Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example

Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example

Overview of this book

The visionaries who created ROS developed a framework for robotics centered on the commonality of robotic systems and exploited this commonality in ROS to expedite the development of future robotic systems. From the fundamental concepts to advanced practical experience, this book will provide you with an incremental knowledge of the ROS framework, the backbone of the robotics evolution. ROS standardizes many layers of robotics functionality from low-level device drivers to process control to message passing to software package management. This book provides step-by-step examples of mobile, armed, and flying robots, describing the ROS implementation as the basic model for other robots of these types. By controlling these robots, whether in simulation or in reality, you will use ROS to drive, move, and fly robots using ROS control.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
ROS Robotics By Example
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Summary


This chapter developed an understanding of how robot arms are modeled and controlled. We created a URDF/SDF for a simple three-link, two-joint robot arm to be used in a Gazebo simulation. Xacro was used to make the URDF/SDF modular and efficient. Mesh files were incorporated into the gripper design to give it a more realistic look. Control plugins and transmission elements were added to the robot model code to enable control of the robot arm in simulation. Then, ROS commands were used via the command line and rqt tools to control the arm's position in Gazebo.

In Chapter 6, Wobbling Robot Arms Using Joint Controls, we will extend our control of robot arms to the 7-DOF dual-armed Baxter. We will learn multiple ways to command and control Baxter's arms using both forward kinematic and inverse kinematic methods.