sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim

Tip

Repository for this module: https://github.com/MarinhoLab/sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim
More information about SmartArmStack is available in https://smartarmstack.github.io/.

Note

sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim_node is being replaced by the ROS2 Python scripts described below. zmq interface for CoppeliaSim currently cannot handle multiple operations at a high frequency.

ROS 2 Nodes & Parameters

Node: sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim_node

Property	Value
Executable	sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim_node
ROS node name	myrobot_1 (set by the name launch argument of robot_launch.py)
Description	Robot driver node for CoppeliaSim. Reads all parameters, instantiates RobotDriverCoppeliaSim (ZMQ interface to the simulated robot) and RobotDriverROS (runs the control loop).

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Mandatory / Optional	Default	Purpose
joint_limits_min	array of doubles (degrees)	Mandatory	none — must be provided	Minimum joint limits; converted from deg → rad internally
joint_limits_max	array of doubles (degrees)	Mandatory	none — must be provided	Maximum joint limits; converted from deg → rad internally
robot_joint_names	array of strings	Mandatory	none — must be provided	Names of the robot joints to control
thread_sampling_time_sec	double	Mandatory	none — must be provided	Sampling period of the robot control-loop thread (e.g. 0.002 s = 500 Hz)
ip	string	Optional	127.0.0.1	CoppeliaSim (ZMQ) IP address
port	int	Optional	23000	CoppeliaSim (ZMQ) port number
timeout	int	Optional	1000	ZMQ connection timeout, in milliseconds

How mandatory/optional is determined in code:

• Mandatory params are read with sas::get_ros_parameter(...) — if missing, the node throws and fails to start.
• Optional params are read with sas::get_ros_optional_parameter(..., <default>) — they carry in-code defaults.

Sample launch

launch/robot_launch.py starts the node with the parameters from config/config.yaml:

ros2 launch sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim robot_launch.py

To use a different node name or configuration file:

ros2 launch sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim robot_launch.py name:=myrobot_2 config_file:=/path/to/config.yaml

ROS2 Python Scripts In CoppeliaSim

Caution

This image only works in amd64 environments owing to CoppeliaSim limitations. It does not work in arm64 even with qemu.

sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim_script.mp4

Run the following.

mkdir -p ~/sas_tutorial_workspace/docker/sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim
cd ~/sas_tutorial_workspace/docker/sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim/
curl -OL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MarinhoLab/sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim/refs/heads/jazzy/docker_sample/run_docker_sample.sh
chmod +x run_docker_sample.sh
./run_docker_sample.sh

Notes

• Remember to edit COPPELIA_SIM_SCENE_FILE in the compose file to be the correct scene file in the same directory.
• Each robot is being controlled with the script scripts/joint_interface_example.py.

Adding capabilities to your own scenes

Use the following convenience scripts for the most common functionalities.

Important

Add the scripts via the top menu with Add ▶️ Script ▶️ simulation script ▶️ Non threaded ▶️ Python.

.devcontainer/sas_object_script.py	Add as immediate child to the root of an object in the scene, for instance, to get and send poses.
.devcontainer/sas_robot_script.py	Add as immediate child to the root of a serial-link robot to create a sas::RobotDriverServer for it.

Unusual use cases can be covered by the classes in the Python module sas_robot_driver_coppeliasim.