gazebo, this time by using a conda environment instead of the robotology-superbuild.

I created the environment with the following command:

mamba create -n walking -c robotology -c conda-forge bipedal-locomotion-framework=0.17.0 idyntree yarp icub-contrib-common icub-main osqp-eigen qpoases libunicycle-footstep-planner gazebo catch2 gazebo-yarp-plugins whole-body-estimators icub-models ergocub-software

When building with make I obtained the following error:

In file included from /home/acroci/repos/walking/src/WalkingModule/src/main.cpp:14:
/home/acroci/repos/walking/src/WalkingModule/include/WalkingControllers/WalkingModule/Module.h:25:10: fatal error: BipedalLocomotion/YarpUtilities/VectorsCollectionServer.h: No such file or directory
   25 | #include <BipedalLocomotion/YarpUtilities/VectorsCollectionServer.h>
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@S-Dafarra discovered this is due to the fact that such header is defined in bipedal-locomotion-framework version 0.17.0, whereas version 0.16.0 was installed.

I tried also to pin the version of bipedal-locomotion-framework by running:

mamba create -n walking -c robotology -c conda-forge bipedal-locomotion-framework=0.17.0 idyntree yarp icub-contrib-common icub-main osqp-eigen qpoases libunicycle-footstep-planner gazebo catch2 gazebo-yarp-plugins whole-body-estimators icub-models ergocub-software

but it was not possible to create such environment for dependency incompatibilities:

Looking for: ['bipedal-locomotion-framework=0.17.0', 'idyntree', 'yarp', 'icub-contrib-common', 'icub-main', 'osqp-eigen', 'qpoases', 'libunicycle-footstep-planner', 'gazebo', 'catch2', 'gazebo-yarp-plugins', 'whole-body-estimators', 'icub-models', 'ergocub-software']

robotology/linux-64                                         Using cache
robotology/noarch                                           Using cache
conda-forge/linux-64                                        Using cache
conda-forge/noarch                                          Using cache
Could not solve for environment specs
The following packages are incompatible
├─ bipedal-locomotion-framework 0.17.0**  is installable and it requires
│  └─ libbipedal-locomotion-framework 0.17.0 he4f1b30_0, which requires
│     └─ libyarp >=3.9.0,<3.9.1.0a0 , which requires
│        └─ ace >=7.1.2,<7.1.3.0a0 , which can be installed;
└─ icub-main is not installable because there are no viable options
   ├─ icub-main [1.19.1|1.19.2] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.1,<7.0.2.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [1.19.2|1.20.0] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.2,<7.0.3.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [1.20.0|1.21.0] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.3,<7.0.4.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main 1.21.0 would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.4,<7.0.5.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main 1.22.0 would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.5,<7.0.6.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [1.23.1|1.24.0|1.24.1] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.6,<7.0.7.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [1.25.0|1.26.0] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.7,<7.0.8.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [1.26.1|1.27.0|1.28.1] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.8,<7.0.9.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main 1.28.1 would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.9,<7.0.10.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main 2.0.2 would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.0.11,<7.0.12.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   ├─ icub-main [2.1.0|2.1.1|2.2.0] would require
   │  └─ ace >=7.1.0,<7.1.1.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported;
   └─ icub-main [2.2.1|2.3.0|2.4.0] would require
      └─ ace >=7.1.1,<7.1.2.0a0 , which conflicts with any installable versions previously reported.

CC @traversaro @S-Dafarra

[traversaro]

The problem is that we have been not generating any package in the robotology channel (so icub-contrib-common, icub-main, whole-body-estimators and ergocub-software) for a while, mainly because we run out of space on the robotology anaconda channel. So while conda-forge packages like yarp are building with recent versions of libraries like ace, icub-main only has version have have been compiled with old ace versions, and hence you can't install a recent version of yarp (required by the latest version of blf) with a icub-main compiled with an older ace version. The solution is to unblock the generation of packages on the robotology channel.

[traversaro]

See robotology/robotology-superbuild#1572 .

[xela-95]

Ok understood thanks @traversaro. I can close this issue for now since the reason belongs to external factors to the repository.

When it will be possible to create the environment with the right dependencies I will run the walking controller using conda and then open a PR to document the process.

[traversaro]

A possible alternative is to move all dependencies to conda-forge, see . However, robotology channel workflow is useful, so anyhow I would like to fix robotology/robotology-superbuild#1572 .

[traversaro]

@xela-95 @S-Dafarra just FYI, as discussed in robotology/robotology-superbuild#1572 we fixed the generation of packages in the robotology channel, so now updated version of the packages icub-contrib-common, ergocub-software and icub-main are available in robotology, so you should be able to install them with a recent version of blf (probably at this point you are interested in 0.18.0, not 0.17.0 ).

[xela-95]

Thank you @traversaro, now it is possible to create the mamba environment with the following command:

mamba create -n walking  -c robotology -c conda-forge bipedal-locomotion-framework=0.18.0 idyntree yarp icub-contrib-common icub-main osqp-eigen qpoases libunicycle-footstep-planner gazebo catch2 gazebo-yarp-plugins whole-body-estimators icub-models ergocub-software

I tried to run the simulation as explained in the readme but I got stuck at step 6. When I executed YARP_CLOCK=/clock WalkingModuleI got the following errors:

[INFO] |yarp.os.Port|/IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i| Port /IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i active at tcp://192.168.158.201:10085/
[INFO] |yarp.os.Network| Success: port-to-port persistent connection added.
[INFO] |yarp.os.Time| Waiting for clock server to start broadcasting data ...
[INFO] |yarp.os.impl.PortCoreInputUnit|/IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i| Receiving input from /clock to /IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i using tcp
[ERROR] |yarp.os.Property| cannot read from dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini
[ERROR] [getiDynTreeVectorFixSizeFromSearchable] Missing field  goal_port_scaling
[ERROR] [WalkingModule::configure] Failed while reading goal_port_scaling.
[INFO] |yarp.os.RFModule| RFModule failed to open.
[WARNING] |yarp.os.NetworkClock| Destroying network clock
[INFO] |yarp.os.Network| Success: port-to-port persistent connection added.
[INFO] |yarp.os.impl.PortCoreInputUnit|/IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i| Removing input from /clock to /IITICUBLAP218/WalkingModule/39373/clock:i

I don't know if this is related to some environment dependencies or not. @carloscp3009 have you encountered something similar in your tests?

[S-Dafarra]

[ERROR] |yarp.os.Property| cannot read from dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini

This is the error. What is the content of your YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable?

[carloscp3009]

@xela-95 Unfortunately, I didnt get this error, but what I understand is that the goal_port_scaling variable is missing inside of dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini. I found this file in /robotology-superbuild/build/install/share/ICUBcontrib/robots/ergoCubGazeboV1/ and indeed it contains the mentioned field, as an starting point you could double check that it exists within your .ini file..

# Scales the input coming from the goal port
goal_port_scaling                   (0.5, 1.0, 0.5)

[xela-95]

[ERROR] |yarp.os.Property| cannot read from dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini

This is the error. What is the content of your YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable?

the value is ergoCubGazeboV1 that I have set in every terminal used for the tutorial

[S-Dafarra]

[ERROR] |yarp.os.Property| cannot read from dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini

This is the error. What is the content of your YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable?

the value is ergoCubGazeboV1 that I have set in every terminal used for the tutorial

How did you install walking-controllers? In which OS are you?

[xela-95]

The problem was given by the fact that when configuring the walking-controllers repo, the variable CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX has to be modified to point to the mamba environment in use (in order to avoid installing in /usr/local that requires sudo).
In my case I set those variable to /home/acroci/mambaforge/envs/walking. Then doing:

make 
make install

worked fine.

Then I was able to run step 6 and 7. Unfortunately, in step 7 when I've given the command startWalking the rpc port answers Response: [ok] but from the Walking module terminal I get a series of the following error:

[2024-01-29 18:23:54.118] [thread: 55267] [blf] [error] [VectorsCollectionServer::setData] The data collection is not valid. Please call prepareData before calling this function.

Also from the gazebo logs I continue to get the following logs:

[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| No data received in the last 0.022016 seconds, timeout enabled.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| Sensor of type ThreeAxisLinearAccelerometers with index 0 has non-MAS_OK status.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| Sensor of type ThreeAxisGyroscopes with index 0 has non-MAS_OK status.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| No data received in the last 0.022182 seconds, timeout enabled.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| Sensor of type SixAxisForceTorqueSensors with index 0 has non-MAS_OK status.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| Sensor of type SixAxisForceTorqueSensors with index 2 has non-MAS_OK status.
[ERROR] |yarp.device.multipleanalogsensorsclient| Sensor of type SixAxisForceTorqueSensors with index 1 has non-MAS_OK status.

[xela-95]

[ERROR] |yarp.os.Property| cannot read from dcm_walking_with_joypad.ini

This is the error. What is the content of your YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable?

the value is ergoCubGazeboV1 that I have set in every terminal used for the tutorial

How did you install walking-controllers? In which OS are you?

I followed the https://github.com/robotology/walking-controllers#hammer-build-the-suite guide and I'm on Ubuntu 22.04

[S-Dafarra]

The problem was given by the fact that when configuring the walking-controllers repo, the variable CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX has to be modified to point to the mamba environment in use (in order to avoid installing in /usr/local that requires sudo).
In my case I set those variable to /home/acroci/mambaforge/envs/walking. Then doing:

You need to make sure that the YARP_DATA_DIRS variable is properly set. See the end of Build the suite.

Then I was able to run step 6 and 7. Unfortunately, in step 7 when I've given the command startWalking the rpc port answers Response: [ok] but from the Walking module terminal I get a series of the following error:

[2024-01-29 18:23:54.118] [thread: 55267] [blf] [error] [VectorsCollectionServer::setData] The data collection is not valid. Please call prepareData before calling this function.

Sorry for that, it will be fixed in #162