ROS Resources: Documentation | Support | Discussion Forum | Index | Service Status | ros @ Robotics Stack Exchange
Ask Your Question
0

Controlling an omnidirectional robot like pr2 in ROS Hydro

asked 2014-03-10 15:12:44 -0500

alimohandes gravatar image

updated 2014-11-22 17:05:45 -0500

ngrennan gravatar image

Hi all,

I am fairly new to ROS and Gazebo and I apologize if this question seems easy in advance.

So, I basically want to implement a path planning algorithm by simulating a scenario in "ROS-Gazebo" and I am using "ROS Hydro-Gazebo 1.9" distributions. My algorithm assumes that the robot is omni-directional i.e., it can move in both x and y coordinates, independently. As I have found out, "pr2" and "care-o-bot" are two robots that offer omni-directional motion. The only feature that I need from them is the omni-directional wheels and other features such as laser, arm, etc. are not needed. I would also need to get the odometry data.

Problem: I am not aware of any control plugin or library to control and move the "pr2" in "ROS Hydro-Gazebo 1.9". I am able to bring up the "pr2" in "Gazebo" using "roslaunch" command. But I cannot control it and move it around. To give an idea of what I want, in another case I am able to control a pioneer2dx using a differential drive controller plugin (libgazebo_ros_diff_drive.so). I wonder if such a thing exists for "pr2". If not, is there any other solutions to my problem?

I would greatly appreciate any helps towards finding a solution for my problem.

Thanks,

Ali

edit retag flag offensive close merge delete

1 Answer

Sort by ยป oldest newest most voted
1

answered 2014-03-12 14:20:18 -0500

ahendrix gravatar image

The PR2 simulation and the real PR2 can be controlled by publishing a geometry_msgs/Twist to the /cmd_vel ROS topic. This is a fairly standard topic for controlling mobile bases in ROS.

You can generate simple teleop command on cmd_vel using the teleop_twist_keyboard package, or you can do more complex teleop specific to the PR2 using the pr2_teleop package.

I suspect that the gazebo plugin that simulates the PR2 base is more complicated than you're interested in. If you haven't already, it may be worth asking on the gazebo answers site.

edit flag offensive delete link more

Question Tools

Stats

Asked: 2014-03-10 15:12:44 -0500

Seen: 1,130 times

Last updated: Mar 12 '14