Connecting to a real robot

sumitkumar2801 · November 27, 2024, 2:12pm

I subscribed to ROS2 Manipulation Basics course as I thought it would teach about how I can connect to a real universal Robot. I am a beginner in this field and learning this course so that I can connect to a real robot and not in a simulated environment.

Is there any course or any way I can actually configure and connect to a real universal robot?

bayodesegun · November 28, 2024, 9:11am

@sumitkumar2801
If your robot supports ROS, we have the resources to help you do just that! The following are the steps required for a beginner.

Learn how to control both simulated and real robots with ROS by taking the ROS2 Basics course.
- Python version of the course
- C++ version of the course
- The course teaches about controlling simulated robots first, then how to make the code work on a real robot.
  - You learn to control real robot by connecting remotely to one of our real robots.
- You need some knowledge of Python or C++ and Linux. If you are not familiar with any of these, we also have courses for that:
Add your real robot on the real robots page, and
- Control it using a ROS project you create on the platform, using the knowledge acquired for the ROS2 Basics course.
Learn the ROS2 Manipulation course, then
- Test your knowledge in a simulation first, then
- Apply the knowledge to the real robot.

sumitkumar2801 · November 28, 2024, 10:03am

Hi @bayodesegun,

Thank you so much for your reply. I am actually familiar with Linux and ROS2. I have an UR5e real robot which I can control through ROS2 humble. But with UR5e I have attached a wrist camera and 2f-85 gripper from Robotiq. And now I am trying to control UR5e + wrist camera + 2f-85 gripper with ros2. I cannot find URDF file for wrist camera, but I was able to add gripper to it and simulate it in Gazebo. But I am not sure how to connect transmission for controlling both (robot+gripper) with ROS2 and how to configure the URDF and SRDF for real robot with wrist camera and gripper.
Moreover, I am not sure how I can attach/register my robot to construct platform with a bash file. Where and how to run the file?
I was hoping to learn how to connect and configure a real robot in construct platform but its only simulation…

bayodesegun · November 28, 2024, 10:12pm

No, it’s not only simulation, as I explained earlier. We teach working with real robots in the ros2 basics course.

Configuring a robot is as simple as ABC:

Visit the Real Robots page.
Click Register new robot
Select Manual Registration
Add a name for your robot, select the ROS distro running on it, activate the active switch and click Register.
Copy the bash command shown and run it on the terminal of your robot (your robot manual should tell you how to access this).
- This would install some packages and the module for communicating with the platform. You would see a success message when it finishes

Please let us know if you run into any issue.