Project Varuna

Project Varuna is a versatile framework for modeling, planning, and control of autonomous vehicles, leveraging the Koopman Operator Theory for explainable, data-driven models. This guide will walk you through the setup and usage of Project Varuna, including the steps for navigating the user interface.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Python 3.8+ installed along with ROS1 noetic.

Installation

1. Clone the Repository
   First, clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/project-varuna/Project-Varuna-Autonomy-Package.git
   

2. Download the package file
   

   Download the latest package file from the Releases page and place it in the repository's root directory.

3. Install Requirements
   Install the dependencies, primarily customtkinter for the front-end application:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Running the Application

Note: IMPORTANT
Before you launch the GUI, make sure that you launch all the relevant roslaunch files for your simulator/hardware and that the relevant nodes/topics are published.

Additionally, make sure the binary has been given the required permissions using:

chmod +x koopman

To launch the Project Varuna front-end interface, run:

python3 Project-Varuna-GUI.py

---

Usage Guide

Once the application is running, follow these key steps for a seamless experience with modeling, planning, and control tasks in Project Varuna.

Navigating the User Interface

The user application consists of 3 sections for modeling, planning/ controls and deployment. Following instructions highlight this process:

Data Selection & Platform Setup

• Select training data or pretrained models from the interface.
• Load your test data and specify the platform for deployment.

Configure Motion Planning and Control Parameters

• Choose your motion planner and adjust Model Predictive Control (MPC) penalties to optimize performance.
• Set relevant ROS topics based on your chosen platform for system integration.
• Select topics for:
  • Localized pose: Can be of type Point or Pose 2D.
  • IMU data: For tracking the vehicle's attitude.
  • Control topics: Either using Twist messages or decoupled throttle and steering messages with the Float message type.

Execute Path Tracking

• Pick your desired path, configure final settings, and initiate the execution to begin path tracking.

Now, you're ready to go!

Contact

For questions, feedback, or support, please reach out to the Project Varuna team:

• Email: ajinkya.projectvaruna@gmail.com
• GitHub Issues: For any bug reports or feature requests, use the issue tracker.
• Contributors: If you’d like to collaborate or discuss larger contributions, feel free to reach out directly!

Citation

If you use Project-Varuna for research or validation purposes, please reference and cite the following:

Expanding Autonomous Ground Vehicle Navigation Capabilities through a Multi-Model Parameterized Koopman Framework

@unknown{Joglekar_MMPK,
author = {Joglekar, Ajinkya and Samak, Chinmay and Samak, Tanmay and Krovi, Venkat and Vaidya, Umesh},
year = {2024},
month = {04},
pages = {},
title = {Expanding Autonomous Ground Vehicle Navigation Capabilities through a Multi-Model Parameterized Koopman Framework},
doi = {10.13140/RG.2.2.33007.24485}
}

Modeling and Control of Off-road Autonomous Vehicles with Situationally Aware Data-Driven Framework

@unknown{Joglekar_Adaptive_MMPK,
author = {Joglekar, Ajinkya and Vaidya, Umesh and Krovi, Venkat},
year = {2024},
month = {08},
pages = {},
title = {Modeling and Control of Off-road Autonomous Vehicles with Situationally Aware Data-Driven Framework},
doi = {10.13140/RG.2.2.13288.48642}
}

Data-Driven Modeling and Experimental Validation of Autonomous Vehicles Using Koopman Operator

@inproceedings{inproceedings,
author = {Joglekar, Ajinkya and Sutavani, Sarang and Samak, Chinmay and Samak, Tanmay and Kosaraju, Krishna and Smereka, Jonathon and Gorsich, David and Vaidya, Umesh and Krovi, Venkat},
year = {2023},
month = {10},
pages = {9442-9447},
title = {Data-Driven Modeling and Experimental Validation of Autonomous Vehicles Using Koopman Operator},
doi = {10.1109/IROS55552.2023.10341797}
}

Analytical Construction of Koopman EDMD Candidate Functions for Optimal Control of Ackermann-Steered Vehicles

@article{article,
author = {Joglekar, Ajinkya and Samak, Chinmay and Samak, Tanmay and Kosaraju, Krishna and Smereka, Jonathon and Brudnak, Mark and Gorsich, David and Krovi, Venkat and Vaidya, Umesh},
year = {2023},
month = {01},
pages = {619-624},
title = {Analytical Construction of Koopman EDMD Candidate Functions for Optimal Control of Ackermann-Steered Vehicles},
volume = {56},
journal = {IFAC-PapersOnLine},
doi = {10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.12.093}
}