xbot2_examples

Examples for the XBot2.0 middleware

This repository containes commented examples of use for the XBot2.0 real-time middleware for robotics. The IIT-Teleop robot, a 5-dof robotic arm, is provided as testing platform.

Simulating a robotic system with Gazebo
Writing a simple control module as an XBot2 Plugin
Configuring the middleware
Inter-plugin communication (data streaming, rpc-like)
Using ROS from a real-time plugin
Adding a custom device
Controlling the robot from ROS

How to build

Standard CMake workflow

mkdir build && cd build
ccmake <path-to-repo>
select a build type and an install folder (must be visible to the dynamic linker), type c and then g
make -j install

How to setup

make sure that the robot sdf and meshes are visible to Gazebo; for instance, you can add the following line to your .bashrc

export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=$GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH:<path-to-repo>/models/database

set the XBot2 configuration file to the provided example with set_xbot2_config <path-to-repo>/config/teleop_complete_example.yaml (note: this is optional as this information can be provided later as a command line argument)

How to run

load the provided .world file to Gazebo with the following command:
```
gazebo <path-to-repo>/world/teleop_xbot2.world
```
you should now see the robot inside Gazebo
run XBot2 with xbot2-core or xbot2-core --verbose (note: add --config <path-to-repo>/config/teleop_complete_example.yaml if you did not use the set_xbot2_config command during the setup phase)

You should now be able to (for instance)

get the list of loaded plugins -> rosservice call /xbotcore/get_plugin_list
monitor execution time -> rostopic echo /xbotcore/statistics
monitor joint state -> rostopic echo /xbotcore/joint_states

Running inside Docker container

install docker and set it up so that it does not require sudo permissions
install nvidia container toolkit if you have an nvidia card
./docker/run.sh runs the container (the first time it will also download a crazy amount of data!)
to spawn more bash sessions inside the same container instance, do ./docker/attach.sh
open three bash sessions
terminal #1: ./start.sh (starts roscore and gazebo)
terminal #2: xbot2-core (XBot2 executable)
terminal #3: xbot2-gui (GUI should appear)