SOLO 12 Experiments

Overview

This repository contains the necessary packages to run experiments with the SOLO12 robot. The main packages and their purposes are:

• ff_commands_publisher: Publish the feed-forward commands from a bag file to the PD controller or visualize the trajectory in RViz.
• bag_analyzer: Inspect the bag file before using them. Many assumptions regarding the topics present are made. If you do different experiments, you'll need to modify the code.
• robot_gazebo: Launch the SOLO12 robot in Gazebo and exectute the feed-forward commands.

This repository also contains packages for using the Qualysis motion capture system with ROS 2.

To change the PD values of the controller of the real robot, modify solo_12_gazebo.xacro in the solo_description package. To change the PD values of the controller in the Gazebo simulation, modify the solo12_controller_effort.yaml file in the robot_control package.

Installation

Either use Docker or copy the src directory in your ROS 2 workspace. The repo has been tested in ROS 2 Humble.

To use the Docker installation, follow the Preliminaries instructions here. Afterward, build the image (once) and run the Docker image with the following commands:

• Build:

  ./build.bash [-r]

• Run:

  ./run.bash

After having entered the workspace, you need to build the packages. The following command is recommended:

colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON && source install/setup.bash

Usage

SOLO12 Interface

Verify that in src/solo12_interface/solo12_interface/src/wb_interface.cpp, the defined CONNECTION_MODE is the same as the output of the ip a (the ethernet one) command executed in the shell. Otherwise, change it and rebuild the package.

To launch the SOLO12 interface:

1. Connect the robot to the computer (either via Ethernet or Wireless).
2. Enter superuser mode:

   sudo su

3. Afterward, source the ROS 2 workspace and launch the interface:

   source install/setup.bash
   ros2 launch solo12_sim interface.launch.py

4. To launch the interface and the controllers together, use

   ros2 launch solo12_sim interface_and_control.launch.py

Qualysis

Check the mocap4ros2_qualisys README for the Qualysis setup.

Feed-Forward Commands Publisher

This package publishes the robot's commands as a feed-forward control signal. To use it, record your bag files and put them in src/ff_commands_publisher/bags/. More detailed instructions are in the package's README.

The bags should be recorded with

ros2 bag record --use_sim_time /joint_states

The syntax [parameter_name:=parameter_value] means that the parameter is optional. If you don't provide it, the default value will be used.

• Inspect the bag file (plots the joint positions, velocities, and efforts):

  ros2 run ff_commands_publisher bag_inspector

• Publish and visualize in RViz SOLO12 motion:

  ros2 launch ff_commands_publisher visualize_solo.launch.py ["bag_filename:='<filename>'"] [rate:=<float>] [topic_name:='</topic_name>'] [use_sim_time:=<true|false>]

  The outer "" in "<param_name>:='<param_value>'" are required only when the given filename is a number (e.g. 020), since we want it to be treated as a string.
  • "bag_filename:='<filename>'": select the bag to reproduce.
  • rate: increase or reduce the execution speed.
  • topic_name: remap /joint_states topic into another topic.
• Publish the bag JointState messages in the topic /PD_control/command (for using the controller on the real robot):

  ros2 launch ff_commands_publisher experiment_solo.launch.py ["bag_filename:='<filename>'"] [rate:=<float>]

Feed-Forward Trajectory Simulation

Simulate the feed-forward trajectory in Gazebo with

ros2 launch robot_gazebo solo12.launch.py ["bag_filename:='<filename>'"]