I have an BlueROV2 Heavy with…
Raspberry Pi 4B with 8GB, 16GB SD card.
ARDUPILOT Board name: Navigator, Firmware version: 4.1.2 (STABLE)
Ethernet Switch
Ping 1D
Ping 360
Cerulean Sonar Omniscan 450 FS
Cerulean ROV Locator MkII
Gripper
Xbox Wireless Controller
Computer running Windows 11
Microsoft Edge version 128.0.2739.79 (64-bit)
Running Cockpit v1.1.1
I try to use the new wonderful cockpit, but I lost control of the ROV.
when I change from Cockpit window to BlueOS main window.
I also lost the control when I open the Pingwiewer.
Sometime I can change from Disarm to Arm with the mouse.
But very often I can’t control the ROV with the joystick at all.
Do you have some advises to solve these problems ?
Hi @erhan -
That is quite a lot of payloads!
We strongly recommend the Chrome browser vs. other options for running Chrome, or the standalone version.
When using a browser, an inherent limitation is that you lose joystick control when the window is in focus - no way around this besides using the standalone version!
Could that be what you’re encountering?
I’ve had this issue too but mostly with the browser version of cockpit which happens when you switch (ie lose focus) to another browser page (eg blueos) or app (eg pingviewer).
Situation seemsmuch better with the standalone version where you can instead add another ‘view’ page with an iframe widget to the blueos, sonarview etc. This is very useful as allows you to switch rapidly between the different views with a joystick/controller button (and even set the iframe transparency so you can still see the normal cockpit view/camera etc.)
Haven’t been able to get the ping1d to display in Sonarview/iframe yet but see this thread for an impending solution.
The Omniscan 450 FS works great setup like this but is still a bit clunky - I have to cycle through all the views to clear the last iframe to load (I think) and is better to wait a minute after starting cockpit for everything to load properly.
Also I found the ‘lost control’ error varies a lot between different computers I’ve tried. Not sure whether this is to do with different graphics, CPU capacity etc. or maybe the available power on the USB ports (a higher capacity power supply might help).
Awesome setup and love to see a photo of how you integrated all this as not a lot of space for all that!
Hi @erhan -
The standalone version of Cockpit is installed and run on your local compuer, instead of as a BlueOS extension in your browser. You can download the appropriate file for your OS (.exe for Windows) and install, then run just like you would QGround Control. You may need to enter in the IP address of the vehicle to set it up, but only once. The built in tour should take you through this!
Download the latest version here.
Thanks for the images Erland - what a great setup. Looks like your laptop shouldnt be the problem but maybe worth trying another anyway in case it is pc specific. Just wondered what this device is in the attached image (red circle)? Hope your test in the harbour went well.
Maybe I’ll test with another laptop
Have to buy a new one
The other two I have are too old…
The device which you have drawn a red circle is the back (cable side) of the Gripper
I couldn’t take the test in the harbour, as I had some problems with the navigator setup.
And I would wait until I got a new SD card (128GB) with last BlueOS from Blue Robotics.
I received that yesterday, and will set up the ROV all over again, so the test in the harbour will be in a day or two…
Of course the Gripper! Looked like it was mounted higher than the payload chasis - did you source the additional bouyancy from blue robotics?
Definitely found different laptops can work differently so maybe the ‘lost control’ issue is not directly related to the BlueOS/BlueROV as mine has been working stable since I’ve changed. Not sure if its entirely relevant but see this thread for techniques/issues to diagnose communication issues that might be helpful before you get a new laptop!
One thing I have noticed is when my bluetooth xbox controller goes into sleep mode I get the lost connection error message. Think there is a setting somewhere that you can set an action according to the number of seconds where there is no user input. Although thats not enabled on my setup it might be worth checking the controller connection is stable as well.
Have an interesting field test today after doing some tuning of my setup and will let you know when I upload some video as might be of interest.
And the two long ones on each side in the middle, I custom built it from something I had at home, (from a previous DIY ROV project) but these are the same…
I’ll check out that thread about laptops, Thanks
I think that the CPU load in the on-board computer decreased after I changed the SD card to 128GB
What size of SD card do you have ?
If there is a lack of input from the joystick for a specified time, you can set up a warning or to disarm the ROV
I thought I’d add some thoughts and experiences to this discussion.
I have been running Cockpit for a few months now, and it’s been rock solid once I got it running well.
If the window loses focus, the ROV disarms, which is expected, but as soon as I bring focus back to the window, I can arm it with the controller again and resume operations.
I had three issues with Cockpit before I got it stable:
I had similar issues with control not resuming when I used the Xbox controller over Bluetooth. Using it with a USB cable or the Xbox dongle fixed this issue. However, since I want everything to be wireless, and dongles are easy to lose, I switched to a PS5 controller. The PS5 controller over Bluetooth has been great!
When trying to choose a build of BlueOS, I noticed that they were either lacking the lights settings or the gripper settings. So one of them was always missing in Cockpit’s controller key mapping. The way I solved this was to manually edit the key map and map the gripper’s AUX port directly to two buttons.
I don’t remember the exact name of the setting, but it was something like this: BlueOS offers two MAVLink servers, and the one I was using was going crazy and completely overloaded the tether connection. Switching to the other one in BlueOS made this go away. While this was technically not a Cockpit issue, it showed up as connection problems in Cockpit.
Perhaps one of these could be your culprit?
Regarding Ping Viewer and losing focus, I use my iPad as a second monitor and just leave Ping Viewer there. It works great, so I can glance at it when needed without having to let go of the controller. I’ll probably attempt to bring it into Cockpit at some point though. Since you are running Windows, perhaps an Asus Zenscreen or something similar could be an option?
I run Cockpit in Chrome browser on an M3 Mac, but I tested it with Windows 11 on an old laptop, and that seems to work well too.
Thanks for the info Erland I’m setuping a waterproof case that attaches to a tripod and has a minipc/touch screen monitor that can be powered by a portable power unit. Almost finished this and will send post some pics when done.
Thanks for the tips @Carl - presuming youre referring to the standalone version of cokpit?
I have also got it running pretty stable with only very occaisional disconnection but for me it seemed computer dependent - although cant rule out any software interaction I guess.
Sounds like you also havent been able to get Sonarview in the standalone cockpit version detect (discover) the Ping1D? Great idea about the extra monitor as a temporary solution as I got one ages ago for exactly this but hoping the bug in cockpit gets fixed as trying to minimise my control setup.
Also great tip about the MAVlink servers, havent spent much time on MAVlink so far but been meaning to get my head around this as sometimes seems like BlueOS gets overloaded and needs a reboot but not ideal if the ROV is submerged while I’m doing that.
@BillyBudd, actually I’m not using the standalone version, just pointing the browser to the rov.
I’m trying to keep it as hardware agnostic as possible. So any computer, or maybe even tablet, with chrome and wifi+bluetooth should be usable as the control computer.
My reasoning for this is mostly in case a computer breaks, is lost, takes a dive, etc, or I just want/need to switch computer. If everything is configured on the rov there is no need to configure a new computer.
So far I have only tried with Mac and windows, but would be interesting to try tablets too. I always carry my iPad with my computer, so it would be great if it could act as a backup.
Yes I also try my best to minimize my control setup, but I don’t think I can get it much more compact. I guess I could make the wifi/tether box smaller, would be great if it could fit together with the rov in its case.
I’m setuping a waterproof case that attaches to a tripod and has a