Ethercat ROS2

Auto install

Easy setup

To automatically install and configure you can use the bash scripts:

1. EtherLab install:

chmod +x ethercat_setup.sh
sudo ./ethercat_setup.sh

Note: This install searches for the MAC address of your ethernet adapter, connect the ethernet cable before launching it, or refer to the manual install process.

2. ethercat_driver_ros2 install:

chmod +x ros2_driver_setup.sh
./ros2_driver_setup.sh

Run EtherCAT master

sudo /etc/init.d/ethercat start
ethercat slaves

The setup is successfull if terminal displays this:

Starting EtherCAT master 1.5.2  done
0  0:0  PREOP  +  device_0_name

Launch

1. Open new terminal and run:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch ethercat_zeroerr motor_drive.launch.py

2. Check motor position:

ros2 topic echo /joint_states

3. Test with cli publish:

ros2 topic pub --once /trajectory_controller/joint_trajectory trajectory_msgs/msg/JointTrajectory '{header: {stamp: {sec: 0, nanosec: 0}, frame_id: "base_link"}, joint_names: ["joint_1"], points: [{positions: [0.0], velocities: [10.0], accelerations: [10.0], time_from_start: {sec: 1, nanosec: 0}}]}'

Manual Install [EtherLab]

Bios settings

First thing is to check if SecureBoot is enabled. Access the BIOS settings and disable it. To check without accessing the BIOS:

sudo apt-get install mokutil
mokutil --sb-state

If this returns: SecureBoot enabled proceed to disable it.

EtherCAT install

1. Install common dependencies

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install git autoconf libtool pkg-config make build-essential net-tools

2. Clone and configure etherlab:

git clone https://gitlab.com/etherlab.org/ethercat.git
cd ethercat
git checkout stable-1.5
sudo rm /usr/bin/ethercat
sudo rm /etc/init.d/ethercat
./bootstrap  # to create the configure script
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/etherlab  --disable-8139too --disable-eoe --enable-generic

3. Build:

sudo make all modules
sudo make modules_install install
sudo depmod

[Note]: Last step is necessary every time the Linux kernel is updated.

4. Configure system:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/etherlab/bin/ethercat /usr/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/etherlab/etc/init.d/ethercat /etc/init.d/ethercat
sudo mkdir -p /etc/sysconfig
sudo cp /usr/local/etherlab/etc/sysconfig/ethercat /etc/sysconfig/ethercat

5. Modify the content of the file to contain the configuration:

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/99-EtherCAT.rules

and paste:

KERNEL=="EtherCAT[0-9]*", MODE="0666"

6. Copy the ethernet MAC address to the configuration file in order to contain:

MASTER0_DEVICE="YOUR_MAC_ADDRESS"
DEVICE_MODULES="generic"

[Info]: To check what's the ethernet MAC address: open a new terminal and run: ip addr.

Manual Install [ethercat_driver_ros2]

1. source ROS2 env:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

2. create a new ws:

mkdir ~/eth_ros2_ws/src

3. build:

cd ~/eth_ros2_ws
git clone https://github.com/ICube-Robotics/ethercat_driver_ros2.git src/ethercat_driver_ros2
rosdep install --ignore-src --from-paths . -y -r
colcon build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

Debugging etherCAT

This is a verbose on the start: sudo strace -f -e trace=finit_module,init_module ethercatctl start

Acknowledgments

This is based on ICubeRobotics guides and repositories.

Thanks to JensVanhooydonck for the help on the issue on the mode of operation!