ControlHub - Panels ERC Edition

Remote control and monitoring dashboard for the Pulsar rover. Two components work together:

• Panels - cross-platform desktop dashboard (Windows / Linux). Joystick, minimap, motor telemetry, gamepad support, and a customizable widget grid.
• driver - Rust server that runs on the rover (Jetson). Communicates with four Moteus brushless motor controllers over CAN-FD, handles tank-drive control, autonomous point-following, and WiFi hotspot management.

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Quick Start

Operators - Using Panels

1. Download Panels from the Releases page:
   • Linux: .AppImage or .deb
   • Windows: .msi
2. Connect your computer to the rover's WiFi - SSID Pulsar-Rover (password: password).
3. Launch Panels - it auto-connects to the rover at 10.42.0.1:8080.

If Panels can't find the rover, check you're connected to the rover's WiFi and click the connection indicator in the top bar to switch modes (Local / Dev / Remote).

Operators - Installing the Server on the Rover

SSH into the Jetson and run:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pulsarupb/ControlHub/main/install-server.sh | bash
sudo ./driver

This downloads the latest driver binary and starts the server.

Developers - Building from Source

Prerequisites:

• Rust (stable)
• Bun
• Linux only: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev, libappindicator3-dev, librsvg2-dev, patchelf

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/pulsarupb/ControlHub.git
cd ControlHub

# Build & run the driver (simulated mode — no real motors needed)
cargo build -p driver --release
./target/release/driver --simulate

# In another terminal — build & run Panels
cd web
bun install
bun run tauri dev

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Connecting to the Rover

The dashboard has three connection modes, selectable from the connection indicator in the top bar:

Mode	URL	When to use
Local	http://10.42.0.1:8080	Connected to the rover's WiFi hotspot
Dev	http://127.0.0.1:8080	Driver running locally on your machine (--simulate or real hardware)
Remote	custom URL	Rover is on a different network (e.g., a separate router)

The rover's WiFi hotspot serves 10.42.0.1/24. Ensure your computer's IP is in this subnet (most devices auto-assign correctly).

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Jetson Docker

docker compose up -d --build

The Compose file uses host networking and privileged device access so the driver can bind port 8080, access CAN / serial devices, and manage the WiFi hotspot through NetworkManager.

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Configuration

Chassis Config (data/config.toml)

The driver reads a TOML file describing the rover's physical setup. Pass a custom path with --config (defaults to data/config.toml).

[chassis]
wheel_radius_mm = 107.95
track_width_mm = 440.0
motor_rotations_per_wheel_rotation = 1.0

[motors.left_front]
id = 1
direction = 1.0

[motors.right_front]
id = 3
direction = -1.0

[motors.left_back]
id = 4
direction = -1.0

[motors.right_back]
id = 2
direction = 1.0

Field	Description
wheel_radius_mm	Radius of the wheel (mm) — used for odometry
track_width_mm	Distance between left and right wheels (mm)
motor_rotations_per_wheel_rotation	Gear ratio from motor to wheel
motors.*.id	Moteus CAN-FD ID for each corner
motors.*.direction	1.0 or -1.0 — flips rotation direction

Driver CLI

Argument	Description
(none)	Normal mode — real CAN-FD motors, WiFi hotspot
--simulate	Simulated motors, no WiFi. Safe for laptops.
--config <path>	Path to chassis config TOML (default: data/config.toml)