Setup BrainPack

System Setup

This guide walks you through setting up a fresh Nvidia Thor system running JetPack 7.0, to run OM1. Follow each section in order and verify installations as you go.

Quick Checklist

• Python 3.10+ installed

• uv package manager

• Docker

• Docker Compose

• Audio support (PyAudio + PortAudio)

• FFmpeg for video processing

• Chrome browser

• ROS2

• CycloneDDS

uv

Use curl to download and install uv:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Docker

Docker is pre-installed on JetPack 7.0 systems, but you need to configure permissions:

newgrp docker

# Add current user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Verify group membership
groups

You should see docker in the list of groups. If not, log out and log back in, then check again.

docker-compose

Download and install Docker Compose with the following commands:

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.34.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Verify the installation:

docker-compose --version

Poetry (Optional)

Install Poetry using the official installation script:

curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -

Install poetry shell for the environment management:

poetry self add poetry-plugin-shell

Pyaudio (For microphone support)

Required for microphone input and audio processing:

sudo apt install portaudio19-dev python3-pyaudio

FFmpeg (For video processing)

Install FFmpeg using the following command:

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Chrome (For web interface)

Download and install Google Chrome:

sudo snap install chromium

Hold snap updates to prevent automatic updates:

snap download snapd --revision=24724
sudo snap ack snapd_24724.assert
sudo snap install snapd_24724.snap
sudo snap refresh --hold snapd

ROS2 (Optional)

Follow the official ROS2 installation guide for Ubuntu: ROS2 Installation.

After installing ROS2, source the ROS2 setup script:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash

You can add this line to your ~/.bashrc file to source it automatically on terminal startup.

CycloneDDS Binary (Optional)

Install CycloneDDS for ROS2 communication:

sudo apt install ros-jazzy-rmw-cyclonedds-cpp
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-rosidl-generator-dds-idl

Now, set CycloneDDS as the default RMW implementation by adding the following line to your ~/.bashrc file:

export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp

You can restart your ROS2 daemon with the following command:

ros2 daemon stop
ros2 daemon start

CycloneDDS Build from Source (Optional)

If you prefer to build CycloneDDS from source, use the following commands:

cd Documents
mkdir -p GitHub && cd GitHub
git clone https://github.com/eclipse-cyclonedds/cyclonedds -b releases/0.10.x
cd cyclonedds && mkdir build install && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON
cmake --build . --target install

Then you need to set the following environment variables in your ~/.bashrc file:

export CYCLONEDDS_HOME=$HOME/Documents/GitHub/cyclonedds/install

Configure Network Settings (Unitree Only)

You need to open the network settings and find the network interface that the robot connected. In IPv4 settings, set the method to Manual and add the following IP address:

192.168.123.xxx

and set the subnet mask to

255.255.255.0

CycloneDDS Configuration (Optional)

You can create a CycloneDDS configuration file to customize its behavior. Create a file named cyclonedds.xml in your home directory:

<CycloneDDS>
  <Domain>
    <General>
      <Interfaces>
        <NetworkInterface name="enP2p1s0" priority="default" multicast="default" />
      </Interfaces>
    </General>
    <Discovery>
      <EnableTopicDiscoveryEndpoints>true</EnableTopicDiscoveryEndpoints>
    </Discovery>
  </Domain>
</CycloneDDS>

Then, set the CYCLONEDDS_URI environment variable in your ~/.bashrc file:

export CYCLONEDDS_URI=file://$HOME/cyclonedds.xml

v4l2-ctl (For camera configuration)

Install v4l2-ctl using the following command:

sudo apt install v4l-utils

For next steps, you will need the BrainPack. If you don't have the BrainPack yet, you can skip this.

Follow the guide here, to proceed.