Robot Arm Control Using ROS

This Repository will explain my first task in Robotics and AI department at SMART METHODS summer training.

Task Requirements:

• Control a robot arm actuator using Robot Operating System (ROS) platform with Rviz, Gazebo and Moveit Simulator.

Detailed Steps:

1. Install Ubuntu to work with ROS platform. I will use Ubuntu-18.04 (You can install Ubuntu with Windows in a virtual machine like Virtual box or Vmware).

2. Instal ROS Melodic using the commands bellow in the terminal (Melodic is the version of ROS that correspond with Ubuntu-18.04).

   • sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
   • sudo apt install curl
   • curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -
   • sudo apt-get update
   • sudo apt install ros-melodic-desktop-full
   • apt search ros-melodic
   • echo "source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
   • source ~/.bashrc
   • sudo apt install python-rosdep python-rosinstall python-rosinstall-generator python-wstool build-essential
   • sudo apt install python-rosdep
   • sudo rosdep init
   • rosdep update

3. Install a Catkin Workspace which is a folder to combine all packages for ROS.

   • sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-catkin
   • mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
   • cd ~/catkin_ws/
   • catkin_make
   • cd ~/catkin_ws/src
   • git clone https://github.com/smart-methods/arduino_robot_arm.git we will use the arm from SM to work with.
   • cd ~/catkin_ws
   • rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
   • sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-moveit
   • sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-joint-state-publisher ros-melodic-joint-state-publisher-gui
   • sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-gazebo-ros-control joint-state-publisher
   • sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-ros-controllers ros-melodic-ros-control
   • open a file (bashrc) : sudo nano ~/.bashrc.
   • At the end of the file add the follwing linesource /home/mo7dsaleh/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash then press ctrl + o, (Note that mo7dsaleh is my ubuntu username).
   • source ~/.bashrc
   • To lunch the Rviz simulator with slider motors control (joint_state_publisher) use this command roslaunch robot_arm_pkg check_motors.launch
   • Rviz Simulator:

   

4. To control the robot arm physically if you need, connect the circuit diagram with your arm and the install Arduino IDE and ros_lib.

   • Circuit Wiring:

   

   • Install Arduino IDE software wget https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-1.8.12-linux64.tar.xz then tar -xvf arduino-1.8.12-linux64.tar.xz then cd arduino-1.8.12/ then sudo ./install.sh
   • Download rosserial to communicate with arduino using the following commands sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-rosserial-arduino then sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-rosserial
   • Download ros_lib on arduino software using the following commands cd Arduino/libraries then rm -rf ros_lib then rosrun rosserial_arduino make_libraries.py .
   • To upload the Arduino code, select the Arduino port to be used on Ubuntu system, then we need to change the permissions (it might be ttyACM) by ls -l /dev |grep ttyUSB then sudo chmod -R 777 /dev/ttyUSB0 then upload the code from Arduino IDE
   • Run Rviz roslaunch robot_arm_pkg check_motors.launch rosrun rosserial_python serial_node.py _port:=/dev/ttyUSB0 _baud:=115200

5. Control the Arm in Gazebo simulator (real simulation).

   • Change the permission cd catkin/src/arduino_robot_arm/robot_arm_pkg/scripts then sudo chmod +x joint_states_to_gazebo.py
   • Open new terminal to launch Rviz roslaunch robot_arm_pkg check_motors.launch
   • Open new terminal to launch Gazebo roslaunch robot_arm_pkg check_motors_gazebo.launch
   • Then run the python script to communicate with Gazebo rosrun robot_arm_pkg joint_states_to_gazebo.py
   • Rviz with Gazebo:

   

   • Different Angles:

   

6. Now, lets used Moveit in Rvis which will help for kinematics, motion planning, trajectory processing and controlling the robot

   • roslaunch moveit_pkg demo.launch
   • Moveit:

   

7. Task is Done 😍