Develop robot applications using the tools, libraries, and capabilities provided by ROS and ROS2.
Develop robot applications using the tools, libraries, and capabilities provided by ROS and ROS2.
ROS, or Robot Operating System, is actually a misnomer for it is not an operating system. Rather, ROS is an open sourced framework that provides different sets of software libraries and tools that help build robot applications. Universal Robots officially provides, and supports drivers for ROS and ROS2.
In order to use the ROS and ROS2 drivers, you must have ROS and/or ROS2 installed. For more guidance on this process, and information on the differences between the two frame works, visit the ROS Get Started page.
In order to download and use the ROS driver, follow the instructions from this GitHub Repo.
Here are the resources needed to get started with the ROS2 driver. This driver has built-in support with MoveIt!
ROS contains building blocks that can be utilized to develop your applications. These four blocks work together to help you reach your goals.
At its core, ROS provides a message-passing system, often called “middleware” or “plumbing”. This is responsible for handling process management, inter process communication, and device drivers (such as the UR ROS Drivers).
In order to build a good application, it is crucial to have the appropriate developer tools at your disposal. ROS has tools for launch, introspection, debugging, visualization, plotting, logging, and playback.
The capabilities of the tools allow you to easily implement and integrate motion control, trajectory and motion planning, perception, mapping, and manipulation into your application.
Not unlike Universal Robots, ROS has an extensive developer community. With this, there are many resources available to users. The package organization and software distribution are kept up to date, and the tutorials and documentation available is extremely in-depth and easy to follow. If you have any road blocks or feedback, reach out to the ROS Community and get involved.