Mobile robots are good at getting from one location to another without running into things around them. To be even more useful, a robot arm can grasp and manipulate objects in its environment. This chapter features a leading-edge robot that uses its two arms to perform tasks from manufacturing to human assistance and more. The Baxter robot by Rethink Robotics is a collaborative robot that safely works alongside humans without the need for safety precautions. The authors thank Rethink Robotics for their recent open source release of Baxter Simulator so that the simulated version of Baxter could be included in this book for those who cannot afford to purchase a real Baxter.

In this chapter, you will be introduced to Baxter in both real and simulated form. The software for Baxter Simulator will be installed and executed to bring up the Gazebo environment with a Baxter model in it. Baxter's arms will be controlled using a variety of methods:...