The rb1_ros2_description package

This package contains a ROS2 robot model description for Robotnik's RB-1 mobile base.

• Differential drive controller plugin added to command robot with Twist messages
• Effort controller added to control robot's lifting unit

Disclaimer:

This package only modifies/adapts files from these repositories/packages:

• RobotnikAutomation/rb1_base_sim licensed under the BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License
• RobotnikAutomation/rb1_base_common/rb1_base_description, licensed under the BSD License
• [RobotnikAutomation/robotnik_sensors],(https://github.com/RobotnikAutomation/robotnik_sensors) licensed under the BSD License

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Installation Instructions

Prerequisites:

• ROS2 Galactic installed and sourced
• Gazebo (compatible with ROS2 Galactic)
• rosdep for dependency installation

Steps:

1. Clone this repository into your ROS2 workspace src directory:

   cd ~/ros2_ws/src
   git clone <this-repo-url>

2. Install dependencies:

   cd ~/ros2_ws
   rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

3. Build the workspace:

   colcon build

4. Source the workspace:

   source install/setup.bash

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Getting Started

To launch the simulation use command given below. Also spawns the robot and controllers.

ros2 launch rb1_ros2_description rb1_ros2_xacro.launch.py

After the launch process finished; check nodes, hardware interfaces and controllers loaded successfully in a new terminal

ros2 node list

Expected result:
/controller_manager
/gazebo
/platform_controller
/rb1_base_controller
/rb1_robot/gazebo_ros2_control
/rb1_robot/robot_state_publisher

ros2 control list_hardware_interfaces

ros2 control list_controllers

Expected result:
rb1_base_controller [diff_drive_controller/DiffDriveController] active platform_controller [effort_controllers/JointGroupEffortController] active

We also need to check the service for actuating the lift

ros2 service list | grep /apply_joint_effort

Test robot actuation

To move the robot (e.g., rotate in place):

ros2 topic pub --rate 10 /rb1_base_controller/cmd_vel_unstamped geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "{linear: {x: 0.0, y: 0, z: 0.0}, angular: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.2}}"

To move the lift up:

ros2 service call /apply_joint_effort gazebo_msgs/srv/ApplyJointEffort '{joint_name: "robot_elevator_platform_joint", effort: 1.0, start_time: {sec: 0, nanosec: 0}, duration: {sec: 2000, nanosec: 0} }'

To move the lift down:

ros2 service call /apply_joint_effort gazebo_msgs/srv/ApplyJointEffort '{joint_name: "robot_elevator_platform_joint", effort: -1.0, start_time: {sec: 0, nanosec: 0}, duration: {sec: 2000, nanosec: 0} }'