Moveit Panda robot

This package contains code for a robot called "Panda" which includes a description/URDFs (see panda_description/). Inside the panda_moveit_config/ exist all code and config files that allow you to spawn a panda robot in Gazebo and be able to plan and execute motions. Inside config/ there are several *.yaml files which act as configurations, and many *.srdf, *.urdf, *.xacro files. These are all related to the same panda robot. The main description file is panda.urdf.xacro.

To run our package, make sure that the Gazebo simulator is running. Then we can run the panda_moveit_config/launch/demo.launch.py, which will do the following:

  • Spawn a panda robot in Gazebo and publish its robot_description.
  • Start RViz with a preset MoveIt config.
  • Start the move_group_node, which handles all planning and executing of motions.
  • Load all controllers for panda so that it can be controlled in Gazebo.

Moveit motion planner using Python API

The folder custom_motion_planning_python_api has scripting files that plan and execute motions for a panda robot. It uses the official MoveIt2 Python API to achieve this. In this package's scripts/ folder exist these Python files. Look at the demo scripts for inspiration. To run any of the scripts, you run the launch file:

  • motion_planning_python_api_planning_scene.py is an original demo from MoveIt2.
  • motion_planning_python_api_tutorial.py is an original demo from MoveIt2.
  • demo_pick_and_place.py is custom made.

The moveit2_py package is not currently available for Humble, but Jazzy supports it. The prerequisites to run a motion planner script are to run these in parallel terminals: gazebo sim & panda_moveit_config/launch/demo.launch.py. When these two are finished initializing, run the motion script with: motion_planning_python_api_tutorial.launch.py