mamueluth / ma_demos

Demos of my masterthesis

ma_demos

This package is a collection of all setups used for demonstration purposes for my master thesis.

Overview of demonstrators

• Two_distributed_rrbots: Consists of three robots. Each robots consists of 3 segments connected by 2 revolt revolution joints. All three robots are controlled by the central controller manager. However two of the rrbots are started in separate namespaces and are managed by a sub controller manager respectively. Those register at the central controller manager.

• kuka_kr_16: Consist of a basic demonstration of the ros2_control concepts on the kuka kr 16 robot (forward_position_controller and joint_trajectory_controller).

How to use:

If you are just interested how to start the demos themselves have a look below under the quickstart section.

Installation:

1. Update system:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   

2. Install ROS 2 Rolling:

• a) Either setup a Docker container with Rolling installed using RosTeamWS. If you use this method, don't forget to switch to your docker container before continuing with the rtw_switch_to_docker command.

• b) Or install ROS 2 Rolling directly on your computer.

3. Make sure colconand vcs are installed:

   sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions python3-vcstool
   

4. Setup new workspace (If you used RosTeamWS and docker you can skip this step.):

   mkdir -p ~/workspace/rolling_ws/src  # or go to an existing one
   

5. Clone this repo:

   cd ~/workspace/rolling_ws/src
   git clone [email protected]:StoglRobotics-forks/ma_demos.git 
   (Or gh repo clone StoglRobotics-forks/ma_demos)
   

6. Make sure your base workspace is sourced and update dependencies:

   source /opt/ros/rolling/setup.bash # source ws
   rosdep update                      # update dependencies
   

7. Get the relevant packages and install all additional dependencies:

   cd ~/workspace/rolling_ws/         # or your workspace base direcotry
   vcs import -w 1 src --skip-existing --input src/ma_demos/ma_demos.rolling.repos 
   rosdep install --ignore-src --from-paths src -y -r
   

8. Finally compile everything:

   colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
   

Quickstart:

After you hav successfully built the project you can then start the demos as shown below.

• Two_distributed_rrbots: Open first terminal and execute:

  ros2 launch two_distributed_rrbots_bringup two_distributed_rrbots.launch.py 
  

  Then open the second terminal and execute:

  ros2 launch two_distributed_rrbots_bringup test_two_distributed_rrbots_forward_position_controller.launch.py
  

• kuka_kr_16: Open first terminal and execute:

  ros2 launch kuka_kr16_2_bringup kuka_kr16_2.launch.py 
  

  Then open the second terminal and execute:

  ros2 launch kuka_kr16_2_bringup test_kuka_kr16_2_forward_position_controller.launch.py
  

  Or if you want to start the position_trajectory_controller:

  1. Load the controller by executing the following command:

     ros2 control load_controller position_trajectory_controller
     

  2. Configure the newly loaded controller:

     ros2 control set_controller_state position_trajectory_controller inactive 
     

  3. Switch the forward_position_controller and the position_trajectory_controller:

     ros2 control switch_controllers --deactivate forward_position_controller --activate position_trajectory_controller
     

  4. Check that everything is loaded as planned:

     ros2 control list_controllers
     

     Which should print something like this:

     joint_state_broadcaster[joint_state_broadcaster/JointStateBroadcaster] active
     forward_position_controller[forward_command_controller/ForwardCommandController inactive
     position_trajectory_controller[joint_trajectory_controller/JointTrajectoryController] active   
     

  Finally: Start the controller execution with:

  ros2 launch kuka_kr16_2_bringup test_kuka_kr16_2_joint_trajectory_controller.launch.py