GUI and Hardware Implementation

[harsh2507]

Hi, I was exploring the package, but I noticed that it doesn’t seem to provide any GUI. Could you please clarify how we are supposed to visualize or interact with it?

Also, is this package intended mainly for hardware usage? Does it support simulation as well, or only real hardware integration?

I am currently trying to connect a Reach Alpha manipulator with my vehicle using ROS2, and I would really appreciate any guidance on the steps involved. Specifically, it would be helpful to know:

• Which plugins or packages should be used for hardware interfacing.
• How to properly integrate the manipulator with the vehicle.
• Any recommended workflow or examples for this setup.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[evan-palmer]

Hi Harsh,

The controllers can be used in simulation or on hardware. In fact, I used this package both in Gazebo and on hardware just last week! You can find some simulation examples here. There is no GUI for the controllers - if you would like to dynamically change the controller gains or monitor the status of your launched controllers, the ROS 2 interface can be used.

To answer your questions regarding the Alpha,

Which plugins or packages should be used for hardware interfacing.

I maintain a driver and ros2_control hardware interface that can be found here

How to properly integrate the manipulator with the vehicle

The simulation examples linked above provide some references demonstrating how to integrate the Alpha into the system for whole-body control.

Any recommended workflow or examples for this setup.

Are you trying to use the BlueROV (or similar)? I use thruster_hardware to interface the launched controllers with the BlueROV on hardware. The linked example above demonstrates the simulation pipeline.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions.