UniversalRobots
UR driver newest version for ROS 2 Humble does not register changes in the urdf file of the robot
Affected ROS2 Driver version(s)
humble
Used ROS distribution.
Humble
Which combination of platform is the ROS driver running on.
Ubuntu Linux with standard kernel
How is the UR ROS2 Driver installed.
Build both the ROS driver and UR Client Library from source
Which robot platform is the driver connected to.
UR E-series robot
Robot SW / URSim version(s)
5.12
How is the ROS driver used.
Through the robot teach pendant using External Control URCap
Issue details
Summary
ROS 2 Humble newest package does not register changes in the urdf file of the robot.
Issue details
In the previous versions of the UR driver for ROS 2 Humble it was possible to edit the urdf file of the robot by manually editing the related xacro file from the share folder of the ur_description package. I have recently installed the newest version of the driver for ROS 2 Humble and apparently this feature does not seem to be available anymore. I tried the same procedure, this time from the opt/ros/humble folder but the r package do not seem to register the change. So, I wonder if the packages actually still refer to the xacro files of the ur_description package. Or am I doing something wrong?
Relevant log output
No response
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Hi @francescosemeraro,
if you want to change the urdf you shouldn't modify it in the share folder. The correct way to do it is to create your own description package where you have a dedicated urdf.xacro file which includes ur_macro.xacro from ur_description, like this:
<xacro:include filename="$(find ur_description)/urdf/ur_macro.xacro" />.
After that, you can add more elements to the urdf (e.g. a gripper) and set the parameters you prefer. An example to do so:
<xacro:ur_robot name="ur5e"
tf_prefix="${prefix}"
parent="<parent_frame>"
robot_ip="${robot_ip}"
headless_mode="true"
initial_positions="${dict(shoulder_pan_joint=-1.5707,shoulder_lift_joint=0.0,elbow_joint=-1.5707,wrist_1_joint=0,wrist_2_joint=0,wrist_3_joint=0)}"
joint_limits_parameters_file="$(find ur_description)/config/ur5e/joint_limits.yaml"
kinematics_parameters_file="<path_to_calibration_file>"
physical_parameters_file="$(find ur_description)/config/ur5e/physical_parameters.yaml"
visual_parameters_file="$(find ur_description)/config/ur5e/visual_parameters.yaml"
script_filename="$(find ur_client_library)/resources/external_control.urscript"
input_recipe_filename="$(find ur_robot_driver)/resources/rtde_input_recipe.txt"
output_recipe_filename="$(find ur_robot_driver)/resources/rtde_output_recipe.txt"
use_fake_hardware="${use_fake_hardware}"
<origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 0 ${pi}" />
</xacro:ur_robot>
You can also check a more complete example here.
Then it will also be necessary to specify this description package and urdf when launching, by using the parameters description_package and description_file, like:
ros2 launch ur_robot_driver ur_control.launch.py ur_type:=<UR_TYPE> robot_ip:=<IP_OF_THE_ROBOT> description_package:=<NEW_PACKAGE_PATH> description_file:=<NEW_DESCRIPTION_FILE>
or just creating a new personal launch file where the new description package and file are set as default options.
