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ROS Workspace (Melodic)

This repository contains a ROS workspace with several packages to understand the robotics foundation better (experimenting with the simulated robot, Baxter).

Packages

The workspace contains the following packages:

  • Gazebo Simulator: 3D robotics simulator that provides a physics engine, high-quality graphics, and a plugin architecture for robot simulation.
  • RViz: a visualization tool for ROS that allows you to visualize sensor data, robot models, and the environment, useful for debugging and understanding robot behaviour.
  • MoveIt!: ROS framework for motion planning, manipulation, and control, providing tools for kinematics, collision checking, and visualization.
  • OMPL (Open Motion Planning Library): powerful library for motion planning, providing implementations of various motion planning algorithms.
  • ROS Control: a set of ROS packages that provide tools for controlling robot joints and interfaces with hardware drivers.

The rf_ws folder contains all the practical labs to get started with Baxter:

  • baxter_chess: Testing the ability of Baxter to move chess pieces on the chessboard.
  • lab1_pkg: Exploring the simulation facilities in ROS and navigating Baxter's arms using keyboard arrows.
  • lab2_pkg: Learn how ROS handles coordinate transformations and discover the Unified Robot Description Format (URDF) and XML macros (aka XACRO).
  • lab3_pkg: Using the ROS motion planning framework, Moveit to discover planning algorithms via the Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL).
  • lab4_pkg: Application of the framework for locating an object, grasping it and placing it in another location.
  • lab5_pkg: Visualisation camera using a depth sensor to detect blocks and pick/place them around the environment.

Installation

To install the workspace, clone it to your designated location. To facilitate easy setup and usage of the ROS workspace (as Melodic reached the EOL date), you can download a pre-configured virtual machine (VM) image for VirtualBox. This VM includes all the necessary software and packages to run the ROS environment and experiment with the provided repository.

Download Link:

ROS Melodic Virtual Machine Image

Build the workspace only after deleting build, devel and install folders for a fresh install or if you do not use the virtual machine provided:

cd ~/ros_ws
catkin_make & catkin_make install

Usage

To use the packages in the workspace, source the setup file:

source ~/ros_ws/devel/setup.bash

Or:

It's always a good practice to set the setup files inside the ~/.bashrc to avoid sourcing all the time. Example:

source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash
PATH="${HOME}/.local/bin:$PATH"
source ~/ros_ws/devel/setup.bash
source ~/ros_ws/rf_ws/devel/setup.bash

They can be included at the end of the file by using (vim/nano or any other editing tool):

nano ~/.bashrc

Then, you are free to use the packages as usual.

To launch the chess pick and place game, run (give a 10-30 seconds delay between commands to allow them to be properly configured):

Terminal 1:

roslaunch baxter_gazebo baxter_world.launch

Terminal 2:

rosrun baxter_tools enable_robot.py -e
rosrun baxter_interface joint_trajectory_action_server.py

Terminal 3:

roslaunch baxter_moveit_config baxter_grippers.launch

Terminal 4:

rosrun baxter_chess spawn_chessboard_h.py

Terminal 5:

rosrun baxter_chess pick_and_place_moveit.py

Terminal 6:

rosrun baxter_chess gazebo2tfframe.py

To delete the chessboard and its components, run the command:

rosrun baxter_chess delete_chessgame_h.py

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the contributing guidelines before submitting a pull request.

License

This repository is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.