This metapackage is intended for controlling and simulating the PhantomX Pincher robot at the RST.
First, make sure that ROS and moveit is installed properly (we are currently on ROS indigo):
sudo apt-get install ros-indigo-moveit-full
The arbotix package is required since it constitutes a low-level driver package that interfaces with the robot hardware. But an important feature is missing in the official version, thus we are using a modified one (until changes are accepted in the original verion)
cd ~/catkin_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/croesmann/arbotix_ros.git
Now it is time to checkout this package:
git clone https://github.com/rst-tu-dortmund/phantomx_rst.git
Check if everything compiles:
cd ~/catkin-ws
catkin_make
Arbotix Controllers
The controller is required for all applications:
sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0 # Set permissions for the usb/serial conv.
roslaunch phantomx_rst arm.launch
In case of a simulation launch:
roslaunch phantomx_rst arm_sim.launch
MoveIt (GUI)
Run
roslaunch moveit_gui_all.launch
MoveIt (C++)
Close the GUI and start visualization only
roslaunch phantomx_rst arm_rviz.launch
Start the move_group instance (required for planning)
roslaunch phantomx_rst move_group.launch
Look at the code of the phantomx_control moveit node and feel free to insert your own code here. Run that node using
rosrun phantomx_control moveit_control
Simple PhantomX API
Look at the phantomx_lib Code-API. More information will be provided here soon...
roslaunch phantomx_rst arm_rviz.launch
rosrun phantomx_control simple_control
Utilities
Print joint values for checking servos. Verify that the zero position and all angle limits are correct.
rosrun phantomx_rst print_joint_state.py
Relax servos and print end-effector pose (requires that the default position of the robot is correct: q=0 -> upright arm position)
rosrun phantomx_control measure_states
The phantomx_rst meta-package is mainly developed and composed for educational purposes.
The phantomx_lib, phantomx_control and phantomx_rst packages (as part of the meta-package) are licensed under the BSD license. The packages depend on other ROS packages, which are listed in the package.xml and that are also BSD licensed, and the following third-party packages:
- Eigen, MPL2 license, http://eigen.tuxfamily.org
- OpenCV, BSD license, http://opencv.org
In order to simplify the configuration process, especially for educational purposes, some modified versions of the turtlebot_arm packages (https://github.com/corot/turtlebot_arm, https://github.com/turtlebot/turtlebot_arm) are included.
All packages included are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the licenses for more details.
In visualizatoin the separation of both fingers of the gripper is just an linear approximation of the real euclidean distance. However, this is ok for our purposes right now.
Note, this package includes an (slighly) adopted version of the turtlebot_arm package (resp. the branch https://github.com/corot/turtlebot_arm.git). It is copied into this metapackage in order to allow a simple integration for students that start working with the PhantomX.