#UR_driver_setup.md

#UR_driver_setup.md

Overview

• This file provides instructions for setting up the Robot Operating System 2 (ROS2) Universal Robots' (UR) driver in conjunction with a UR simulator using containers running on a Windows host machine.

Requirements

• Install Docker Desktop
• Install Chocolatey then install VcXsrv
• Google Chrome (for NoVNC client purposes)

Setup

NOTE: The resolution for all image resources in this file can be enhanced by clicking on them.

1. Create a docker network by opening a console and using the following command:

   docker network create --subnet=192.168.56.0/24 ursim_net

2. Create container1 using the official UR simulator image by opening a console and using the following command:

   docker run -it -e ROBOT_MODEL=UR3e --net ursim_net --ip 192.168.56.101 -p 30002:30002 -p 30004:30004 -p 6080:6080 --name ur3e_container universalrobots/ursim_e-series

3. Open Google Chrome, visit http://localhost:6080/vnc_auto.html then perform the following actions to turn the cobot on.

   

4. Create a Windows X server using VcXsrv's XLaunch with the following actions:

   

5. Identify your virtual ethernet adapter by opening a console on your Windows host machine and using the following command:

   ipconfig

   

   • It'll typically look something like this.

6. Create container2 using the community contributed ROS2 Humble Desktop image by opening a console and using the following command:

   docker run -it --name ros2_container --net ursim_net osrf/ros:humble-desktop

7. Inside container2, execute the following commands to install the ROS2 UR driver and set necessary environment variables.

   apt-get update
   apt-get install sudo
   sudo apt-get install ros-humble-ur-robot-driver
   export DISPLAY=<YOUR_IP_ADDRESS_GOES_HERE>:2.0
   ros2 launch ur_robot_driver ur_control.launch.py ur_type:=ur3e robot_ip:=192.168.56.101 launch_rviz:=true

   • Use the IP address from step5 in the export command.

8. If everything was done successfully you should be able to observe the demo on your machine.

   Demo

   

   • A simple movej command was executed in PolyScope and the related data was sent to container2.

Summary

• We used Docker to create a network with two containers; one running the UR simulator and the other running Ubuntu with ROS2 installed.
• The Ubuntu container instantiates the ROS2 UR driver then makes a connection with the UR simulator.
• The UR simulator sends messages containing cobot data to the Ubuntu container.
• The driver running on the container receives the messages then converts them into a format that can be used internally by ROS2.
• The converted messages are used to model the cobot inside ROS2's RViz.

Final Observations

• According to collaborators in the UR driver repo the UR driver does not support Windows. This setup is intended to be used as an alternative work around for Windows users.
• Docker containers are not designed for dealing with heavy graphical payloads; for this reason, rViz will likely have a noticeable delay running in the container. The more important aspect is that we can observe that the two systems are communicating properly.

Hi Shawn!

Thanks for this write-up. It helped me tremendously. However, I encountered another problem after this.

After this, even when the robot model shows up in the rviz, I cannot play the remote control program on the VNC panel.

If it's on a real robot, I know how to set up the network to make this disappear, but on URSim, I am kinda clueless.