mc_panda

Video presentation

A video demonstrating panda motion generation and simultaneous pump actuation employing this implementation is available here:

Robots

This package provides the following robot modules for mc_rtc:

Robot Module	Description
Panda_FR1_Default	FR1 robot without an end-effector
Panda_FR1_Hand	FR1 robot with the standard panda gripper
Panda_FR1_Pump	FR1 robot with the standard panda pump
Panda_FR1_Foot	FR1 robot with a static foot-like end-effector
Panda_FR1_Mukca	FR1 robot with Mukca tool
Panda_FR1_PandaToPandaCalib	FR1 robot with PandaToPandaCalib tool
Panda_FR3_Default	FR3 robot without an end-effector
Panda_FR3_Hand	FR3 robot with the standard panda gripper
Panda_FR3_Pump	FR3 robot with the standard panda pump
Panda_FR3_Foot	FR3 robot with a static foot-like end-effector
Panda_FR3_Mukca	FR3 robot with Mukca tool
Panda_FR3_PandaToPandaCalib	FR3 robot with PandaToPandaCalib tool

Naming Convention Update (between v1.1.1 and v2.0.0)

Robot modules now follow the naming convention:

Panda_<Robot>_<Tool>

where <Robot> is one of FR1, FR3 and <Tool> is one of Default, Hand, Pump, Foot, Mukca, PandaToPandaCalib.

Migration Guide

Old Name	New Name
PandaDefault	Panda_FR3_Default
PandaHand	Panda_FR3_Hand
PandaPump	Panda_FR3_Pump
PandaFoot	Panda_FR3_Foot

If you previously used e.g. PandaDefault, update your configuration to use Panda_FR3_Default. For FR1 robots, use the corresponding Panda_FR1_* variant.

Tools

Here are all the tools defined in the project:

| Tool                | Description                        |
|---------------------|------------------------------------|
| `Panda_Tool_Hand`              | Standard panda gripper             |
| `Panda_Tool_Pump`              | Standard panda pump                |
| `Panda_Tool_Foot`              | Static foot-like end-effector      |
| `Panda_Tool_Mukca`             | Mukca tool                         |
| `Panda_Tool_PandaToPandaCalib` | Panda-to-Panda calibration tool    |

Devices

It also contains the following devices:

• mc_panda::Robot is an asynchronous interface for franka::Robot commands and franka::RobotState which are connected to the actual robot when mc_franka is running the controller;
• mc_panda::Pump is an asynchronous interface for franka::VacuumGripper which is connected to the pump when mc_franka is running the controller. It is only available in the PandaPump variant.

FSM States

And it provides some panda-specific FSM states:

• PandaStop: immediately stop panda motion execution
• PandaWaitForCollision: monitor panda contact sensor until certain threshold are reached
• PumpDropOff: sends a dropOff command to the panda's pump and wait for the command completion
• PumpStop: interrupt the pump operation
• PumpVacuum: sends a vacuum command to the panda's pump and wait for the command completion

See state examples for details on the available parameters for each state.

Dependencies

This package requires:

• mc_rtc
• libfranka

If mc_openrtm is installed this will also install compatible Choreonoid projects for the FR1 panda robot.

Models:

• FR1 model was generated from an (unknown) older franka_description version
• FR3 model was generated from franka_description v2.1.0
• Pump model was downloaded from Schmalz

Use with Nix

You can build and develop this package using Nix flakes:

1. Enter the development shell:

   nix develop
   

   This will provide a shell with all dependencies (including mc-rtc, libfranka, the current local version of mc-panda repository etc.) and build tools.

2. Build the project (optional):

   cmake -B build
   cmake --build build
   

   Note that using the version built manually in this step will require a custom mc_rtc.yaml configuration (documentation coming soon)

3. Run the GUI or list available robots:

   mc-rtc-magnum &
   mc_robot_visualization
   

   This displays the robot built from the latest local sources of the repository available when nix develop was last executed.

4. List all available robot variants:

   mc_robot_visualization
   

Reference

Writing code takes time. If this implementation is useful for your research, please cite the related publication:

@INPROCEEDINGS{Dehio2021ICRA,
  title={Robot-Safe Impacts with Soft Contacts Based on Learned Deformations},
  author={Dehio, Niels and Kheddar, Abderrahmane},
  booktitle={IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation},
  pages={1357-1363},
  year={2021},
  pdf = {https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02973947/document},
  url = {https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02973947}
}

This work was partially supported by the Research Project I.AM. through the European Union H2020 program under GA 871899.