7dof-robotic-arm

install and run

1. start the roscore

    roscore

2. create your own package in your current working cmake workspace

   catkin_create_pkg your_package_name roscpp tf geometry_msgs urdf rviz xacro

3. install the urdf and xacro packages

   sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-urdf
   sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-xacro

4. Enable the ros to find the path of package , executables and custom files by sourcing it

   source devel/setup.bash

5. clone the files in this repo to your package folder that you just created
6. delete unnecessary files , that include

• cd to your urdf folder
  • seven_dof_arm.gv
  • seven_dof_arm.pdf
  • seven_dof_arm.urdf etc

7. cd to your launch folder and change the following line of code in view_arm.launch file, according to your package name that u just created

   <param name="robot_description" command="$(find xacro)/xacro --inorder $(find your_package_name)/urdf/seven_dof_arm.xacro" />
   .................
   .................
   .................
   <node name="rviz" pkg="rviz" type="rviz" args="-d $(find mastering_ros_robot_description_pkg)/urdf.rviz" required="true" />

8. cd to urdf folder and change following line of code in seven_dof_arm.xacro

     <xacro:include filename="$(find your_package_name)/urdf/sensors/xtion_pro_live.urdf.xacro"/>

9. convert the xacro files to urdf files

   rosrun xacro xacro seven_dof_arm.xacro --inorder > seven_dof_arm.urdf

10. check for errors in urdf (optional steps)(familirizig the some useful commands)

check_urdf seven_dof_arm.urdf

11. visualizing urdf in graph and joint format (optional steps)(familirizig the some useful commands)

 urdf_to_graphiz seven_dof_arm.urdf

To view the pdf

envince seven_dof_arm.pdf

when converting to graph and joint format .gv and .pdf files will be automatically create

12. launch the rviz and start the node in one go using the launch file that we created

roslaunch your_package_name view_arm.launch

Boom there u go

possible and inevitable errors

1. package folder and files not found

 xacro: in-order processing became default in ROS Melodic. You can drop the option.
 resource not found: mastering_ros_robot_description_pkg
 ROS path [0]=/opt/ros/melodic/share/ros
 ROS path [1]=/opt/ros/melodic/share

solution source the package , whenever necesarry

source devel/setup.bash

2. cannot view the robot

• on the top left corner change the fixed frame : map to base_link

• finally on the bottom left corner
  • click on add
  • then click on the robot model option and click ok

finally boom there u gooo