Performs collision detection in python for Baxter
- ROS (tested on Kinetic, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS)
- everything in here: http://sdk.rethinkrobotics.com/wiki/Simulator_Installation#Baxter_Simulator_Installation
- MoveIt
Demo-ing collision detection capabilities of the Baxter robot in python.
state_validity_collision.py contains the StateValidity class which is responsible for collision detection. Refer main scope of the script for a working example of how this thing performs collision checks.
set_environment.py is a helper script which will create an environment complete with collision objects for demo purposes.
Getting contact information in case of collision is optional. If not required, comment out the relevant lines (marked in code) in state_validity_collsion.py
Publishing contact information requires a custom msg type - ContactInformationArray.
baxter_tests is a catkin package that contains this message type. To install, navigate to <root_wkspace>/src/ , place baxter_tests here, cd back to <root_wkspace> and catkin_make.
collision_publisher.py is an optional script that runs in the background (keeping the publisher alive) and re-publishes /robot_collision_contacts with latching on so that contact information can be viewed through rostopic echo even after the main python script has terminated.