How to interface arbotix_python package with a PhantomX Robot Arm (Trossen Robotics)

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We never created a ROS interface to the commander protocol, as it really is designed for handheld joysticks. There is an arbotix_ros bindings, but it uses the standard Dynamixel protocol. If you loaded the arbotix_ros firmware onto your ArbotiX, you could create a config/launch file for moving the robot arm around, but this would not have the IK.

As for the variables, the commander protocol only has one byte for each variable. So, we basically are taking the analog reading of the joystick (which is 10-bit, or 0-1023) and mapping it onto approximately -100 to 100 and then shifting it up 128, so values transmitted are approximately 28-228 (we really don't want to be transmitting values near 0 or 255).