Enable pick-and-place in the simulator with simulation_sample_pick_and_place

Following is a sample result showing the pick-and-place operation of the robot base in a simulator.

Gazebo simulation of a robotic arm with a gripper picking an object from a table in a warehouse world, with controller logs.

`simulation_sample_pick_and_place` software structure

The following figure shows the software structure of simulation_sample_pick_and_place:

Software structure with the pick and place node, arm MoveIt config, and launch scripts on the device, and Gazebo in the host Docker. — simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure.

ROS node used in the `simulation_sample_pick_and_place` software structure

The following table describes the ROS nodes used in the simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure.

ROS node	Description
`qrb_ros_simulation`	Sets up the Qualcomm robotic simulation environment. See qrb_ros_simulation.
`qrb_ros_arm_pick_and_place`	Defines pick and place positions with ROS2 `launch.py` configuration parameter support

ROS topics used in the `simulation_sample_pick_and_place` software structure

The following table describes the ROS topics used in the simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure.

ROS topic	Type	Description
`/joint_states`	`<sensor_msgs.msg.JointState>`	Real-time joint position, velocity, and effort data for all robot joints.
`/hand_controller/controller_state`	`<control_msgs.msg.ControllerState>`	Current state and status information of the gripper controller.
`/hand_controller/joint_trajectory`	`<trajectory_msgs.msg.JointTrajectory>`	Trajectory commands sent to gripper joints for motion execution.
`/rm_group_controller/controller_state`	`<control_msgs.msg.ControllerState>`	Current state and status information of the robotic arm controller.
`/rm_group_controller/joint_trajectory`	`<trajectory_msgs.msg.JointTrajectory>`	Trajectory commands sent to arm joints for motion execution.
`/robot_description`	`<std_msgs.msg.String>`	URDF robot description in XML format for robot modeling and visualization.
`/robot_description_semantic`	`<std_msgs.msg.String>`	SRDF semantic robot description for MoveIt planning and configuration.

Prerequisites

You have set up the device, installed ROS2 Jazzy and the Qualcomm Intelligent Robotics (QIR) SDK on the device according to Install the QIR SDK.

Build from the source of `simulation_sample_pick_and_place`

Build simulation_sample_pick_and_place from source when you need to change the sample code. The device steps install the dependencies, clone the source repository, and build the package.

Device steps

Install dependencies

a. Install qcom-adreno-dev to resolve conflicts with graphic libraries needed by Moveit2.

sudo apt install -y qcom-adreno-dev

b. Install the QIR SDK to restore packages.

sudo apt install -y qirp-sdk
source /usr/share/qirp-setup.sh

c. Install MoveIt for ROS 2 Jazzy.

sudo apt install -y ros-dev-tools
sudo apt install -y ros-jazzy-moveit

Download source code from the qrb_ros_samples repository

mkdir -p ~/qrb_ros_ws/src && cd ~/qrb_ros_ws/src
git clone -b jazzy-rel https://github.com/qualcomm-qrb-ros/qrb_ros_samples.git

Build the sample from source code

cd ~/qrb_ros_ws/src/qrb_ros_samples/robotics/simulation_sample_pick_and_place
rosdep install -i --from-path ./ --rosdistro jazzy -y
colcon build

Launch Gazebo on host Docker

Launch QRB Robot arm on the host

Launch QRB Robot arm on the host according to the Build from source section of QRB ROS Simulation. Use the same local network and ROS_DOMAIN_ID to ensure devices can communicate through ROS.

Launch Gazebo

Launch Gazebo with the following commands:

source install/setup.bash
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=55
ros2 launch qrb_ros_sim_gazebo gazebo_rml_63_gripper.launch.py world_model:=warehouse initial_x:=2.2 initial_y:=-2 initial_z:=1.025 initial_yaw:=3.14159 initial_pitch:=0.0 initial_roll:=0.0 use_sim_time:=true

Launch the controller

Select the Play button in Gazebo after the world environment renders, open another terminal, and use the following commands to launch the controller:

source install/setup.bash
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=55
ros2 launch qrb_ros_sim_gazebo gazebo_rml_63_gripper_load_controller.launch.py

Run out-of-the-box `simulation_sample_pick_and_place`

To run the pick-and-place sample application in simulation, use the following commands: This launch file brings up the MoveIt2 configuration for the robot, and then executes a predefined pick-and-place motion using the arm.

source install/setup.bash
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=55
ros2 launch simulation_sample_pick_and_place simulation_sample_pick_and_place.launch.py

​simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure

​ROS node used in the simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure

​ROS topics used in the simulation_sample_pick_and_place software structure

​Prerequisites

​Build from the source of simulation_sample_pick_and_place

​Device steps

​Launch Gazebo on host Docker

​Run out-of-the-box simulation_sample_pick_and_place