Bot-Q TMS Simulator (Gazebo)

Table of Contents

1. What is Bot-Q TMS?
2. Prerequisites
3. Installation
   1. Clone Repository
   2. Install Dependencies
4. Usage
   1. Build & Source
   2. Launch Simulation (Gazebo)
   3. Launch Real Robot
   4. Visualization
5. Topics & Interface
6. License

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What is Bot-Q TMS?

Bot-Q TMS is a tether management system for the Q-bot docking tasks involving cable or filament handling. It features a 3-DoF spool/extruder mechanism.

This repository provides the ROS 2 packages required to simulate the robot in Gazebo (using ros_gz) and control the real hardware via ros2_control (for Dynamixel).

Prerequisites

In order to use this project, you need to get ready the following environment.

Package	Version
Ubuntu	22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish)
Gazebo	Fortress
ROS	Humble Hawksbill
Python	3.10 <=

Installation

Clone Repository

Make a workspace if you do not have one already.

mkdir -p ~/bot_q_tms_ws/src
cd ~/bot_q_tms_ws/src

Clone this package into your workspace.

git clone https://github.com/sd-robotics/bot-q_tms.git

Install Dependencies

Install the required ROS 2 packages and dependencies.

cd ~/bot_q_tms_ws/src/bot-q_tms
bash install.sh

Usage

Build & Source

Build the packages and source your workspace.

cd ~/bot_q_tms_ws
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

Launch Simulation (Gazebo)

To launch the robot in the Gazebo simulation environment with RViz visualization:

ros2 launch bot_q_tms_bringup gz_minimal.launch.py

This will spawn the robot (including the carrier mechanism) in an empty Gazebo world and bridge the necessary topics.

Launch Real Robot

To launch the drivers for the physical robot (Dynamixel hardware interface):

ros2 launch bot_q_tms_bringup real_minimal.launch.py

Visualization

To visualize the URDF model and joint states without running the full physics simulation:

ros2 launch bot_q_tms_description display.launch.py use_gui:=True

Topics & Interface

Sensors

The simulation and real robot publish the following sensor data:

Sensor Type	Topic Name	Description
Joints	/bot_q_tms/joint_states	Current position and velocity of joints.

Control

The robot utilizes ros2_control to move the three actuators attached to the TMS.

Controller	Type	Description
velocity_controller	JointGroupVelocityController	Controls the spool, guider, and extruder gears.

License

This repository is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.