Modelling, Control and Integration of OPT 40/1 Surgical Table in ROS2

Overview

This project focuses on the modelling, control and ROS2 integration of the OPT 40/1 surgical table, a mobile operating table currently controlled via physical buttons. The main objective is to achieve automated and programmable movement of the table by integrating it into a robotic system architecture using ROS2.

Technologies Used

• ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) – for communication and system integration
• URDF/Xacro – to model the surgical table and its kinematics
• RViz2 – for 3D visualization and TF inspection
• Gazebo – for simulation of the physical environment and table movement

Project Goals

• Digitally replicate the OPT 40/1 surgical table using URDF/Xacro.
• Simulate the table’s behavior and motion using Gazebo and RViz2.
• Enable integration of the model with ROS2 controllers for motion commands.

Installation

Prerequisites: ROS2 Humble installed and sourced.

To use this package in ROS2, first clone this repository in a ROS2 workspace, e.g. ros2_ws:

# Clone the repository into your ROS2 workspace
mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src && cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/idra-lab/opt_description.git

Then, it is simply necessary to build and source the workspace:

# Go to workspace
cd ~/ros2_ws
# Build the workspace
colcon build --symlink-install
# Source the workspace
source install/setup.bash

Visualize the table in RViz2 and Gazebo

To test the robot and visualize it in the Gazebo environment and Rviz2, you can directly call the command:

ros2 launch opt_description show_launch.py

Acknowledgments

This thesis project was developed in collaboration with the Interdepartmental Robotics Labs (IDRA) at the University of Trento (IDRA GitHub). I was a research student during my thesis internship.