Package for controlling the Robotiq Hand-E gripper using the ROS 2 Control framework. It uses the robotiq_hande_description package for URDF definitions. Originally developed for integration with Universal Robots e-Series (UR5e) and ROS 2 Humble, it is possible to modify this repository to fit your needs. PRs are welcome!
mkdir -p ~/ceai_ws
cd ~/ceai_ws
git clone git@github.com:AGH-CEAI/robotiq_hande_driver.git src/robotiq_hande_driver
vcs import src < src/robotiq_hande_driver/robotiq_hande_driver/robotiq_hande_driver.repos
colcon build --symlink-install
source ./install/local_setup.shNote
Configuration is split between two packages:
robotiq_hande_description: Hardware connection parameters are set in the URDF file. Example config file.robotiq_hande_driver: The controller configuration is set by launch parameters for thecontroller_node. Example config file.
Start the driver:
ros2 launch robotiq_hande_driver gripper_controller_preview.launch.py use_fake_hardware:=trueSend a command to the gripper in another terminal:
ros2 action send_goal /gripper_action_controller/gripper_cmd control_msgs/action/GripperCommand \
"command:
position: 0.0
max_effort: 0.0
"You can run the gripper in three ways.
If you only want to test the gripper behavior or visualize it in RViz without connecting to the actual device, you can use the fake hardware mode. In this case, simply pass the use_fake_hardware:=true argument:
ros2 launch robotiq_hande_driver gripper_controller_preview.launch.py use_fake_hardware:=trueAll other connection options will be ignored; this mode does not communicate with any physical port or network but simulates responses and allows the controller to run.
If you want to work with the real gripper via direct serial communication, the computer connects to the gripper through a USB-to-RS485 adapter. The wiring is represented as:
Computer → USB adapter ↔ RS485 ↔ Hand-E gripper
In this case, you need to set use_fake_hardware:=false and provide serial port to establish connection using tty_port:
ros2 launch robotiq_hande_driver gripper_controller_preview.launch.py use_fake_hardware:=false tty_port:=/dev/ttyUSB0You can check available serial devices with:
dmesg | grep ttyor
ls -l /dev/tty*Make sure your user has permissions to access the serial port:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USERIf your setup involves a UR robot, its controller can expose the RS-485 tool port over TCP using the pTool Communication URCap](https://docs.universal-robots.com/Universal_Robots_ROS2_Documentation/doc/ur_robot_driver/ur_robot_driver/doc/setup_tool_communication.html). The wiring is represented as:
UR controller RS-485 tool port ↔ URCap forwarder ↔ TCP socket ↔ Computer
Although this is a TCP connection, the driver uses a pseudo-TTY to translate TCP packets into RTU frames. Typically, the virtual serial port is /tmp/ttyUR.
To enable this mode, set use_fake_hardware:=false, create_socat_tty:=true, and specify the socat_ip_address and socat_port of the UR forwarder:
ros2 launch robotiq_hande_driver gripper_controller_preview.launch.py \
use_fake_hardware:=false \
create_socat_tty:=true \
tty_port:=/tmp/ttyUR \
socat_ip_address:=192.168.1.2 \
socat_port:=54321 \
frequency_hz:=10 \
launch_rviz:=trueThe driver will then use tty_port:=/tmp/ttyUR as if it were a real serial port.
You can also start socat manually, for example:
socat pty,link=/tmp/ttyUR,raw,ignoreeof,waitslave tcp:192.168.100.10:54321Warning
Do not use both the use_tool_communication:=true flag for the ur_driver and the create_socat_tty:=true flag for the robotiq_hande_driver!
Both options will invoke the socat command to create the /tmp/ttyUR virtual serial port.
However, the initialization of the Hand-E driver may suffer from a race condition: the tty link must exist before initialization.
It is recommended to use the provided create_socat_tty option.
To integrate the Robotiq Hand-E gripper into your existing robot, you first need to create a Xacro (URDF) file that includes the Hand-E macros and defines all necessary parameters.
A working example of such a file can be found here. You can use this file as a starting point for your own integration.
Next, include this Xacro file in your main robot description tree at the appropriate tool link.
An example of including it in a robot Xacro can be found here.
The included robotiq_hande_gripper macro automatically sets up the <ros2_control> block pointing to the Robotiq Hand-E driver plugin. This ensures that your robot can control the gripper via the standard ROS 2 control interfaces.
You can easliy dig into the ros2_control concepts with its documentation. There is also a plenty of examples
Important
The robotiq_hande_driver currently provides only a hardware component (i.e. hardware interface) to control the fingers' joints.
The included robotiq_hande_gripper macro automatically sets up the <ros2_control> block pointing to the Robotiq Hand-E driver plugin. This ensures that your robot can control the gripper via the standard ROS 2 control interfaces, including the gripper action controller and joint state broadcaster, without additional manual plugin configuration.
This project uses various tools for aiding the quality of the source code. Currently most of them are executed by the pre-commit. Please make sure to enable its hooks:
pre-commit installThere is an additional test tool with hardcoded parameters to test the connection with the Hand-E without any ROS dependencies.
Before build, change the hardcoded parameters in the beginning of the robotiq_hande_driver/test/communication_test.cpp file.
To run test:
cd ~/ceai/ros_ws/build/robotiq_hande_driver
./communication_testThis repository is licensed under the Apache 2.0, see LICENSE for details.