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Setup Instructions for ob1_arm repo

Step by step guide to setup and troubleshoot this repo in order to get all the ob1 arm control and simulation code running properly. Follow each section and make sure to checkout the troubleshooting section if you run into unexpected issues.

Author: Yousif El-Wishahy (yel.wishahy@gmail.com)

0. Before you start

Make sure you're running an Ubuntu 20.04 (codename: focal) installation. ROS Noetic only works on this version. Additionally, python 3.8 is reccomended for this setup, but you can probably get by with older or newer python 3 versions (keep this in mind though, when you run into python issues).

1. Basics

Install git, curl

sudo apt-get install git curl

1.1 Install Python3.8 with pyenv (Optional)

Install python3.8 (if it is not installed). There are multiple ways to do this, but I reccomend to use pyenv, a convenient python version management tool https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#installation.

Install pyenv

$ curl https://pyenv.run | bash

Add the following to your ~/.bashrc file. You can use nano to edit files. I.e. nano ~/.bashrc.

export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"
command -v pyenv >/dev/null || export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"
eval "$(pyenv init -)"

Restart your shell. exec "$SHELL" Install python 3.8 with pyenv. pyenv install 3.8

2. Install ROS Noetic

If you have not done so, run this command to install the full desktop version of ros noetic (reccomended).

wget -c https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qboticslabs/ros_install_noetic/master/ros_install_noetic.sh && chmod +x ./ros_install_noetic.sh && ./ros_install_noetic.sh

If this fails, follow ALL the instructions found here to install ros noetic.

3. Install ROS dependencies

The ob1_arm uses rviz, gazebo, moveit, moveit planners, ros control, and several other ros packages. Run the following command to install them.

sudo apt-get install ros-noetic-rviz ros-noetic-gazebo-ros-pkgs ros-noetic-moveit ros-noetic-gazebo-ros-control ros-noetic-ros-controllers ros-noetic-rqt-joint-trajectory-controller ros-noetic-moveit-planners ros-noetic-moveit-fake-controller-manager libgflags-dev ros-noetic-rosparam-shortcuts ros-noetic-moveit-commander

4. Clone ob1_arm repo

4a. Create directory

Create a work directory in the location of your choosing, usually in home ~/. Name suggestions: ob1_arm or arm_ws or ob1_arm_ws. The remainder of the setup guide will use the workspace name ob1_arm.

4b. Clone the repo

Next, clone the repo using the following command:

git clone --recurse-submodules -j8 https://github.com/UBC-OpenRobotics/ob1_arm.git src

After cloning the repo, there should be a src folder with the contents of the repo inside and your directory structure should look like this. Note: The directory structure in the src folder may differ due to code changes:

<ws name>
└── src
    ├── Pipfile
    ├── Pipfile.lock
    ├── README.md
    ├── ik_solvers
    ├── moveit_configs
    ├── ob1_arm_control
    ├── ob1_arm_description
    ├── ob1_arm_gazebo
    ├── ob1_arm_hw_interface
    ├── ros_control_boilerplate
    └── setup.md

5. Install python dependencies

There is a Pipfile file in the cloned src folder that contains the required python packages to install. We will use pipenv for python package management.

https://pipenv.pypa.io/en/latest/

Install pipenv with

pip install pipenv

or

sudo apt-get install pipenv

Navigate to src/ and run the following command:

pipenv install

Note, when running python code, always ensure you are in the pipenv shell by running

pipenv shell

in your terminal.

6. Build the ob1_arm workspace

Next, we will use catkin to build all the required packages. Navigate to top level directory ob1_arm and run

catkin build

After building the workspace, the file structure should look something like this:

<arm_ws name>
├── build
│   ├── ...
├── devel
│   ├── ...
├── logs
│   ├── ...
└── src
    ├── Pipfile
    ├── Pipfile.lock
    ├── README.md
    ├── ik_solvers
    ├── moveit_configs
    ├── ob1_arm_control
    ├── ob1_arm_description
    ├── ob1_arm_gazebo
    ├── ob1_arm_hw_interface
    ├── ros_control_boilerplate
    └── setup.md

7. Source workspace

Next you will want to source the workspace. Navigate to top level directory ob1_arm and run

source <path to ob1_arm>/devel/setup.bash

8. Setup complete! Test the workspace

Now that you've successfully built and sourced the workspace, you can try running demos from moveit and our ob1_arm_control packages.

try:

roslaunch ob1_arm_control test.launch

or

roslaunch ob1_arm_moveit_config demo.launch

Troubleshooting

Some issues I encountered before: