Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Carol Fairchild, Lentin Joseph, Dr. Thomas L. Harman
Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Carol Fairchild, Lentin Joseph, Dr. Thomas L. Harman

Overview of this book

ROS is a robust robotics framework that works regardless of hardware architecture or hardware origin. It standardizes most layers of robotics functionality from device drivers to process control and message passing to software package management. But apart from just plain functionality, ROS is a great platform to learn about robotics itself and to simulate, as well as actually build, your first robots. This does not mean that ROS is a platform for students and other beginners; on the contrary, ROS is used all over the robotics industry to implement flying, walking and diving robots, yet implementation is always straightforward, and never dependent on the hardware itself. ROS Robotics has been the standard introduction to ROS for potential professionals and hobbyists alike since the original edition came out; the second edition adds a gradual introduction to all the goodness available with the Kinetic Kame release. By providing you with step-by-step examples including manipulator arms and flying robots, the authors introduce you to the new features. The book is intensely practical, with space given to theory only when absolutely necessary. By the end of this book, you will have hands-on experience on controlling robots with the best possible framework.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
ROS Robotics By Example Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Chapter 10. Controlling Baxter with MATLAB©

In Chapter 6, Wobbling Robot Arms Using Joint Control, Baxter the two-armed robot was described. The purpose of this final chapter is to spark your imagination by presenting control of Baxter using the MathWorks© MATLAB Robotics System Toolbox. The MathWorks corporation produces the popular MATLAB software that is widely used in industry and academia. In addition to the MATLAB software for mathematical operations and visualization, modules called add-ons can be added to the software.

The Robotics System Toolbox add-on considered in this chapter allows us to use MATLAB scripts using ROS commands to control robots. For users of MATLAB, this capability opens up new possibilities to design and implement sophisticated robotic programs for applications.

In this chapter, we will introduce the following:

  • Installing the MATLAB Robotics System Toolbox

  • Using MATLAB and ROS with the Robotics System Toolbox

  • Controlling Baxter with the Robotics System Toolbox

References...