Panda Primitives

This is ros package that used to define Primitives (i.e. skills) for the Franka Emika Panda 7-DOF Robot that can be chained together to complete more complex tasks.

Prerequisites

For Simulation you will need:

• Ubuntu machine with:
  • Docker Engine.
  • A ROS Workspace with this package clone under src/.
  • The following ROS packages also cloned under src/ in your ROS workspace:
    • panda_ros
    • PandController
    • panda_ros_msgs
    • authoring_msgs
    • rviz_camera_stream
    • ros_numpy

For Running on the Panda, you will need:

• Above requirements.
• Franka Emika Panda 7 DOF Robot setup with the FCI and set to static IP of 192.168.1.XXX (Ex/ 192.168.1.3) and Netmask to 255.255.255.0.
  • Robot system version: 4.2.X (FER pandas)
  • Robot / Gripper Server version: 5 / 3
• Axio80-M20 Force Torque Sensor installed on the Panda's End Effector and connected to the host computer via ethernet with IP 192.168.2.2 (or change the IP in src/PandaController/src/ForceTorqueListener.cpp).
• The following added to the Ubuntu Machine:
  • The Realtime Kernel Patch Kernel Patch added to the Ubuntu Machine.
  • Static IP of 192.168.1.XXX (Ex/ 192.168.1.5) and Netmask of 255.255.255.0 for the ethernet connected to the Panda. The ethernet connected to the Force Torque sensor needs to be set to a static IP of 192.168.2.XXX (Ex/ 192.168.2.5).

Setup

Make sure you run these commands in the root of your ROS Workspace (above src/)

First set up display forwarding:

xhost +local:

Now build the container image and start the container. These commands mount on the current directory as the containers file system so any changes you make to the files on your host machine will be mirrored in the container. These commands also allow the containers display to be forwarded to your host machine so that you can see it.

sudo docker build -f src/panda-primitives/Dockerfile -t panda-prim .

sudo docker run --rm -it --privileged --cap-add=SYS_NICE --env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix -v $(pwd):/workspace --net=host panda-prim

You should now be in the docker container.

Now compile C++ package (PandaController)

cd src/PandaController/
mkdir -p build
cd build
[ -f Makefile ] || cmake ..  # Only initialize if not  already
make install
cd ../../..

Now build the ROS packages:

catkin build
source devel/setup.bash

Running

1. [SKIP FOR SIMULATION] Start the robot controller:

   export PANDA_IP=192.168.1.3 # REPLACE with your panda's IP
   roslaunch controller mover.launch`

2. Run one of the following:

   • [SIMULATION] roslaunch panda-primitives all.launch only_virtual:=true
   • [ON ROBOT] roslaunch panda-primitives all.launch

3. In a seperate terminal (still in your docker container), run:

   source devel/setup.bash
   rosrun panda-primitives test_twist.py

   You can also run any other scripts in the panda-primitives/test folder in this same manner.

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Tips and Tricks:

• To view transforms: rosrun rqt_tf_tree rqt_tf_tree

• To open multiple another terminal to you docker container, first run the following on your local machine:

  sudo docker ps

  This will give you a list of containers with container IDs. Then run the following with your container ID:

  sudo docker exec -it YOUR_CONTAINER_ID bash

  Now run the following in your newly opened terminal to source the workspace.

  source devel/setup.bash