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

Using MATLAB Robotics System Toolbox and Baxter Simulator


In these next sections, we will explore using MATLAB to publish and subscribe to the Baxter Simulator and control some primary functions of his arms and grippers.

Installing Baxter messages in MATLAB

Baxter has a unique set of ROS messages that are used to communicate with a real Baxter and Baxter Simulator in Gazebo. MATLAB requires that these custom Baxter message and service definitions be processed into ROS custom messages understood by MATLAB.

Locate the ROS packages for Baxter on your computer. If you followed the installation instructions in Chapter 6, Wobbling Robot Arms Using Joint Control, these packages will be located in your Baxter workspace, ~/baxter_ws.

In the MATLAB command window, type the following command:

>> rosgenmsg('~/baxter_ws/src/baxter_common')

This is the location of Baxter's message files. If your Baxter workspace is in another location, use the absolute path name to the baxter_common package.

Note

For...