Controlling a TurtleBot 2 through a web interface

Abstract: Omegapoint AB acquired a TurtleBot 2 to explore one of the more popular open source robots on the market. Omegapoint wanted a web application, written specifically for them, to control the TurtleBot 2 for use in the Omegapoint office environment. One of the main things taken into consideration when designing the application was that it had to be runnable and usable not only on stationary computers and laptops but also on smartphones and tablets. One very similar project is the coffee bot from http://learn.turtlebot.com/ building on the same principle, controlling the TurtleBot 2 from a web application. The TurtleBot is an open source robot built in collaboration with the original makers of the Robot Operating System (ROS). A python script, coffee_bot.py, is used to handle the communication between the database and the robot. The web site was developed with HTML, JavaScript and CSS. A database was created where the coordinates from the web page were stored. The python script, coffee_bot.py, would loop and check that database for new entries. Most of the planned features are implemented and have passed testing on several devices and are thus considered done and fully working.