ArbotiX Getting Started Guide

InterbotiX Kits are designed to work with the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller, an Arduino compatible microcontroller designed to work with DYNAMIXEL servos. This guide will show you how to setup and program the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller.

DYNAManager Software Guide

Every DYNAMIXEL servo comes set to a default ID of '1'. However, for your robot to work, you will need to set the servos to the correct ID numbers. This guide will help you use the DYNAmanager software and the ArbotiX-M robocontroller to set the IDs for each servo.

Each servo must be IDed one-at-a-time, so it is easiest to set the servo IDs before you assemble your robot. If you have multiple servos with the same ID connected to each other, you will not be able to ID the servos.

Assembly Guide

This guide will show you how to build and wire your robot. This guide includes a list of parts that come with your kit and tips for building your robot. You will also need to assemble your SR300 Camera Mount using the instructions in this guide.

Build Check / Test Program

This guide will show you how to load a test program onto your robot as well as a video showing how your robot should move when the program is loaded. This test program and video will ensure that you have assembled your robot correctly.

Once you have made sure that your robot arm is assembled correctly, You will need to load the ROS sketch included in the ArbotiX Sketches folder of your ArbotiX Libraries. You should absolutely have that at this point or you've skipped virtually all of the instructions to this point and ignored crucial testing. If you've done that, the ArbotiX library is available here.

Now that you have the ROS sketch loaded to your ArbotiX board, plug the ArbotiX Board and the USB hub attached to your SR300 Camera each into one of the USB3.1 ports on the left side of your laptop. Boot it up, and open a terminal window, you're ready to start using your WidowX arm!

ROS control of the arm independent of the SR300 Sensor

Open up a terminal window and enter the following commands:

cd ~/widowx_arm

source devel/setup.bash

roslaunch widowx_arm_bringup arm_moveit.launch sim:=false sr300:=false

This will load RVIZ with the proper WidowX arm bringup. You can move the arm using the visual representation on screen, and hitting "Plan and Execute" under the Planning Tab. There are also several presets you can choose from. Once you're done, you can close the program by returning to your terminal window and pressing CTRL + C.

ROS control of the arm with the SR300 Sensor

Open up a terminal window and enter the following commands:

cd ~/widowx_arm

source devel/setup.bash

roslaunch widowx_arm_bringup arm_moveit.launch sim:=false sr300:=true

This will load RVIZ with the proper WidowX arm bringup, as well as load in the drivers for the SR300. You should see a 3D point map representation of your workspace on the right. You can still move the arm using the visual representation on screen, and hitting "Plan and Execute" under the Planning Tab. We need to move the arm so that we can adjust the camera angle and position.

Arranging your SR300:

• Select the pulled_back_pose from the goal state. Press Update, then press Plan and Execute. Your arm should move back to a pulled back state, allowing the camera to see the base of the WidowX.
• Change your view to a side view of the arm and camera representation. Move the SR300's angle so that the representation of the workspace is level to the base of the WidowX on-screen.
• Change your view to an overhead view of the workspace. Move the Camera Stand so that the outline of the base of the WidowX matches to the cutout of the WidowX base on the SR300.

Open a second Terminal window. This will be a control window, so keep it visible when possible:

cd ~/widowx_arm

source devel/setup.bash

roslaunch widowx_block_manipulation block_sorting_demo.launch

This Demo will allow us to do some new things that utilize the SR300's object detection abilities! Place blocks of different colors in the workspace (default are red and green), and in the terminal, type d and hit Enter. Where the blocks were, there should be gray cubes shown on screen. At this point, you can either automatically sort all blocks detected by typing m in the terminal and hitting Enter OR you can use the 3D representation of the object in RVIZ to pick and place the block wherever you like on the x and y axis.

• WidowX on GitHub
• Setup instructions for WidowX ROS Installation (not necessary if you bought the ROS kit)