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ROS for Android

These scripts will help you build static libraries for ROS kinetic for android and setup sample applications.

Quick installation with Docker

Simply run dockerized_install.sh script. It will setup a Docker image, download packages and system dependencies, and cross compile everything using Catkin. The result workspace with the code and the compiled libraries will be placed in /path/to/ros_android/output.

You can use the sample applications as a guide to build an Android app on top of the cross compiled libraries using Catkin, Gradle and CMake.

Installation - under the hood

Build docker image and run it:

docker/build.sh
docker/run.sh

The install.sh script will call all the other scripts sequentially, you just have to give it a prefix path:

./install.sh /path/to/workspace

Building app samples

If you also want to build the samples, use:

./install.sh /path/to/workspace --samples

You can find the resulting apks inside /path/to/workspace/target/apks/name_of_the_sample_app/apk_file. Specific instructions about how to use the samples are located inside: files/name_of_the_sample_app/README.md

Adding new packages or dependencies

Adding new packages may not be as straightforward as adding a new line in a list. There are multiple sources of problems when cross compiling. In some cases, CMake scripts are not ready for cross compilation as they tend to look for dependencies in standard paths, or they don't properly expose transitive dependencies. In some other cases, the codebases use dependencies that are not available on Android, or it just doesn't make sense to use them on Android without modifications (e.g. pluginlib).

The following steps should serve as a guide when adding new packages or dependencies:

  • Add the package to ros.rosinstall or system_deps.rosinstall; use existing packages as an example.
  • Add a patch if necessary to patches directory.
  • If it's a system dependency, add a build rule to install.sh. According to the library, it may be necessary to use build_library script or adding a special rule to build_library_with_toolchain.
  • That's it! Test your build and watch out build errors. Using verbose flags when building should help finding hints about the problems that may arise.

Building your own apps and libraries on top of ROS cross-compiled workspace

You can use build_catkin_workspace as a standalone script to build your Android application or library as a catkin package, making use of the ROS cross compiled libraries and system dependencies. The examples under example_workspace can be used as a starting point and as a reference to build your code; in short they are Gradle projects wrapped as Catkin packages.

Here's some guidelines to take into account when creating new projects, using hello_world app as an example:

  • Your code should have the structure of a ROS Android package, with a top level CMakeLists to make Gradle interact with Catkin. Take this CMakeLists file as an example.
  • A package.xml has to be created, declaring Catkin and rosjava_buid_tools as build tools, and the ROS dependencies.
  • In the bottom level gradle buildscript, add the necessary arguments to the externalNativeBuild block, and specify ABI filters as in here. Then, specify the path to the bottom level CMakeLists file as in here. Note that this approach doesn't allow building multi-target APKs; the ABI is fixed in config.sh and the ABI filter in the Gradle buildscript should match it.
  • Finally, write your bottom level CMakeLists file. Note that the way of finding and adding packages as dependencies should be just as in any regular Catkin project.

Once your project is ready to be built, place it inside a catkin workspace (i.e. /path/to/your/workspace/src). Then, it can be built with the standalone script like this:

build_catkin_workspace.sh -w /path/to/your/workspace -p /path/to/install_space -e /path/to/workspace -b Debug -v 1

where /path/to/workspace is the root directory of the cross compiled packages and libraries in the installation step. Debug and verbose flags are recommended while developing.

Handling plugins

Unlike regular ROS development under Linux, plugins are compiled as static libraries and linked to other libraries or applications that make use of them. The patched version of pluginlib does not load shared objects in the filesystem dynamically during runtime; all the plugins should be linked to your own shared libraries or applications at compile time, ensuring that the required symbols are not stripped by the linker.

The nodelet sample application CMakeLists is a good example to start with; note that -Wl, --whole-archive flags are used for plugins in particular to prevent the linker from stripping symbols that need to be included. In general terms, a structure like this one should work:

find_package(catkin REQUIRED COMPONENTS plugin_package_name)    # Add all required catkin components as well.

find_library(plugin_name_PLUGIN NAMES plugin_name) # List all the required plugins.

SET (WHOLE_ARCHIVE_LIBRARIES
     -Wl,--whole-archive
     ${plugin_name_PLUGIN}	# Add all the required plugins.
     -Wl,--no-whole-archive
)

# add lib dependencies
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME}
    # Add app required libraries e.g. android here.
    ${WHOLE_ARCHIVE_LIBRARIES}
    ${catkin_LIBRARIES}
)