Orca2 is a ROS2 AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) based on the BlueRobotics BlueROV2.

Orca2 runs in Gazebo, a SITL (software-in-the-loop) simulator. Use the instructions below to install ROS, Gazebo and Orca2 on your desktop or laptop.

Install ROS2 Eloquent with the ros-eloquent-desktop option. If you install binaries, be sure to also install Colcon from the Colcon tutorial.

Install Gazebo v9:

sudo apt install gazebo9 libgazebo9 libgazebo9-dev

Install these ROS packages:

sudo apt install ros-eloquent-cv-bridge ros-eloquent-camera-calibration-parsers ros-eloquent-camera-info-manager ros-eloquent-gazebo-ros-pkgs ros-eloquent-xacro

Use your favorite Python package manager to install these Python packages:

pip3 install numpy transformations

Build Orca2 (but not the orca_driver hardware interface):

mkdir -p ~/ros2/orca_ws/src
cd ~/ros2/orca_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/clydemcqueen/orca2.git
touch orca2/orca_driver/COLCON_IGNORE
git clone https://github.com/clydemcqueen/ukf.git
git clone https://github.com/ptrmu/fiducial_vlam.git
git clone https://github.com/ptrmu/ros2_shared.git
git clone https://github.com/clydemcqueen/sim_fiducial.git
cd ~/ros2/orca2_ws
source /opt/ros/eloquent/setup.bash
colcon build

Run the simulation:

cd ~/ros2/orca_ws
source /opt/ros/eloquent/setup.bash
source install/local_setup.bash
export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=${PWD}/install/sim_fiducial/share/sim_fiducial/models
source /usr/share/gazebo/setup.sh
ros2 launch orca_gazebo sim_launch.py

This is rough sketch of the hardware modifications I made to my 2017 BlueROV2. YMMV.

• Remove the Pixhawk and its UBEC
• Remove the Raspberry Pi and its UBEC
• Replace the Raspberry Pi camera with the BlueRobotics USB low-light camera
• Replace the R2 ESCs with BlueRobotics R3 ESCs
• Replace the 8-conductor tether with the BlueRobotics slim tether
• Install the UP Board and a 4A UBEC
• Install the Maestro and connect to UP via USB; set the jumper to isolate the Maestro power rail from USB-provide power
• Connect the Bar30 to the UP I2C and 3.3V power pins
• Connect the ESCs to the Maestro; cut the power wire on all but one ESC
• Connect the camera tilt servo to the Maestro
• Connect the lights signal wire to the Maestro; provide power and ground directly from the battery
• Connect the leak detector to a Maestro digital input
• Build a voltage divider to provide a voltage signal from the battery (0-17V) to a Maestro analog input (0-5V)
• Connect the camera to the UP Board