EDIT FOR THE SOLUTION OF THE ERROR

I was trying to configure the controllers for the real robot as a normal gazebo model.

but I was making an error. Ros CANopen only needs the URDF file of the robot, not the controllers. That was why I couldn't load the controller_manager.

If I add to the URDF of the real robot

<gazebo>
    <plugin name="gazebo_ros_control" filename="libgazebo_ros_control.so">
        <robotNamespace>/hexapodo</robotNamespace>
    </plugin>
</gazebo>

and load the spawn the controllers in the launch file:

<!-- load the controllers -->
<node name="controller"
      pkg="controller_manager"
      type="controller_manager"
      respawn="false"
      output="screen"
      ns="hexapodo"
      args="spawn
            joint_state_controller
            motor_1_to_base_link_joint
            pata2_velocity_controller
            pata3_velocity_controller
            pata4_velocity_controller
            pata5_velocity_controller
            pata6_velocity_controller"/>

They are correctly spawned:

jorge@jorge-ubuntu:~$ rostopic list 
/clicked_point
/clock
/diagnostics
/gazebo/link_states
/gazebo/model_states
/gazebo/parameter_descriptions
/gazebo/parameter_updates
/gazebo/set_link_state
/gazebo/set_model_state
/hexapodo/joint_states
/hexapodo/motor_1_to_base_link_joint/command
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/command
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/command
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/command
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/command
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/command
/imu
/initialpose
/joint_states
/move_base_simple/goal
/robotest/laser/scan
/rosout
/rosout_agg
/tf
/tf_static

- - - - - - - - - END OF THE EDIT

Hi all, I am building the robot described in question #292882 and trying to control the Maxon MCD Epos with ROS Canopen.

I am running ROS Kinectic on a i7 desktop PC.

But now, I have a problem launching the controller_manager.

If I launch it, as is explain in the wiki

 <launch>
   <node name="controller_node" 
         pkg="controller_manager"
         type="spawner"
         args="controller_name1 controller_name2" />
 </launch>

I have the next error:

[INFO] [1528197681.380398]: Controller Spawner: Waiting for service controller_manager/load_controller
[WARN] [1528197711.592166]: Controller Spawner couldn't find the expected controller_manager ROS interface.
[controller_node-3] process has finished cleanly

But, if I change the launch type and args, I have no error:

<node name="controller_node"
            pkg="controller_manager"
            type="controller_manager"
            output="screen"
            respawn="false"
            args="spawn joint_state_controller pata1_velocity_controller" />

But I have no controllers loaded in my ROS. If I list the services, there isn't any for the controller_manager:

jorge@jorge-ubuntu:~$ rosservice list 
/canopen_chain/get_loggers
/canopen_chain/set_logger_level
/driver/get_object
/driver/halt
/driver/init
/driver/recover
/driver/set_object
/driver/shutdown
/joint_state_publisher/get_loggers
/joint_state_publisher/set_logger_level
/robot_state_publisher/get_loggers
/robot_state_publisher/set_logger_level
/rosout/get_loggers
/rosout/set_logger_level
/rviz/get_loggers
/rviz/reload_shaders
/rviz/set_logger_level

Also, if I run:

jorge@jorge-ubuntu:~$ rosrun controller_manager controller_manager spawn pata1_velocity_controller

The terminal doesn't show any message.

If somebody need, I can upload the xacro file of the robot, the yaml for the controllers and the launch file.

Many thanks, Jorge

EDIT: I load all the parameters for the motors with

<rosparam file="$(find hexapodo_control)/config/hexapodo_control.yaml" command="load"/>

This is the yaml file:

hexapodo:
  # Publish all joint states -----------------------------------
  joint_state_controller:
    type: joint_state_controller/JointStateController
    publish_rate: 50

  # Velocity Controllers ---------------------------------------
  pata1_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_1_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

  pata2_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_2_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

  pata3_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_3_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

  pata4_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_4_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

  pata5_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_5_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

  pata6_velocity_controller:
    type: velocity_controllers/JointVelocityController
    joint: motor_6_to_base_link_joint
    pid: {p: 3.0, i: 0.0, d: 0.0}
    required_drive_mode: 3

So, with this in the launch:

<!-- load the controllers -->
<node name="controller" 
      pkg="controller_manager" 
      type="controller_manager" 
      respawn="false" 
      output="screen" 
      ns="hexapodo" 
      args="spawn 
            joint_state_controller
            pata1_velocity_controller
            pata2_velocity_controller
            pata3_velocity_controller
            pata4_velocity_controller
            pata5_velocity_controller
            pata6_velocity_controller"/>

When I launch it, this is what I have with rostopic list:

jorge@jorge-ubuntu:~$ rostopic list
/joint_states
/rosout
/rosout_agg
/tf
/tf_static

With rosnode list:

/joint_state_publisher
/robot_state_publisher
/rosout

With rosservice list:

/joint_state_publisher/get_loggers
/joint_state_publisher/set_logger_level
/robot_state_publisher/get_loggers
/robot_state_publisher/set_logger_level
/rosout/get_loggers
/rosout/set_logger_level

And with rosparam list:

jorge@jorge-ubuntu:~$ rosparam list
/hexapodo/joint_state_controller/publish_rate
/hexapodo/joint_state_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata1_velocity_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata2_velocity_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata3_velocity_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata4_velocity_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata5_velocity_controller/type
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/joint
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/pid/d
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/pid/i
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/pid/p
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/required_drive_mode
/hexapodo/pata6_velocity_controller/type
/robot_description
/rosdistro
/roslaunch/uris/host_jorge_ubuntu__44501
/rosversion
/run_id

There is nothing loaded about the controller_manager

<rosparam file="$(find robot)/config/robot.yaml" command="load"/>

<node name="controller_spawner" pkg="controller_manager" type="spawner" respawn="false"
    output="screen" ns="/robot_name"  args="controller1 controller2  ">

<rosparam file="$(find hexapodo_control)/config/hexapodo_control.yaml" command="load"/>

rosparam list