Building for microcontroller

[xopxe]

Should it be possible to build this for ESP32 microcontrollers, whether using Platformio or esp-idf?

The project's files (content in src) appear to be buildable.
Zenoh-pico seems to be buildable and already available as a library when using Platformio.
The problem is Micro-CDR, which is rather complex.

I quickly threw the code into an empty esp-idf project and added the following to the project's CMakeList.txt

add_definitions(-DZENOH_ESPIDF)
ExternalProject_Add(pico-ros-software
    SOURCE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Pico-ROS-software
)
include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Pico-ROS-software/src)
include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Pico-ROS-software/thirdparty/zenoh-pico/include)
include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Pico-ROS-software/thirdparty/Micro-CDR/include)

This does not work when building Micro-CDR (some config.h files are misplaced, the user_types.h file is missing). But before diving into this I'd like to know if this is feasible at all, and if so any help would be welcome.

[g4sp3r]

Hi @xopxe.
It's possible. Please see esp-idf example project here. There is also esp-idf component for easier integration.

For platformIO on Arduino framework I think you could find some inspiration in roscon2025_control_workshop.

[xopxe]

Great! Will try it.

[g4sp3r]

@xopxe, could you please check if #6 helps with the issues you were having originally?

[xopxe]

@g4sp3r, as a note I successfully built and ran code based on the esp-idf component.

With this branch I did the following:

• Created an empty esp-idf project (using VS-Code).
• Cloned this repo inside the main directory (alongside the main.c)
• In the repo ran git checkout ucdr_config and git submodule update --init --recursive
• Added to the main/CMakeLists.txt.

add_definitions(-DZENOH_ESPIDF)
ExternalProject_Add(pico-ros-software
    SOURCE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Pico-ROS-software
)

• Hit Full Clean and Build.

The build failed with:

...
[161/163] Linking C executable batteryState_publisher
[162/163] Building C object CMakeFiles/test_examples_types_serdes.dir/test/test_picoserdes.c.o
[163/163] Linking C executable test_examples_types_serdes
[1012/1018] Performing install step for 'pico-ros-software'
FAILED: esp-idf/main/pico-ros-software-prefix/src/pico-ros-software-stamp/pico-ros-software-install /workspaces/pico-ros-espidf-test/build/esp-idf/main/pico-ros-software-prefix/src/pico-ros-software-stamp/pico-ros-software-install 
cd /workspaces/pico-ros-espidf-test/build/esp-idf/main/pico-ros-software-prefix/src/pico-ros-software-build && /opt/esp/tools/cmake/4.0.3/bin/cmake --build . --target install && /opt/esp/tools/cmake/4.0.3/bin/cmake -E touch /workspaces/pico-ros-espidf-test/build/esp-idf/main/pico-ros-software-prefix/src/pico-ros-software-stamp/pico-ros-software-install
ninja: error: unknown target 'install'
[1013/1018] Generating esp-idf/esp_system/ld/sections.ld
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

The full build output is here

[g4sp3r]

Hey @xopxe, great that you got the idf-component working.

Thanks for testing the PR. I could get a bit further with ExternalProject_Add by setting INSTALL_COMMAND="" but then decided on this way...

main/CMakeLists.txt:

#idf_component_register(...)

add_definitions(-DZENOH_ESPIDF)
include_directories(
    "."
    "picoros/thirdparty/config"
    "picoros/src/"
    "picoros/thirdparty/Micro-CDR/include/"
    "picoros/thirdparty/zenoh-pico/include/"
    "picoros/thirdparty/zenoh-pico/include/zenoh-pico/"
)
add_definitions(-DUSER_TYPE_FILE="my_types.h")
set(PICOROS_BUILD_EXAMPLES OFF)
set(PICOROS_BUILD_EXAMPLES OFF)
add_compile_options(-Wno-error=maybe-uninitialized)
add_subdirectory(picoros)
include_directories(${IDF_PATH}/components/esp_driver_uart/include/)
target_link_libraries(zenohpico_static idf::driver)
# target_link_libraries(main picoros picoserdes)
# target_link_libraries(idf:main picoros picoserdes)

It now fails at linking step with unresolved references. I can't seem to find the correct name for target which should be main according to the docs

I think for ESP32 on ESP-IDF framework idf-component is currently a cleaner approach.

I will merge the PR but leave this issue open. Maybe somebody will find a better solution.

[xopxe]

Good to know @g4sp3r.
Just to keep you informed, I also got it to work with Arduino over Platformio based on roscon2025_control_workshop, as you recommended. The process is not pretty, involving cloning stuff right in the build directory and manually placing files from Micro-CDR in the source tree, but it works.

[g4sp3r]

Great that you got it working @xopxe.
The build process and project setup outlined in the workshop could probably be improved.

My experience with PlatformIO is unfortunately limited and currently I don't have the cycles to test myself. I think the above PR should at least help a bit.

If something comes up I would be happy to accept PRs to better support PlatformIO or any other framework.
Example projects for different targets and frameworks would also be useful.

[xopxe]

Thanks for the support @g4sp3r.
As soon as I finish this project I'll try to clean it up and at least provide clear instructions for building.

[Alvin0523]

Hihi i used platformio and managed to use espidf framework and i was able to discover the ROS Topic. But i was not able to echo the data for some reason.... Anyone facing the same issue