universal_robots_ros_driver/ur_rtde_driver/README.md

ur_rtde_driver

This driver is forked from the ur_modern_driver.

It works for all CB3 and eSeries robots and uses the RTDE interface for communication, whenever possible.

Features

• Factory calibration of the robot inside ROS to reach Cartesian targets precisely.
• Realtime-enabled communication structure to robustly cope with the 2ms cycle time of the eSeries. To use this, compile and run it on a kernel with the PREEMPT_RT patch enabled. (TODO: Write tutorial on how to compile a realtime kernel for Ubuntu)
• Transparent integration of the teach-pendant. Using the URCaps system, a program is running on the robot that handles control commands sent from ROS side. With this, the robot can be paused, stopped and resumed without restarting the ROS driver. This will in the future also enable, the usage of ROS-components as a part of a more complex UR-program on the teach pendant. This is currently not yet supported, as we are still missing to exit control from ROS side. Expect this to come in future releases.
• Use the robot's speed-scaling. When speed scaling is active due to safety constraints or the speed slider is used, this gets correctly handled on the ROS side, as well slowing down trajectory execution accordingly. Note: Due to the speed scaling interface, other controllers than the scaled controllers provided, currently cannot be used. We plan to change this in upcoming releases.

Building

# source global ros
$ source /opt/ros/<your_ros_version>/setup.bash
# create a catkin workspace
$ mkdir -p catkin_ws/src && cd catkin_ws
$ catkin_make
$ cd src
# clone the driver
$ git clone <this_repository_url>
# clone fork of the description to use the calibration feature
$ git clone -b calibration_devel https://github.com/fmauch/universal_robot.git
# install dependencies
$ rosdep install --from-path . -y --ignore-src
# build the driver
$ cd ..
$ catkin_make
# source the workspace
$ source devel/setup.bash

Initial robot setup

To setup a new robot with this driver, please see the initial setup tutorial