README.md

Dual arm control using Robot Operating System (ROS)

Control the dual arm in simulation or with real robots using ROS

Dependencies

The main dependencies are the following ones:

• Dual arm controller: From dual_arm_control folder. Follow the installation instruction here

• ROS: Robot operating system (Melodic distribution)

• Eigen: A library for linear algebra, version 3. (https://eigen.tuxfamily.org)

• iiwa_ros: A ROS-package to control the KUKA IIWA 7 and IIWA 14 (https://github.com/epfl-lasa/iiwa_ros/tree/2kukas_with_force_sensors)

• iiwa_sim_models_poses: A ROS-package that get the poses of the robots and objects in Gazebo and publish them as ros topics. This package can be found at https://github.com/epfl-lasa/iiwa_sim_models_poses.

• sim_objects_description: A ROS-package that contains URDF and SDF models of some objects (FT_sensors, Robot base, table, conveyor belt) used in the simulation environment. This package can be found at https://github.com/epfl-lasa/sim_objects_description.

• dual_iiwa_toolkit: A ROS-package to control dual KUKA IIWA7 and IIW14 robots in simulation (https://github.com/epfl-lasa/dual_iiwa_toolkit)

• iiwa_toolkit_ns: A ROS-package to control KUKA IIWA7 and IIW14 robots in (https://github.com/epfl-lasa/dual_iiwa_toolkit)

Optional QP-based torque controller

• dual_gen_torque_controller: A QP-based ROS-package to control KUKA IIWA7 and IIW14 robots in (https://github.com/epfl-lasa/dual_gen_torque_controller)

A docker exists here. It requires an image of the required branch of iiwa_ros.

File hierarchy

The file system is divided in several subfolders:

The file system is divided in several subfolders:

• config: contains .yaml used by launch files
• Data: contains recorded data
• include: contains class header files
• launch: contains .launch files
• LearnedModel: contains parameters of learned inverse throwing model
• media: contains .gif files showing real robots experiments
• src:
  • dual_arm_control_sim: Contains the control loop

Running the controller in simulation

Open a new terminal and launch the simulated robots by running the following commands:

roslaunch ros_dual_arm_control main_sim_pt3.launch

Read and publish the poses of the simulated robots and object by running the command below:

roslaunch sim_models_poses sim_models_poses2.launch

When sim_models_poses is running, you can now start the dual arm controller:

roslaunch ros_dual_arm_control dual_arm_control.launch

Running the controller on real robots

For grabbing and tossing objects

The dual arm DS-based controller is currently being used with three types of torque controllers:

1. The iiwa_ros CustomControllers : inputs are desired linear velocity and axis/angle of the EE
2. The iiwa_toolkit_ns TorqueController : inputs are desired linear and angular velocity of EE
3. The dual_opspace_ds_controller: inputs are desired linear and angular velocity of EE and the EE wrenches

Step 1: Open a terminal

   launch roscore

Step 2: launch the sensors packages forces sensors optitrack vrpn client Navigate to and source the appropiate workspace (dual_iiwa_real_ws) and run:

   roslaunch real_pose hardwares.launch 

Step 3: Launch the torque controllers of the robots

Option 1: CustomControllers (no longer working)

• Open a new terminal and launch the torque controller for IIWA7 and run:

   roslaunch real_pose bringup_iiwa7.launch

• Open another terminal and through ssh connect to the PC of KUKA IIWA14 robot (ssh -X USERID@ip_of_iiwa14_pc) and run:

   roslaunch real_pose bringup_iiwa14.launch

Option 2: iiwa_toolkit_ns torqueController

• Open a new terminal and launch the torque controller for IIWA7 and run:

   roslaunch iiwa_toolkit passive_track_real.launch

• Open another terminal and through ssh connect to the PC of KUKA IIWA14 robot and run: ssh -X USERID@ip_of_iiwa14_pc

   roslaunch iiwa_toolkit passive_track_real.launch

Option 3: dual_gen_trq_controller dual_iiwa_opspace_ds_controller

• Open a new terminal and launch the torque controller for IIWA7 (iiwa_bringup.launch):

   roslaunch iiwa_bringup.launch

• Open another terminal and through ssh connect to the PC of KUKA IIWA14 robot by running: ssh -X USERID@ip_of_iiwa14_pc

   roslaunch iiwa_bringup.launch

• Open another terminal and through ssh connect to the PC of KUKA IIWA14 robot and run: ssh -X USERID@ip_of_iiwa14_pc

   roslaunch roslaunch dual_gen_trq_controller dual_iiwa_opspace_ds_controller_real.launch

Step 4: Launch the dual-arm coordinates and variables transformation package This package transform individual robot's coordinates and varibales to reference dual-arm coordinates system (absolute coordinate of the dual-arm system with orientation of the left robot (IIWA7) base)

• Open a new terminal and run

   roslaunch real_pose real_poses.launch

Step 5: Launch the dual_arm_controller package

• Open a new terminal and run

   roslaunch ros_dual_arm_control dual_arm_control.launch