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URSim

URSim is the dedicated simulator of Universal Robots, which accurately simulates not only robot dynamics but the interface and drivers used to control their robots. This allows one to very accurately determine if software and algorithms will work as expected on the real robot by first testing in URSim. To run URSim, there is a Docker container in prodapt/docker. Additionally, to run the ROS2 driver to connect to URSim (and the real robot), there is a dedicated container for just the driver (ur-driver), as well as a larger container that contains everything needed to develop this project (prodapt), including the driver.

Running the Docker Containers

  1. Build the two images. 
    cd ~/prodapt/docker
docker build -t ursim:latest ./ursim
docker build -t ur-driver:latest ./ur-driver
    Note: The ur-driver docker container is a light-weight version of the prodapt container. If you wish to build and use the prodapt container instead, follow the instructions in README.md
  2. Start URSim. Run 
    docker compose up ursim
    Open VNC client at http://localhost:6080/vnc.html and click Connect. Turn on and start the robot.
  3. Start the UR driver. In a new terminal, run 
    docker compose up ur-driver
    Note: If you already are using the prodapt container you do not need to start the ur-driver container. Simply open a shell in your container and run the command 
    ros2 launch ur_robot_driver ur_control.launch.py ur_type:=${UR_TYPE} robot_ip:=${ROBOT_IP} launch_rviz:=false

Enabling External Control

When externally controlling the robot (simulated or real), it is usually necessary to enable this in the software. If sending commands via URScript (via the /urscript_interface/script_command ROS topic) this is not necessary, but it is necessary for sending ROS control commands such as joint position commands on scaled_joint_trajectory_controller/joint_trajectory. To enable external control, follow these steps:

  1. Open the "Programs", and on the left side click on "URCaps", then on "External Control". This should add a new line in the program that says "Control by 192.168.56.102".
  2. Run the program by clicking on the play button in the bottom right corner of the screen, and click "Play from the beginning". This should allow the robot to be externally controlled. This will need to be rerun if the robot stops running the program.

Confirming it is Working

  1. Once both containers are running, it should be possible to see the ROS topics. In a new terminal, run: 
    ros2 topic list -t
    and you should see many ROS topics, including /urscript_interface/script_command [std_msgs/msg/String]
  2. Go to the Program page and click on Graphics tab. Then, run 
     ros2 topic pub --once /urscript_interface/script_command std_msgs/msg/String '{data:
 "def my_prog():

 movej(p[0.6, 0, 0.4, 3.14, 0, 0], a=1.2, v=0.25, r=0)

 end"}'
    You should see the robot move the end-effector to position [-0.6, 0.0, 0.4] with orientation [3.14, 0, 0].