Simulation Configuration

Overview

This package contains the necessary config files to simulate any of the many Interbotix X-Series arms. For now, this package is only able to simulate the arms in Gazebo Classic. Below is a description of each supported simulation environment’s configuration.

Gazebo Classic - Contains parameter files that configure trajectory_controllers so that gazebo_ros2_control can control the arms effectively. This package has one of two applications. It can either be used in conjunction with MoveIt via the FollowJointTrajectory interface or it can be used by itself via the JointTrajectoryController interface.

Structure

../_images/xsarm_gz_classic_flowchart_ros2.png

As shown above, the interbotix_xsarm_sim package builds on top of the interbotix_xsarm_descriptions and other simulator’s ROS 2 compatibility packages. To get familiar with the nodes in the interbotix_xsarm_descriptions package, please look at its README. The other nodes are described below:

Gazebo Classic:
- gzserver - responsible for running the physics update-loop and sensor data generation
- gzclient - provides a nice GUI to visualize the robot simulation
- controller_manager - responsible for loading and starting a set of controllers at once, as well as automatically stopping and unloading those same controllers
- spawn_model - adds the robot model as defined in the ‘robot_description’ parameter into the Gazebo world

Usage

Gazebo Classic

To run this package, enter the command line below in a terminal (assuming the WidowX-250 is being launched).

$ ros2 launch interbotix_xsarm_sim xsarm_gz_classic.launch.py robot_model:=wx250

This is the bare minimum needed to get up and running. Take a look at the table below to see how to further customize with other launch file arguments.

Argument	Description	Default	Choices
robot_model	model type of the Interbotix Arm such as `wx200` or `rx150`.		`px100`, `px150`, `rx150`, `rx200`, `wx200`, `wx250`, `wx250s`, `vx250`, `vx300`, `vx300s`, `mobile_px100`, `mobile_wx200`, `mobile_wx250s`
robot_name	name of the robot (typically equal to `robot_model`, but could be anything).	LaunchConfig(`robot_model`)
use_rviz	launches RViz if set to `true`.	`true`	`true`, `false`
rvizconfig	file path to the config file RViz should load.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_xsarm_sim`) + ‘rviz’ + ‘xsarm_gz_classic.rviz’’)
world_filepath	the file path to the Gazebo ‘world’ file to load.	LocalVar(‘FindPackageShare(pkg= `interbotix_common_sim`) + ‘worlds’ + ‘interbotix.world’’)
use_gazebo_gui	launches the Gazebo GUI if `true`.	`true`	`true`, `false`
verbose	launches Gazebo with verbose console logging if `true`.	`false`	`true`, `false`
debug	start gzserver in debug mode using gdb.	`false`	`true`, `false`
paused	start Gazebo in a paused state.	`false`	`true`, `false`
recording	enable Gazebo state log recording.	`false`	`true`, `false`
use_sim_time	tells ROS nodes asking for time to get the Gazebo-published simulation time, published over the ROS topic /clock.	`true`	`true`, `false`
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` parameter; 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` parameter; 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` parameter; 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` parameter; 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` parameter 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`.	`true`	`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` parameter to use the actual hardware, fake hardware, or hardware simulated in Gazebo.	`gz_classic`	`actual`, `fake`, `gz_classic`
robot_description	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`)’) + ‘.urdf.xacro ‘ + ‘robot_name:=’ + LaunchConfig(`robot_name`) + ‘ ‘ + ‘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`) + ‘ ‘)