MoveIt! ROS Control Plugin

This package provides plugins of base class moveit_controller_manager::MoveItControllerManager and a new plugin base class for moveit_controller_manager::MoveItControllerHandle allocators. The allocator class is necessary because moveit_controller_manager::MoveItControllerHandle needs a name passed to the constructor. Two variantes are provided, moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItControllerManager for interfacing a singe ros_control node and moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItMultiControllerManager for seamless integration with any number of ros_control nodes.

moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItControllerManager

This plugin intefaces a single ros_control-driven node in the namespace given in the ~ros_control_namespace ROS parameter. It polls all controllers via the list_controllers service and passes their properties to MoveIt!. The polling is throttled to 1 Hertz.

Handle plugins

The actual handle creation is delegated to allocator plugins of base class moveit_ros_control_interface::ControllerHandleAllocator. These plugins should be registered with lookup names that match the corresponding controller types.

Currently plugins for position_controllers/JointTrajectoryController, velocity_controllers/JointTrajectoryController and effort_controllers/JointTrajectoryController are available, which simply wrap moveit_simple_controller_manager::FollowJointTrajectoryControllerHandle instances.

Setup

In your MoveIt! launch file (e.g. ROBOT_moveit_config/launch/ROBOT_moveit_controller_manager.launch.xml) set the moveit_controller_manager parameter:

<arg name="moveit_controller_manager" default="moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItControllerManager" />

And make sure so set the ros_control_namespace parameter to the namespace (without the /contoller_manager/ part) of the ros_control-based node you like to interface. If you are using the moveit_setup_assistent you can add it to ROBOT_moveit_config/config/ROBOT_controllers.yaml, e.g.:

ros_control_namespace: /ROBOT
controller_list:
  - name: /ROBOT/position_trajectory_controller
    action_ns: follow_joint_trajectory
    type: FollowJointTrajectory
    default: true
    joints:
      - joint_a1
      - joint_a2
      - joint_a3
      - joint_a4
      - joint_a5
      - joint_a6
      - joint_a7

Controller switching

MoveIt! can decide which controllers have to be started and stopped. Since only controller names with registered allocator plugins are handed over to MoveIt!, this implementation takes care of stopping other confflicting controllers based on their claimed resources and the resources for the to-be-started controlles.

Namespaces

All controller names get prefixed by the namespace of the ros_control node. For this to work the controller names should not contain slashes. This is a strict requirement if the ros_control namespace is /.

moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItMultiControllerManager

This plugin does not need further configuration. It polls the ROS master for services and identifies ros_control nodes automatically. It spawns moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItControllerManager instances with their namespace and takes cares of proper delegation.

Setup

Just set the moveit_controller_manager parameter in your MoveIt! launch file (e.g. ROBOT_moveit_config/launch/ROBOT_moveit_controller_manager.launch.xml)

<arg name="moveit_controller_manager" default="moveit_ros_control_interface::MoveItMultiControllerManager" />

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