abb_wrapper

These packages are intended to ease the interaction between ABB OmniCore controllers and ROS-based systems, by providing ready-to-run ROS nodes.

Important Notes

Tested on Ubuntu 20.04 with ROS Noetic.

Overview

These packages are intended to ease the interaction between ABB OmniCore controllers and ROS-based systems, by providing ready-to-run ROS nodes.

The included (principal) packages are briefly described in the following table:

Package	Description
abb_librws	(A modified version of https://github.com/ros-industrial/abb_librws) Provides a ROS node that communicate with the controller using Robot Web Services 2.0
abb_libegm	(A modified version of https://github.com/ros-industrial/abb_libegm) Provides a ROS node that exposes hardware interface, for direct motion control of ABB robots (via the Externally Guided Motion (EGM) interface).
abb_driver	Provides ROS nodes for the main interface with the controller. It combine the RWS and EGM node and use the parameters in the yaml file.
abb_controllers	Provides ROS nodes for kinematic calculation using the URDF model of the robot.
gofa_description	Provides ROS nodes for kinematic calculation using the URDF model of the robot.
yumi_description	Provides ROS nodes for kinematic calculation using the URDF model of the robot.
degub_rviz_tool	Tools used for tests and debug

Please see each package for more details (e.g. additional requirements, limitations and troubleshooting).

Build Instructions

It is assumed that ROS Noetic has been installed on the system in question.

Set up ROS

The following instructions assume that a Catkin workspace has been created at $HOME/catkin_ws and that the source space is at $HOME/catkin_ws/src. Update paths appropriately if they are different on the build machine.

The following instructions should build the main branches of all required repositories on a ROS Noetic system:

echo "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
cd ~/catkin_ws/
catkin_make

echo "source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

If no errors were reported as part of the catkin_make command, the build has succeeded and the driver should now be usable.

Install POCO

Start a terminal session (launch terminal) by Ctrl + Alt + T

Install essential dependencies and git, execute the following commands one by one:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install build-essential gdb cmake git
sudo apt-get install openssl libssl-dev
# sudo apt-get install libiodbc2 libiodbc2-dev <- This uninstall stuffs from Moveit!
sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

Get root access:

sudo -i

Navigate to /tmp/ directory (or any other directory to store temporary files).

cd /tmp/

Clone the Poco git repo:

git clone -b master https://github.com/pocoproject/poco.git

Compile the libraries:

cd poco
mkdir cmake-build
cd cmake-build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

Note: If you get a library not found error, just install that library via apt.

Install the libraries to include in C++ code:

sudo cmake --build . --target install

Copy all the poco file from /usr/local/lib/ to /usr/lib

Install Boost C++

Boost C++

sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev

Set up the interface

Copy abb_wrapper folder to src folder on catkin workspace (~/catkin_ws/src).

cd catkin_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/JOiiNT-LAB/abb_wrapper.git

Move back to the workspace folder (catkin_ws/)

cd ..

Compile the workspace

catkin_make

If there are no errors you are ready to proceed to set up the robot.

Robot Set up

Requirements

• RobotWare version 7.2 or higher (lower versions are incompatible due to changes in the EGM communication protocol).
• A license for the RobotWare option Externally Guided Motion (3124-1).
• StateMachine 2.0 RobotWare Add-In (soon on the RobotApps)

After the creation of the system just configure robot to accept external communication both for EGM and Web Services.

RobotStudio

Open RobotStudio

On the Controller Tab, click Add Controller > One Click Connect..

Click on "Log in as Default User" button

Setup the IP address for the WAN port

With this configuration, we will set up the IP address of the WAN port where the computer running ROS will be connected.

• On the Controller tab, in the Configuration group, click Properties and then click Network settings. The Network settings dialog opens.

  

• Select Use the following IP address and then enter the required IP address and Subnet mask boxes to manually set the IP address of the controller

  

POLIMI SETUP: set WAN IP = 192.168.131.200

This step is optional, also the MGMT port can be used.

The MGMT port have a fixed IP address (192.168.125.1 ) and a DHCP server.

If you are using the MGMT port make sure that the connected computer running ROS is on the same natwork (192.168.125.xx ) or the DHCP is enabled.

Setup the UDP device

Configure the IP address and the port to use for the UDP protocol. This IP address must be the same of the PC running ROS.

Using RobotStudio, first request the write access.

On the Controller tab, in the Configuration group, click Configuration and then click Communication.

Double click on the UDP Unicast Device item.

POLIMI SETUP:

set ROB 1 IP = 192.168.131.5

set UCDEVICE IP = 192.168.131.5

Setup the Controller Firewall

Using the WAN port the firewall on the public network must be configured.

Using RobotStudio, first request the write access. On the Controller tab, in the Configuration group, click Configuration and then click Communication.

Double click on the Firewall Manager item. Enable on the public network the following services:

• RobotWebServices

• UDPUC (available from RW 7.3.2)

  

Configure the user privileges

This package use the Robot Web Services 2.0 (RWS) to control the robot. Each RWS session is logged using a user that must to be present on the User Authorization System of the controller (for more details about User Authorization System, see Operating manual - RobotStudio). If not specified, for the RWS communication, the default user is used:

• Username: Default User
• Password: robotics

By default, the Default User does not have the grant Remote Start and Stop in Auto (run rapid routine from the WAN port in Auto mode).

The steps to configure the user account are:

1. Using RobotStudio log-in on the controller as Administrator (usually with the user Admin and password robotics).

2. On the Controller tab, in the Access group, click Authenticate and then click Edit User Account.

3. On the tab roles check if the grant Remote Start and Stop in Auto is checked for the role of the Default User.

   

4. Apply.

Any other user can be used by passing the name and the password to rws_interface.

Set up Config File and launch your abb robot (e.g. Gofa)

Navigate to abb_driver/config/gofa_cfg.yaml Modify the parameters based on your robot configuration (e.g. ip_robot, name_robot,task_robot, etc.). Note that the IP robot in the yaml has to be the same of the WAN port (POLIMI Setup = 192.168.131.200)

Finally

Load in robotstudio in rapid codes from the controller folder "EGM" Set robot in Automatic and Motors ON Connect to WAN port set PC IP address to 192.168.131.5 (see "Setup the UDP device" above)

  source of setup.bash
$ roslaunch abb_driver interface_gofa.launch