xArm7 Tutorial

This is a guide on how to control xArm7 usin MoveIt. Before starting the tutorial you should first install all of the necessary stuff from the Prerequisites section.

Instructions:

• Establish Network Connection
• Install xArm ROS2 Driver
• Test xArm Driver
• Running A Sample Code

Prerequisites

• Moveit

Establish Network Connection

First connect xArm7 ethernet cable to your laptop, then open Settings->Network->Wired Connection and make following changes:

Install xArm ROS2 Driver

1. Create workspace

mkdir -p colcon_ws/src
cd colcon_ws/src

2. Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/xArm-Developer/xarm_ros2.git --recursive -b $ROS_DISTRO
cd xarm_ros2
git pull
git submodule sync
git submodule update --init --remote

3. Install dependencies

cd colcon_ws/src
rosdep update
rosdep install --from-paths . --ignore-src --rosdistro $ROS_DISTRO -y
cd colcon_ws
colcon build
source install/setup.bash 

Test xArm Driver

For work with fake hardware:

ros2 launch xarm_moveit_config xarm7_moveit_realmove.launch.py add_gripper:=true robot_ip:=xxx.xxx.x.xxx 

For work with real robot:

ros2 launch xarm_moveit_config xarm7_moveit_fake.launch.py add_gripper:=true robot_ip:=xxx.xxx.x.xxx 

Running A Sample Code

To be able to run demo.cpp we need to make some changes to xarm_ros2 driver. For that navigate to xarm_ros2->xarm_moveit_config->launch and open _robot_moveit_common.launch.py. In that file find this part of code:

# Start the actual move_group node/action server
move_group_node = Node(
    package='moveit_ros_move_group',
    executable='move_group',
    output='screen',
    parameters=[
        robot_description_parameters,
        ompl_planning_pipeline_config,
        trajectory_execution,
        plan_execution,
        moveit_controllers,
        planning_scene_monitor_parameters,
        {'use_sim_time': use_sim_time},
    ],
)

And change it to this:

# Start the actual move_group node/action server
move_group_node = Node(
    package='moveit_ros_move_group',
    executable='move_group',
    output='screen',
    parameters=[
        robot_description_parameters,
        ompl_planning_pipeline_config,
        trajectory_execution,
        plan_execution,
        moveit_controllers,
        planning_scene_monitor_parameters,
        {'use_sim_time': use_sim_time,
         'publish_robot_description': True,
         'publish_robot_description_semantic': True
        },
    ],
)

Save the file and build xarm_moveit_config package:

cd colcon_ws
colcon build --packages-select xarm_moveit_config

1. Clone this repository

cd colcon_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/patsyuk03/xArm7Tutorial.git
cd ..
colcon build --packages-select xarm_demo
source install/setup.bash 

2. Launch PnP demo

For work with fake hardware:

ros2 launch xarm_demo demo.launch.py use_fake_hardware:=true

For work with real robot:

ros2 launch xarm_demo demo.launch.py use_fake_hardware:=false