Bringup & Shutdown

Bringup

To bring up a Mobile or Stationary ALOHA, you will need to run the following commands in a terminal:

$ export INTERBOTIX_ALOHA_IS_MOBILE=true/false # true for Mobile, false for Stationary
$ source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash # configure ROS system install environment
$ source ~/interbotix_ws/install/setup.bash # configure ROS workspace environment
$ ros2 launch aloha aloha_bringup.launch.py # launch hardware drivers and control software

Warning

Terminating bringup while the arms are not in their sleep configurations will cause them to collapse! Be sure to run through the Shutdown procedure before doing so.

Tip

The ALOHA can be brought up with different configurations and additional arguments to customize the behavior. Please refer to the Configurations section below for details.

Shutdown

To shutdown the ALOHA, you will need to first send the arms to their sleep configurations. While the ALOHA bringup is running in another terminal, open a new one and run the following commands:

$ export INTERBOTIX_ALOHA_IS_MOBILE=true/false # true for Mobile, false for Stationary
$ source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash # configure ROS system install environment
$ source ~/interbotix_ws/install/setup.bash # configure ROS workspace environment
$ cd ~/interbotix_ws/src/aloha/scripts/
$ python3 sleep.py

The follower arms will move to their “staged” configurations and then place themselves into their sleep configurations.

Tip

You can optionally append the -a|--all flag to the sleep script command to send all arms to their sleep configurations:

$ python3 sleep.py -a
# or
$ python3 sleep.py --all

Now that the arms are in their sleep configurations, you can terminate the ALOHA bringup by pressing Ctrl + C in the terminal where the bringup was launched.

What’s Next?

Now that you know how to bringup and shutdown the ALOHA, teleoperation will be a good starting point to explore its features.

Configurations

The configuration yaml files provided in the ~/interbotix_ws/src/aloha/config directory can be used to customize the behavior of the ALOHA. Please follow the links below to see the details of each configuration file:

SLATE Robot Base (only for Mobile ALOHA)
- teleop_twist_joy Parameters:
  - base_joystick_teleop.yaml
Interbotix Arms
- Mode Configs:
  - leader_modes_left.yaml
  - leader_modes_right.yaml
  - follower_modes_left.yaml
  - follower_modes_right.yaml
- Motor Specs:
  - leader_motor_specs_left.yaml
  - leader_motor_specs_right.yaml
Intel RealSense Cameras
- realsense2_camera Parameters:
  - rs_cam.yaml

Besides the default configuration files, the launch file aloha_bringup.launch.py provides additional arguments for further customization. Please refer to the following table for details:

Argument	Description	Default	Choices
robot_model_leader	model type of the leader arms.	`aloha_wx250s`
robot_model_follower	model type of the follower arms.	`aloha_vx300s`
robot_name_leader_left	name of the left leader arm	`leader_left`
robot_name_leader_right	name of the right leader arm	`leader_right`
robot_name_follower_left	name of the left follower arm	`follower_left`
robot_name_follower_right	name of the right follower arm	`follower_right`
leader_modes_left	the file path to the ‘mode config’ YAML file for the left leader arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘leader_modes_left.yaml’’)
leader_modes_right	the file path to the ‘mode config’ YAML file for the right leader arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘leader_modes_right.yaml’’)
follower_modes_left	the file path to the ‘mode config’ YAML file for the left follower arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘follower_modes_left.yaml’’)
follower_modes_right	the file path to the ‘mode config’ YAML file for the right follower arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘follower_modes_right.yaml’’)
launch_leaders	if `true`, launches both the leader and follower arms; if ``false, just the followers are launched.	`true`	`true`, `false`
use_cameras	if `true`, launches the camera drivers.	`true`	`true`, `false`
cam_high_name		`cam_high`
cam_low_name		`cam_low`
cam_left_wrist_name		`cam_left_wrist`
cam_right_wrist_name		`cam_right_wrist`
is_mobile		EnvVar(`INTERBOTIX_ALOHA_IS_MOBILE`)	`true`, `false`
use_base	if `true`, launches the driver for the SLATE base.	LaunchConfig(`is_mobile`)	`true`, `false`
use_joystick_teleop	if `true`, launches a joystick teleop node for the base.	LaunchConfig(`use_base`)	`true`, `false`
use_aloha_rviz	One of: (‘true’, ‘false’)	`false`
aloha_rvizconfig		LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘rviz’ + ‘aloha.rviz’’)
base_link_frame	name of the ‘root’ link on the arm; typically `base_link`, but can be changed if attaching the arm to a mobile base that already has a `base_link` frame.	`base_link`
use_gripper	if `true`, the default gripper is included in the `robot_description`; if `false`, it is left out; set to `false` if not using the default gripper.	`true`	`true`, `false`
show_ar_tag	if `true`, the AR tag mount is included in the `robot_description`; if `false`, it is left out; set to `true` if using the AR tag mount in your project.	`false`	`true`, `false`
show_gripper_bar	if `true`, the gripper_bar link is included in the `robot_description`; if `false`, the gripper_bar and finger links are not loaded. Set to `false` if you have a custom gripper attachment.	`true`	`true`, `false`
show_gripper_fingers	if `true`, the gripper fingers are included in the `robot_description`; if `false`, the gripper finger links are not loaded. Set to `false` if you have custom gripper fingers.	`true`	`true`, `false`
use_world_frame	set this to `true` if you would like to load a ‘world’ frame to the `robot_description` which is located exactly at the ‘base_link’ frame of the robot; if using multiple robots or if you would like to attach the ‘base_link’ frame of the robot to a different frame, set this to `false`.	`false`	`true`, `false`
external_urdf_loc	the file path to the custom urdf.xacro file that you would like to include in the Interbotix robot’s urdf.xacro file.	‘’
hardware_type	configures the `robot_description` to use the actual hardware, fake hardware, or hardware simulated in Gazebo.	`actual`	`actual`, `fake`, `gz_classic`
robot_description_leader_left	URDF of the robot; this is typically generated by the xacro command.	Command(FindExec(`xacro`) + ‘ ‘ + LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_xsarm_descriptions`) + ‘urdf’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_model_leader`)’) + ‘.urdf.xacro ‘ + ‘robot_name:=’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_name_leader_left`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘base_link_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`base_link_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_gripper:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_gripper`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_ar_tag:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_ar_tag`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_bar:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_bar`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_fingers:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_fingers`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_world_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_world_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘external_urdf_loc:=’ + LaunchConfig(`external_urdf_loc`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘hardware_type:=’ + LaunchConfig(`hardware_type`) + ‘ ‘)
robot_description_leader_right	URDF of the robot; this is typically generated by the xacro command.	Command(FindExec(`xacro`) + ‘ ‘ + LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_xsarm_descriptions`) + ‘urdf’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_model_leader`)’) + ‘.urdf.xacro ‘ + ‘robot_name:=’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_name_leader_right`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘base_link_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`base_link_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_gripper:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_gripper`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_ar_tag:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_ar_tag`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_bar:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_bar`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_fingers:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_fingers`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_world_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_world_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘external_urdf_loc:=’ + LaunchConfig(`external_urdf_loc`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘hardware_type:=’ + LaunchConfig(`hardware_type`) + ‘ ‘)
robot_description_follower_left	URDF of the robot; this is typically generated by the xacro command.	Command(FindExec(`xacro`) + ‘ ‘ + LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_xsarm_descriptions`) + ‘urdf’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_model_follower`)’) + ‘.urdf.xacro ‘ + ‘robot_name:=’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_name_follower_left`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘base_link_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`base_link_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_gripper:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_gripper`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_ar_tag:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_ar_tag`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_bar:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_bar`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_fingers:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_fingers`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_world_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_world_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘external_urdf_loc:=’ + LaunchConfig(`external_urdf_loc`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘hardware_type:=’ + LaunchConfig(`hardware_type`) + ‘ ‘)
robot_description_follower_right	URDF of the robot; this is typically generated by the xacro command.	Command(FindExec(`xacro`) + ‘ ‘ + LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_xsarm_descriptions`) + ‘urdf’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_model_follower`)’) + ‘.urdf.xacro ‘ + ‘robot_name:=’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_name_follower_right`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘base_link_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`base_link_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_gripper:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_gripper`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_ar_tag:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_ar_tag`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_bar:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_bar`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘show_gripper_fingers:=’ + LaunchConfig(`show_gripper_fingers`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘use_world_frame:=’ + LaunchConfig(`use_world_frame`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘external_urdf_loc:=’ + LaunchConfig(`external_urdf_loc`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘hardware_type:=’ + LaunchConfig(`hardware_type`) + ‘ ‘)
use_gravity_compensation	if `true`, launches the gravity compensation node.	`true`	`true`, `false`
leader_motor_specs_left	the file path to the ‘motor specs’ YAML file for the left leader arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘leader_motor_specs_left.yaml’’)
leader_motor_specs_right	the file path to the ‘motor specs’ YAML file for the right leader arm.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `aloha`) + ‘config’ + ‘leader_motor_specs_right.yaml’’)