My experiences with ROS

Installing ros-electric-pr2-desktop


sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu natty main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ros-electric-pr2-desktop

Installing Additional Tools

  • Source control, Python and Rosinstall

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools
sudo easy_install -U rosinstall
sudo apt-get install bzr bzr-explorer qbzr
sudo apt-get install mercurial
sudo apt-get install subversion python-svn

Installing Shadow Robot Simulator in ROS (for HANDLE Project)

  • Copy the following code to a file named /tmp/sr_stable.rosinstall:

- bzr:
    uri: lp:sr-ros-interface/stable
    local-name: shadow_robot

- bzr:
    uri: 'lp:sr-ros-interface-ethercat'
    local-name: shadow_robot_ethercat
    version: 517

- svn:
    uri: 'http://isr-uc-ros-pkg.googlecode.com/svn/stacks/serial_communication/trunk/cereal_port'
    local-name: cereal_port

  • Rosinstall this file:

mkdir /home/alex/ros_workspace
rosinstall /home/alex/ros_workspace/ /tmp/sr_stable.rosinstall /opt/ros/electric

  • Source the created setup.bash

source /home/alex/ros_workspace/setup.bash

Compile the thing

  • Build sr_hand with Gazebo

GAZEBO=1 rosmake --rosdep-install sr_hand 
GAZEBO=1 rosmake --rosdep-install sr_hardware_interface 
GAZEBO=1 rosmake --rosdep-install sr_mechanism_controllers 
GAZEBO=1 rosmake --rosdep-install sr_mechanism_model 
GAZEBO=1 rosmake --rosdep-install sr_gazebo_plugins

  • Build extra packages

rosmake sr_external_dependencies
rosmake --rosdep-install sr_control_gui cyberglove sr_remappers sr_tactile_sensors sr_kinematics

Install the KCL sensors

  • Unpack KCL code to a directory eg and add kclcontloc_sim and kcl_msgs to ROSPATH.
  • Build

rosmake --rosdep-install kclcontloc_sim 

  • Edit arm_and_hand_motor_ellipsoid.urdf.xacro and replace full_arm_motor.urdf.xacro by full_arm_motor_with_kinect.urdf.xacro

Running it

  • Run the robot simulator

optirun roslaunch sr_hand gazebo_arm_and_hand_motor_ellipsoid.launch

  • Run the interface

roslaunch sr_hand sr_arm_motor.launch

  • Run the simulated sensors

roslaunch kclcontloc_sim kclcontloc_sim.launch

  • Run the object manipulation stack

roslaunch sr_object_manipulation_launch sr_object_manipulation.launch

NOTE: MAY NEED TO RESET GAZEBO

Configurations

  • Reduce the framerate

rosrun topic_tools throttle messages /camera/depth_registered/points 1

Interfaces

  • Run the controller gui

rosrun sr_control_gui sr_control_gui

  • Image viewer

rosrun image_view image_view image:=/camera/image/raw

  • RVIZ

optirun rosrun rviz rviz

  • ROSGUI

rosrun rosgui rosgui

Connect to the UPMC setup


export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://hand:11311