Preparing the robot model to use MoveIt 2
In this chapter, we will use the Gazebo simulator to test MoveIt 2. We’ll prepare the Panda robot model, developed by Franka Emika, which is a versatile arm with 7 degrees of freedom and sensors for force and torque control. The Panda’s integration with MoveIt 2 and ROS 2 facilitates advanced motion planning, kinematics, and real-time communication, making it suitable for research and industrial applications.
The robot model is implemented in the panda_robot
package, which can be downloaded from the GitHub repository of the book. It consists of a set of xacro files to define the robot structure. To enable communication between MoveIt 2 and the robot model, the following steps must be taken.
Step 1 – Adding robot controllers
As already discussed in Chapter 6, to actuate a simulated robot model, the gz_ros2_control
plugin must be integrated into the robot model. Let’s edit the panda.urdf.xacro
and panda_arm...