Noetic release

[rhaschke]

I reworked (and force-pushed) the noetic-devel branch once more as announced in #89 (comment).

The new branch can be considered a release candidate, but relies on several open PRs in franka_ros (also see frankaemika/franka_ros#193) and MoveIt, namely:

• Rework ACM defaults moveit#2938
  allowing collision checking to be disabled by default for specific links
• Parse <collision_default> and <enable_collisions> tags srdfdom#97
  extending the syntax of SRDF to specify these defaults (and exceptions)
• Provide detailed and coarse collision models frankaemika/franka_ros#199
  • Define finger_joint2 as mimic joint of finger_joint1 frankaemika/franka_ros#190
• Cosmetic changes to xacro and launch files frankaemika/franka_ros#183
• CHANGE: Remove namespace from franka_gazebo launch file frankaemika/franka_ros#196
• Add a JointTrajectoryController config frankaemika/franka_ros#186
• Define meaningful tool frame frankaemika/franka_ros#194
• Fixes franka_gripper_sim GripperCommand action frankaemika/franka_ros#173

Other open TODOs (@rickstaa, can you work on these?):

• Include configs for other planners (CHOMP, STOMP, LERP, TrajOpt) into MoveIt Setup Assistant
  Add new msa planners moveit#2955
  This requires:
  • Adding files to launch and config folders in MSA templates
  • Registering them in corresponding launch and config sections of MSA's file-config widget - typically using the copyTemplate method.
• Verify and update moveit_tutorials

[rickstaa]

The STOMP and OMPL-STOMP planners have been added to MSA in moveit/moveit#2955.

[rickstaa]

@rhaschke, I think some of the todos in this issue can be checked as done. For testing the tutorials, I'm waiting for @frankaemika to decide on frankaemika/franka_ros#188 since if I do it now, things change I might have to retest.

[gollth]

Hey there,

I'm testing out the new noetic-devel branch of this repo together with the new MoveIT and ran into some problem:

Suppose I want to start the move group in a launch file like so:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<launch>
  <arg name="robot_ip" />

  <arg name="transmission" value="position" />

  <include file="$(find franka_control)/launch/franka_control.launch" pass_all_args="true" />

  <include file="$(find panda_moveit_config)/launch/move_group.launch">
    <arg name="load_gripper" value="true" />
  </include>

</launch>

I get the error message to please set the transmission argument:

included file [/home/franka/ros/src/panda_moveit_config/launch/simple_moveit_controller_manager.launch.xml] requires the 'transmission' arg to be set

However the move_group.launch does not accept such an argument:

RLException: unused args [transmission] for include of [/home/franka/ros/src/panda_moveit_config/launch/move_group.launch]

AFAIR in Melodic you didn't need to (and couldn't) provide an extra "transmission" argument to the move_group.launch.

How is this indented to work now?

[rhaschke]

In demo.launch it seems to work because we include move_group.launch with pass_all_args="true":
https:/ros-planning/panda_moveit_config/blob/c38a59af4ca94c008b3677e1ee1787a64bc6fea3/launch/demo.launch#L55

There is a working example file very similar to your example: franka_control.launch.

[gollth]

Thanks for the answer, I thought so as well that this is the background. But this would mean that you cannot even use this launch file like this anymore:

<launch>
  <include file="$(find panda_moveit_config)/launch/move_group.launch" />
</launch>

I think many users of this repo will have something similar to this in their user code. Is this breaking change really something you intent? If yes is it already documented somewhere already?

[rhaschke]

I will try to improve the launch files over the weekend.

[gollth]

Hey @rhaschke any updates on this? Currently panda_moveit_config is in a not very usable state

[rhaschke]

Sorry, I was busy with many other things. I will try over the coming weekend to catch up on this.
What is your progress on frankaemika/franka_ros#199?
Using the coarse self-collision models for environmental collision checks as well, renders MoveIt very much unusable in general 😉

[rickstaa]

I had some questions I my email about how to use the new noetic branch so I will put this here as a reference:

1. Install ROS noetic (see http://wiki.ros.org/noetic/Installation/Ubuntu).
2. Build libfranka from source (see https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/installation_linux.html).
3. Build franka_ros from source (see https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/installation_linux.html).
4. Clone the noetic branch of panda_moveit_config.
5. Install the ros dependencies using:
   rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro noetic -y --skip-keys libfranka
6. Build the catkin workspace.
   catkin build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DFranka_DIR:PATH=<PATH_TO_LIBFRANKA>/libfranka/build
7. Run the ros-planning/panda_moveit_config/blob/noetic-devel/launch/demo_gazebo.launch launch file.
8. Move the robot using the RVIZ Moveit Planning GUI (see video below).

use_noetic_moveit_example.mp4

[rickstaa]

@rhaschke @gollth, I don't think anything is blocking us from releasing the noetic package. To my knowledge, the last time I checked, there were only the instabilities in the gripper action (gripper action time out, gripper action not working when the gripper is vertical - see frankaemika/franka_ros#172).

[rhaschke]

I agree. However, before releasing panda_moveit_config, franka_ros should be released including frankaemika/franka_ros#199, which was merged in April. Also, we will diverge between Melodic and Noetic as MoveIt Melodic doesn't support the new collision matrix specification, i.e. coarse vs. detailed collision models required by franka_description. @gollth, are you fine with this?

[gollth]

Hi @rhaschke,

sorry for the late reply I was on holiday until today.

Sounds good to me. We will release everything currently in develop shortly.

we will diverge between Melodic and Noetic

Seems logical to me.

[gollth]

Just as a heads up, @marcbone is currently working on a URDF changing feature in franka_ros. The outer interface (i.e. XACRO args and filenames ...) will stay the same, but the internal structure will be refactored a bit. We don't think this will be a breaking change for panda_moveit_config but with URDFs you can never know how breaking it really is.

[rhaschke]

@marcbone is currently working on a URDF changing feature in franka_ros

Please inform me if this gets merged and I will have a look at panda_moveit_config.

[gollth]

franka_ros 0.9.1 is now released on melodic and noetic

[rhaschke]

I triggered a release into Noetic: ros/rosdistro#34290
as well as into Melodic: ros/rosdistro#34297

[marcbone]

@marcbone is currently working on a URDF changing feature in franka_ros

Please inform me if this gets merged and I will have a look at panda_moveit_config.

I guess there was a bit of miscommunication. The refactoring of the URDF is now done and on the develop branch, but it was not part of the0.9.1 release. We will make a release over rosdistro for version 0.10.0 tomorrow.