Universal Robot 5

UR5 robot arm.

NOTE
This note is for ROS Kinetic Kame.

Installation

  1. create and enter a workspace

    pushd
mkdir -p ur_ws/src
cd ur_ws
catkin_make
popd

  2. clone drivers

    pushd
cd ur_ws/src
# this is the main drivers, including driver and related resource
git clone https://github.com/ros-industrial/universal_robot.git
cd universal_robot
git checkout kinetic-devel
popd

# this is a better driver
# I adapted it to kinetic
pushd
cd ur_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/P4SSER8Y/ur_modern_driver
popd

# build
pushd
cd ur_ws
catkin_make
popd

  3. Official simulator (optional)

    1. download the software

      Goto https://www.universal-robots.com/download/ and select Software, Offline Simulator, Linux, ursim-<vesrion>. Then click Download.

    2. unzip the downloaded file

    3. install with

      ./ursim-<version>/install.h

    4. run the simulator with

      ./ursim-<version>/start-ursim.h

    5. the IP address of this “robot” should be 127.0.0.1

Run

  • launch the driver

    # Normal mode
roslaunch ur_modern_driver ur5_bringup.launch robot_ip:=<ROBOT_IP_ADDRESS>

# ros_control mode
roslaunch ur_modern_driver ur5_ros_control.launch robot_ip:=<ROBOT_IP_ADDRESS>

  • if you want to switch from vel_based_pos_traj_controller to pos_based_pos_traj_controller

    rosservice call /universal_robot/controller_manager/switch_controller \
    "start_controllers: - 'pos_based_pos_traj_controller' \
     stop_controllers: - 'vel_based_pos_traj_controller' \
     strictness: 1"

  • launch Moveit (optional)

    roslaunch ur5_moveit_config ur5_moveit_planning_executing.launch
roslaunch ur5_moveit_config moveit_rviz.launch config:=true

  • launch Gazebo for simulation (optional)

    roslaunch ur_gazebo ur5.launch

Usage

read joint states

  • message type: sensor_msg::JointState
  • topic name: joint_states
  • frequency: about \(120 \mathrm{ Hz}\)
  • ⚠WARNING⚠: be careful with the joints’ names

follow a trajectory

  • action type: control_msgs::FollowJointTrajectory
  • server name: follow_joint_trajectory

use build-in pos_based_pos_traj_controller (ros_control mode)

  • ⚠NOTE⚠: the topic joint_states is NOT enabled

  • read joint states

    • message type: control_msgs::JointTrajectoryControllerState
    • topic name: pos_based_pos_traj_controller/state

  • follow trajectory

    • action type: control_msgs::FollowJointTrajectory
    • server name: pos_based_pos_traj_controller/follow_joint_trajectory
    • the velocity field is not used

direct URScript (Advanced) ⚠

⚠WARNING⚠
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

  • message type: std_msgs::String

  • topic name: ur_driver/URScript

  • official document: