Hey Guys,
I am a Search Operations Officer in the UK. With Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue. We are in the process of developing an underwater search capability. We now need to get as much practice as possible in using and utilising the BLUEROV2 Heavy we have. To do so, one idea was to use the BlueRov Simulator. But I can’t seem to get it work with QGroundControl well. I have followed all the steps on the guide for the simulator set up, and it does connect with QGroundControl. But once I’m ‘in the pool’ the ROV just spins constantly and unable to control it. We want to practice using the controller (hence using QGroundControl software). Anyone able to help us out?
This thread may help: How to make BlueSim work?
In addition to that, Ender Ocean created a game that revolves around collecting litter with BlueROV. Thread regarding this is here: Setting up a video game to collect plastic with ROVs
Link to game on Steam is here: ENDER OCEAN - Your mission: "Clean the Ocean" on Steam
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I did try that Thread but no mention of how to get QGroundControl and Bluesim to work effectively. I am now downloading the Game so I’ll see if that works! Thank you (;
from memory, I did manage to make the sim work, however the tether was immediately snagged in some coral upon spawn, so I gave up.
The game is a bit of fun. Depending on what controller you use and what Mode you use, you may need to be creative with key mapping wit another program. I use Mode 2 on X-Box controller. I had to go into x-box utilities and change the control inputs in there as the game does not allow for a different keymap
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I have Ender Ocean working now. Using Steam settings to change the keybindings to match that of our Real World ROV Controls. Just a shame you cant toggle the amount of power on the joysticks like in real-life. As you can imagine, we need to be precise with our movements in real world when deployed to a Water Recovery job. We will work with what we have. This was primarily as a tool to practice when we dont have access to the pool and our availability is always varied as we are all voluntary, so finding time to get practice in together is tricky.
Hi @Blain_Leslie_NORLSAR, welcome to the forum 
This sounds like potentially a parameter issue - it may help to try resetting them to defaults, but that’s hard to say without more information.
If it’s relevant, we host a version of BlueSim that people can use (for short periods) to try out Cockpit
There’s been some internal discussion around whether we could turn that into a more comprehensive training tool, but it’s not something we’re able to dedicate resources to at the moment.
@williangalvani is on break at the moment, but if there’s interest we can potentially provide some instructions on how to host and run that locally, as an alternative to the other simulation setup options (which admittedly we haven’t tested or documented much lately).
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So we would be willing to Trial this for you? There is a market for a simulator in the UK as Norfolk Lowland are one of only a handful of Lowland rescue team that have a Sonar and ROV capability to deploy to water rescue/ Recovery jobs. We are still in the early stages and mostly need to get as much practice of ROV usage as possible before we will be in a position to ‘go live’ with it and be called upon by police or the Fire service to use our equipment.
Beyond the 3 gain settings?
Is there a Discord or someone I can speak to and do a screenshare to help me get it set up, the joystick to match the set-up we use, and help troubleshoot with me?
This is the layout of our ROV controller. I’m not the most software savy person around so If someone can support me and guide me through it all, that would be fantastic!
For BlueROV2 with ArduPilot/QGroundControler you have several options (including my repo):
Regards,
Markus
Hi @Blain_Leslie_NORLSAR -
In the cockpit simulator, simply configure your joystick axis as desired. Your button latyout looks standard, except for the joystick axis. Simply put Z and R on the left stick, and X and Y on the right stick, and things should work as you expect.
@markusbuchholz - the desire here is for an interactive simulator for pilot training / practice, not simulation for control algorithm development!
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I expect the market for ROV simulation training software is quite large, and relatively untapped at the moment. I’m definitely a proponent of the idea, and have previously worked with @williangalvani to brainstorm a set of potential mission ideas, but our development resources are stretched thin as-is, and developing a training simulator is unfortunately not a high priority for Blue Robotics right now.
Fair enough. In the absence of pre-made simulation scenarios and a robust and physically-accurate simulator it’s hard to beat in-person practice, which can understandably be logistically challenging / expensive to do a lot of.
There are options to remotely control pre-deployed vehicles, which may be of interest, but that’s also restricted to using their interface (including in the simulation software interface they provide for training).
Side note...
I wonder whether @adam-cropp has considered switching that interface to a restricted version of Cockpit, although that may not be viable until it has keyboard support and includes the option to lock down the interface, unless a running Cockpit interface gets streamed to the end user without being able to receive direct inputs or something…
We do have a Discord, but it’s primarily intended for developer discussions, rather than standard usage support (which is generally intended to be covered by our documentation, forums, and technical support form).
Hi @EliotBR & @Blain_Leslie_NORLSAR,
We have been wanting to update our software stack to use Cockpit, however, our old control code is not currently compatible with the new BLUEOS software. We need to find the time to rewrite our Ardusub API to work with the most updated software and find creative solutions to run Cockpit with multiple users via our website.
We do however have a “simulator” that is just a UE4 game that has the same keyboard controls as our control software. You can see if it is suitable for your needs by trying it via our website: www.teleportal.net
If there is enough interest, we would consider fleshing out our simulator to better represent the large range of activities that BLUROV’s conduct on a daily basis around the world.
Happy Diving!
Adam
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