CloudGripper ROS2 Integration

Overview

This repository contains ROS2 packages for controlling and interacting with CloudGripper system.

Installation

1. Clone this repo into your ROS2 workspace's src directory.
2. Navigate to your workspace root and run colcon build.
3. Source the setup script: source install/setup.bash.

Setup

Ensure CLOUDGRIPPER_API_KEY is set in your environment for authentication with the CloudGripper API.

  export CLOUDGRIPPER_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

Usage

• Start the launch file with parameters: ros2 launch cloudgripper_ros cloudgripper_launch.py -- robot_name:=robot1. This example shows how to set the robot_name parameter to robot1. Adjust the parameter value as provided with API token.
• Subscribe to camera images: /base_camera/image for the base camera, /top_camera/image for the top camera.

Access Camera Images via Service Calls

• Base Camera: Call the get_camera_image service with the camera_type parameter set to base to fetch the base camera image.
• Top Camera: Call the get_camera_image service with the camera_type parameter set to top to fetch the top camera image.

Republishing Images on ROS Topics

The image_re_publish.py node subscribes to the image services and republishes the images to ROS topics.

• Functionality:

  • The node subscribes to the get_camera_image services for both base and top cameras.
  • It retrieves images once from each camera service and then publishes these current images to /base_camera/image and /top_camera/image.

• Usage:

  • To launch this node and start image republishing:

    ros2 run cloudgripper_ros image_re_publish

Accessing Robot State via Service Call

• Fetch State: Call the get_robot_state service to fetch the current state of the CloudGripper.

Control CloudGripper using ROS topics:

• XY Position Control Topic (/xy): Publish geometry_msgs/msg/Point to set X (0.0 to 1.0) and Y (0.0 to 1.0) coordinates.
• Z Position Control Topic (/z): Publish std_msgs/msg/Float32 for Z movement (0.0 to 1.0).
• Gripper Control Topic (/gripper_value): Publish std_msgs/msg/Float32 to adjust the gripper' position (0.0 to 1.0).
• Rotation Control Topic (/rotation_angle): Publish std_msgs/msg/Int16 to adjust the rotation angle (0 to 180 degrees).
• Step Commands Topic (/step_command): Publish std_msgs/msg/String messages with values "right", "left", "forward", or "backward" to step move the robot.

Keyboard Control

• Activate Keyboard Control: Run the node with ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard. This will enable real-time keyboard control for the Cloudgripper.
• Key Bindings:
  • Movement:
    • i: Move forward
    • k: Move backward
    • j: Move left
    • l: Move right
  • Z-Axis Control:
    • t: Move up
    • b: Move down
  • Rotation Control:
    • u: Rotate left
    • i: Rotate right
  • Gripper Control:
    • m: Close gripper
    • ,: Open gripper

Ensure the terminal window running the keyboard control node is active to receive key inputs.