Robot model: UR5e
ROS melodic
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic
I have a Python script that generate velocity array (e.g., desired_vel = [0.0, 3.5, 4.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0]) for all six joints of the robot arm with a frequency of 50Hz. I have been using gazebo simulation to test my script by publishing the desired_vel to the topic “/joint_group_vel_controller/command”. Everything works fine and the UR5e robot arm moves according to the desired_vel as desired.
After that, I want to test my script with a real hardware now, UR5e, instead of using a virtual UR5e in gazebo simulation. I roslaunch the ur_robot_driver with ur5e_bringup.launch as ur_robot_driver also have the same topic “/joint_group_vel_controller/command”.
But this time, the real robot won’t move even after publishing to the topic using the same script. Does anybody know why? Thank you.
rostopic list when running gazebo urdf description
rostopic list when running ur_robot_driver
Obvious question: Did you activate the joint_group_vel_controller?
Also: In order to move the real robot you’ll first need to make sure that the robot is listening to external commands, either by running a program with the external_control node or by running the driver in headless mode.