Hi,

I have been using MoveIt and move_group_interface for simple motion planning of the UR5 robotic arm. Recently, we have attached a gripper robotiq 2f-140 to the UR5 arm. I created the following xacro that includes:

1. the urdf of the arm
2. the gripper
3. and a flat surface beneath the arm

The xacro is given below.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<robot name="workcell_with_gripper" xmlns:xacro="http://ros.org/wiki/xacro">
<xacro:include filename="$(find ur_description)/urdf/inc/ur5_macro.xacro" />
<xacro:include filename="$(find robotiq_2f_140_gripper_visualization)/urdf/robotiq_arg2f_140_model_macro.xacro" />

<xacro:ur5_robot prefix="" />
<xacro:robotiq_arg2f_140 prefix="" />



<link name="world"/>
<link name="table">
  <visual>
    <geometry>
      <box size="1.0 1.0 0.05"/>
    </geometry>
  </visual>
  <collision>
    <geometry>
      <box size="1.0 1.0 0.05"/>
    </geometry>
  </collision>
</link>

<joint name="world_to_table" type="fixed">
  <parent link="world"/>
  <child link="table"/>
  <origin xyz="0 0 0.5" rpy="0 0 0"/>
</joint>

<joint name="table_to_robot" type="fixed">
  <parent link="table"/>
  <child link="base_link"/>
  <origin xyz="0 0 0.025" rpy="0 0 0"/>
</joint>



    <joint name="gripper_to_robot" type="fixed">
    <parent link="tool0"/>
    <child link="robotiq_arg2f_base_link"/>
    <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 0 1.5708"/>
    </joint>

</robot>

I used this as an input to the MoveIt Setup Assistant (MSA) so that I can create a self-collision matrix and at run-time planning would avoid gripper hitting the arm surfaces. But, now the space of solution is drastically reduced. Even from the RViz interface, when I choose a random valid end state, and many times planning fails. Sometimes, the planning succeeds but the execution fails. Is there one OMPL planner that has a better performance than others. What should be the strategy in such a case. Am I doing something wrong in my approach.

thanks,

Zahid