🤖 Termux Turtle Core

Headless ROS Noetic Navigation Stack for Android/Termux

This repository houses the optimized configuration to run the TurtleBot3 navigation stack on a resource-constrained Android device (via Termux), bridging custom hardware to standard ROS tools like Foxglove Studio.

🏗 Architecture

• Hardware: Custom Mobile Base (TurtleBot3 compatible) + Android Device (Compute).
• OS: Ubuntu 20.04 (via Proot/Termux) on armv7l/aarch64.
• Middleware: ROS Noetic (Headless).
• Visualization: Remote (Foxglove Studio).

🚀 Quick Start

1. Launch the Stack

This single command handles Xvfb (virtual display) and background process detachment:

./start.sh

Logs are written to ~/turtle_ws/session.log.

2. Connect Remote Visualization

Open Foxglove Studio on your PC and connect to: ws://<ANDROID_IP>:9090

📂 Key Files

• system.launch: Combined launcher for Stage, Gmapping, and Rosbridge.
• start.sh: Daemon wrapper for robust headless execution.
• turtlebot_low_cost.world: Optimized simulation environment (Low CPU/Bandwidth).

🔧 Optimizations

• LIDAR Throttling: 5Hz limit to ensure stability on ARM CPUs.
• Map Updates: Reduced frequency (2.0s) to save bandwidth.
• Topic Whitelist: Blocks /clock and heavy topics from Rosbridge to prevent crashes.

🛠 Development Workflow (PC ↔ Android)

You can develop and refine files locally on your PC, but follow these rules to ensure the code works on the Android robot:

1. Source Code Only: Never sync the build/ or devel/ folders. They contain compiled binaries specific to your PC's CPU (x86), which will break on Android (ARM).
2. Recompile on Device: After moving changes to the phone (via Git or SSH), always run:

   cd ~/turtle_ws
   catkin_make
   source devel/setup.bash

3. Architecture Check: PC simulators (like Gazebo) allow heavy physics. This project uses stage_ros specifically because it is lightweight enough for Android. Avoid adding heavy sensors or complex 3D meshes.
4. Testing:
   • Logic (Launch/Python): Safe to test on PC.
   • Performance (Hz/CPU): MUST be validated on the Android device.

🛠 Development Workflow (PC ↔ Android)

You can develop and refine files locally on your PC, but follow these rules to ensure the code works on the Android robot:

1. Source Code Only: Never sync the build/ or devel/ folders. They contain compiled binaries specific to your PC's CPU (x86), which will break on Android (ARM).
2. Recompile on Device: After moving changes to the phone (via Git or SSH), always run:

   cd ~/turtle_ws
   catkin_make
   source devel/setup.bash

3. Architecture Check: PC simulators (like Gazebo) allow heavy physics. This project uses stage_ros specifically because it is lightweight enough for Android. Avoid adding heavy sensors or complex 3D meshes.
4. Testing:
   • Logic (Launch/Python): Safe to test on PC.
   • Performance (Hz/CPU): MUST be validated on the Android device.