Do you have any plans on incorporation your project within the ROS framework? It might lead to more exposure since the few robots associated with it that are open source are priced at least $6k more than your machine.
About the ROS leading to exposure, I agree. I searched the ROS pages for ROS-enabled robots and if had seen AR2 there and the kit prices I would have bought one right away instead of spending months trying to figure out which arm to try for my first real robotic arm.
I just got my hardware and aluminum parts in today and am waiting on the electronics package. After the build my focus will also be ROS so I will be glad to help out however I can. In my limited experience the URDF and moveit packages are the hardest part, if we have a head start there hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.
I'm also interested in checking out how to integrate the AR2 with ROS. @Chris Annin We're you able to get the URDF to work in Move it? I saw that you still have a Q open on answers.ROS.org from almost a year ago https://answers.ros.org/question/292331/ar2-robot-import-into-ros/.
I did start some ROS development. I have the URDF file completed and the Moveit package complete, I got bogged down when trying to build the controller node as the documention on ROS control is really bad.... I found I was burning way too much time trying to figure it out so I took a break from it and have been working on some updates Ive wanted to do on the AR2 software. Another aspect of ROS im concerned with is that I didnt know how Moveit will export joint position with the joint trajectory action service. I need to be able to convert joint positions to stepper motor steps consistently throughout the move - not sure if it will spit out live joint positions the same way the moveit fake robot controller does or if its only the destination position - if not it could be problematic. Im also concerned ROS doesnt have a great interface for programming various tasks such as wait times, program navigation, loops, position offsets, counters etc. I made the AR2 software so that it more or less emulates an industrial robot teach pendant and im not sure how difficult that would be in ROS. I wish I had more time to work on it but I will get back to it once I get the updates done on the AR2 robot that I want to get done.
About the ROS leading to exposure, I agree. I searched the ROS pages for ROS-enabled robots and if had seen AR2 there and the kit prices I would have bought one right away instead of spending months trying to figure out which arm to try for my first real robotic arm.
I just got my hardware and aluminum parts in today and am waiting on the electronics package. After the build my focus will also be ROS so I will be glad to help out however I can. In my limited experience the URDF and moveit packages are the hardest part, if we have a head start there hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.
I'm also interested in checking out how to integrate the AR2 with ROS. @Chris Annin We're you able to get the URDF to work in Move it? I saw that you still have a Q open on answers.ROS.org from almost a year ago https://answers.ros.org/question/292331/ar2-robot-import-into-ros/.
I did start some ROS development. I have the URDF file completed and the Moveit package complete, I got bogged down when trying to build the controller node as the documention on ROS control is really bad.... I found I was burning way too much time trying to figure it out so I took a break from it and have been working on some updates Ive wanted to do on the AR2 software. Another aspect of ROS im concerned with is that I didnt know how Moveit will export joint position with the joint trajectory action service. I need to be able to convert joint positions to stepper motor steps consistently throughout the move - not sure if it will spit out live joint positions the same way the moveit fake robot controller does or if its only the destination position - if not it could be problematic. Im also concerned ROS doesnt have a great interface for programming various tasks such as wait times, program navigation, loops, position offsets, counters etc. I made the AR2 software so that it more or less emulates an industrial robot teach pendant and im not sure how difficult that would be in ROS. I wish I had more time to work on it but I will get back to it once I get the updates done on the AR2 robot that I want to get done.