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Overview

This software package provides a driver and a ROS interface for Bota Systems 6 axis force-torque sensors. Since 17/11/2020, the driver supports Rokubi and SenseONE sensors in both configurations with Serial(RS422) and EtherCAT electronics.

Authors(s): Ilias Patsiaouras, Mike Karamousadakis

Installation

Installing from binaries

Run in a terminal:

$ sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-bota-driver

Installing from Source

In order to install the bota_driver package from source, you need to have the following dependencies:

Dependencies

• Robot Operating System (ROS) (middleware for robotics - obviously),

• soem

Note: The soem dependency is released in ROS, so it's a binary dependency for a source installation.

Fetching the code

To build the bota_driver from source, clone the latest version from the source code repository into your catkin workspace:

$ cd catkin_workspace/src
$ git clone https://gitlab.com/botasys/bota_driver.git

Before building, you need to make sure that all the binary dependencies are installed. To do so, run in a terminal:

$ cd catkin_workspace && rosdep update && rosdep install --from-path src --ignore-src -y 

Building

Compile the package using:

1. The catkin_tools package:

$ cd catkin_workspace
$ catkin build bota_driver

2. If you don't have the catkin_tools package, you can still build from source with catkin_make:

$ cd catkin_workspace
$ catkin_make --only-pkg-with-deps bota_driver
# Don't forget to switch back to building all packages when you are done:
# catkin_make -DCATKIN_WHITELIST_PACKAGES=""

3. Finally, you can build from source with catkin_make_isolated. The only difference is that each package will be processed sequentially:

$ cd catkin_workspace
$ catkin_make_isolated --pkg bota_driver

Packages

• rokubimini: The core C++ library to interface one or multiple rokubimini devices. Contains abstract interfaces to start the communication.

• rokubimini_ethercat: The ethercat implementation of rokubimini.

• rokubimini_serial: The serial implementation of rokubimini.

• rokubimini_manager: The manager of multiple rokubiminis, independently of their implementation (ethercat or serial).

• rokubimini_bus_manager: An abstract class for managing a bus.

• rokubimini_factory: The factory that creates each implementation based on the configuration file setup.yaml.

• bota_device_driver: Contains a ROS node that communicates with a manager that handles one or multiple rokubiminis (depends on the config file setup.yaml). This package contains config files config/setup.yaml and config/rokubimini_sensor.yaml to configure the communication and the sensor itself.

• bota_node: ROS node wrapper with some convenience functions using bota_worker.

• bota_worker: High resolution and threaded version of the ROS rate class.

• bota_signal_handler: Contains a static signal handling helper class.

• rokubimini_msgs: Contains the definitions of the ROS messages and services used for communication over ROS.

Nodes

rokubimini

ROS node that establishes communication with the available rokubi mini devices and publishes their captured data in standardized ROS messages.

Published Topics

/rokubimini/<name>/ft_sensor_readings/reading (rokubimini_msgs/Reading)

• The whole reading structure (including Force/torque, IMU and temperature data) measured from the device with name <name>

/rokubimini/<name>/ft_sensor_readings/imu (sensor_msgs/Imu)

• The IMU data measured from the device with name <name>

/rokubimini/<name>/ft_sensor_readings/wrench (geometry_msgs/WrenchStamped)

• The Wrench (3-axis Force + 3-axis Torque) data measured from the device with name <name>

/rokubimini/<name>/ft_sensor_readings/temperature (sensor_msgs/Temperature)

• The temperature measured from the device with name <name>

Parameters

~num_spinners (int, default: 1)

• Number of concurrent spinners to use

~rokubimini_setup_file (string, default: "$(find bota_device_driver)/config/setup.yaml")

• The location of the rokubimini setup file

~sensor_config_name (string, default: "")

• The name of the sensor (used for debugging a single sensor)

~standalone (boolean, default: true)

• Checks if the node runs in standalone mode

~time_step (double, default: 0.01)

• The time step for polling the sensors

Configuration

Configuration Parameters

The following parameters can be set in the setup.yaml:

• name: The name of the rokubimini devices. Needed to handle multiple devices on the master side. Note: The <name> in the published topics is taken from this configuration parameter.

• configuration_file: The relative path to the configuration file of the sensor

• product_code: The product code of each device.

• For the ethercat devices:

  • ethercat_bus: The ethercat bus containing the sensor. Is the ethernet adapter name on which the sensor is connected, as indicated in the ifconfig command output.

  • ethercat_address: The address of the slave. Ethercat addresses are distributed to each slave incrementally. The slave closest to the master has address 1, the second one 2 etc.

• For the serial devices:

  • port: The serial port to connect to communicate with the serial sensor.

  • baud_rate: The baud rate used for serial communication.

The following parameters can be set in rokubimini_sensor.yaml in the bota_device_driver package:

• set_reading_to_nan_on_disconnect: (true|false) Sets the reading to nan when the sensor disconnects

• imu_acceleration_range:

  • 0 = ±2g,
  • 1 = ±4g,
  • 2 = ±8g,
  • 3 = ±16g

• imu_angular_rate_range:

  • 0 = ±250°/s,
  • 1 = ±500°/s,
  • 2 = ±1000°/s,
  • 3 = ±2000°/s

• imu_acceleration_filter: (cut-off Freq)

  • 1 = 460Hz,
  • 2 = 184Hz,
  • 3 = 92Hz,
  • 4 = 41Hz,
  • 5 = 21Hz,
  • 6 = 10Hz,
  • 7 = 5Hz

• imu_angular_rate_filter: (cut-off Freq)

  • 3 = 184Hz,
  • 4 = 92Hz,
  • 5 = 41Hz,
  • 6 = 21Hz,
  • 7 = 10Hz,
  • 8 = 5Hz

• sinc_filter_size: (cut-off Freq high/low@sampling Freq)

  • 51 = 1674/252Hz@1000Hz,
  • 64 = 1255/189Hz@800Hz,
  • 128 = 628/94.5hz@400Hz,
  • 205 = 393/59.5Hz@250Hz,
  • 256 = 314/47.5Hz@200Hz,
  • 512 = 157/23.5@100Hz

• fir_disable:

  • false = low cut-off frequency,
  • true = high cut-off frequency from the above result
    • e.g. for sinc filter_size: 48 and fir_disable: 1 you get cut-off freq 1674Hz@1000Hz sample rate

• chop_enable: should be always false

• fast_enable: (only applies if fir_disable is false) True = will result in low cut-off frequency but would be still able to catch step impulses of high cut-off frequency

• calibration_matrix_active: Use the calibration matrix to compute sensor output

• temperature_compensation_active: Compensate drift due to temperature !not supported yet!

• imu_active: Chooses which IMU type is active:

  • 0 = no imu active,
  • 1 = internal IMU active,
  • 2 = external IMU active (if available),
  • 3 = both IMUs active

• coordinate_system_active: Set a user-defined coordinate system

• inertia_compensation_active: Enables compensation due to inertia effect

• orientation_estimation_active: Enables orientation estimation and outputs a quaternion

Configuration File Examples

1. setup.yaml example

rokubiminis:
  - name:                     ft_sensor0
    configuration_file:       rokubimini_sensor.yaml
    product_code:             1
    port:                     /dev/ttyUSB0
    baud_rate:                460800
  - name:                     ft_sensor1
    configuration_file:       rokubimini_sensor.yaml
    product_code:             2
    ethercat_bus:             eth0
    ethercat_address:         1

2. rokubimini_sensor.yaml example

set_reading_to_nan_on_disconnect:  false

imu_acceleration_range: 3
imu_angular_rate_range: 3

imu_acceleration_filter: 1
imu_angular_rate_filter: 3

force_torque_filter:
  sinc_filter_size: 512
  chop_enable:      false
  fir_disable:      true
  fast_enable:      false

force_torque_offset:
  Fx: 0.0
  Fy: 0.0
  Fz: 0.0
  Tx: 0.0
  Ty: 0.0
  Tz: 0.0

sensor_configuration:        
  calibration_matrix_active:            true
  temperature_compensation_active:      false
  imu_active:                           1   #0=no IMU, 1=internal, 2=external, 3=both
  coordinate_system_active:             false
  inertia_compensation_active:          0
  orientation_estimation_active:        0
use_custom_calibration:                 false
sensor_calibration:
  calibration_matrix:
    1_1:  -0.0120389
    1_2:  0.0206676
    1_3:  0.0011164
    1_4:  0.0010681
    1_5:  0.0006295
    1_6:  0.0002029
    2_1:  -0.0109678
    2_2:  -0.0207696
    2_3:  -0.0004745
    2_4:  -0.0010578
    2_5:  0.0005841
    2_6:  0.0001810
    3_1:  0.0217535
    3_2:  -0.0005980
    3_3:  -0.0002701
    3_4:  -0.0000395
    3_5:  -0.0011409
    3_6:  0.0001944
    4_1:  0.0155252
    4_2:  0.0100866
    4_3:  -0.0148265
    4_4:  0.0003659
    4_5:  -0.0005838
    4_6:  0.0000055
    5_1:  -0.0169726
    5_2:  0.0114251
    5_3:  -0.0146247
    5_4:  0.0004339
    5_5:  0.0006094
    5_6:  0.0000011
    6_1:  -0.0001013
    6_2:  -0.0197085
    6_3:  -0.0146952
    6_4:  -0.0007251
    6_5:  -0.0000145
    6_6:  -0.0000077

Launch File Examples

Default parameters

Note: You need to have root privileges to the network card, if you want to have access to the EtherCAT devices. For example, this can be done with escalated privileges (e.g. su root):

$ su root
# source /path/to/catkin_workspace/devel/setup.bash
# roslaunch bota_device_driver rokubimini.launch

Note: In the above example it is assumed that the root user has a bash terminal. If this isn't the case change it accordingly.

Note: If no EtherCAT device is present, the above command could work without root privileges provided that the user is in the dialout group. This can be done with:

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout username

Please log off and log in again for the changes to take effect!

Custom parameters

1. Example with custom time_step:

$ roslaunch bota_device_driver rokubimini.launch time_step:=0.1

2. Example with custom rokubimini_setup_file:

$ roslaunch bota_device_driver rokubimini.launch rokubimini_setup_file:=$(pwd)/myawesomesetup.yaml

Unit Tests

No unit tests so far.

Support

For any queries or problems found with the software provided, please contact us at sw-support@botasys.com