How to use ROS to control a roboclaw motor.

Hi guys, I've been googling for ages and would really appreciate help on this, I am an absolute beginner trying to get ROS to control roboclaw which is in turn controlling maxon motors for a robot. I am running ROS Kinetic and I have a Arduino mega and a Roboclaw motor. Looking online it seems like the majority of people are using this library https://github.com/sonyccd/roboclaw_ros. I followed the instructions and installed it, unfortunately couldn't find any tutorials, but my question is how do I use it? Do I hook ROS up to an Arduino and then connect that to the motors etc?

Asked by wmr on 2018-11-23 10:48:12 UTC

Comments

Were you able to use roboclaw with arduino mega using ros serial ??

Asked by ARGHYAJONY on 2022-03-06 09:51:00 UTC

Answers

The github page has the instructions for how to use it, but if you have no knowledge of ROS you would not even be able to recognize what parts are the instruction. You need to get familiar with ROS.

I suggest you follow the ROS getting-started tutorials and but build up the simulated turtle bot and get it running. It will only take a few hours and make your life much easier.

After using ROS and getting familiar, go back and look at the github page again. The instructions will then jump out at you.

Now I will answer your direct question.

1 - connect the roboclaw to your PC with a USB cable and power the roboclaw.

2 - Install the driver exactly as shown on github

3 - Start roscore

4 - Start the driver

5 - feed test command to cmd_vel topic - if you've gone through the ROS tutorials, you already know how to do this.

Asked by billy on 2018-11-23 15:19:38 UTC