Gilbreth

Robotic product handling simulation

Lillian Moller Gilbreth was an American psychologist and industrial engineer.

Getting Started

The project is based on Ubuntu 16.04, ROS Kinect, gazebo 7.0, wstool and catkin tools. Links to the instructions for installing ROS, Gazebo, etc. are provided below

• Install ROS
• Install gazebo 7.0
• Install wstool
• Install catkin-tools

Installation

• Source the ROS environment script

   source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
  

• Create a "gilbreth_ws" catkin workspace

   mkdir -p ~/gilbreth_ws/src
   cd ~/gilbreth_ws/
   catkin init
  

• Fetch the gilbreth source code:

   cd ~/gilbreth_ws/src
   wstool init .
   wstool merge https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swri-robotics/gilbreth/kinetic-devel/gilbreth.rosinstall
   wstool update
   rosdep install --from-paths . --ignore-src -y
  

• Build the workspace

   cd ~/gilbreth_ws
   catkin build
  

Visualize The Simulation Enviroment

Setup

• Source the catkin workspace

   cd ~/gilbreth_ws
   source devel/setup.bash
  

View the URDF

   roslaunch urdf_tutorial display.launch model:=$(rospack find gilbreth_support)/urdf/gilbreth.xacro

It may be necessary to select "world" in the "Fixed Frame" drop down in the rviz window.

Run the Gazebo simulation environment

1. Launch the gazebo simulation environment:

   roscd gilbreth_gazebo
   roslaunch gilbreth_gazebo gilbreth_environment.launch rviz:=false
   

   • Use "rviz:=true" to show rviz

2. Activate the gripper:

   rosservice call /gilbreth/gripper/control "enable: true"
   

   Use "false" in order to turn off the gripper

3. Activate the conveyor:

   rosservice call /gilbreth/conveyor/control "state: power: 100.0"
   

   The "power" can range from 0.0 to 100.0. Use 0.0 to stop the conveyor

4. Start the part spawner:

   rosservice call /start_spawn "{}"
   

   This command will make parts appear on the conveyor at random intervals. The frequency, types of parts and other properties can be configured in this yaml file

5. Stop the part spawner

   rosservice call /stop_spawn "{}"
   
   

Run the Main Application

• See here