Revision history [back]

Feedback given in the comments section of another answer states the following requirements:

• Task-space commands updated at 1KHz.
• Collision checking.
• Some form of filtering (maybe enforcing joint limits? ie. position and some of its derivatives?).
• No motion planning.

If the 1KHz update rate is a hard requirement, it will limit dramatically the list of possible solutions. I this case, you'll necessarily need to implement a realtime controller in some form or another. Existing tools for doing this are Orocos and ros_control, but no out-of-the-box solution exists yet. We have two interns working on precisely this problem, and their work will eventually be made public, but I wouldn't expect working deliverables to be available before the end of the year.

The approach we're following is:

• Use the Stack of Tasks for multi-task prioritized IK. Tasks can be defined as equality and inequality linear constraints in the velocity domain. Inequality constraints are important, as they provide the framework for enforcing constraints like joint limits, collision avoidance and visibility.

• Wrap the Stack of Tasks inside a ros_control controller. We run ros_control inside an Orocos component when working with real hardware.

• Implement a (local) collision avoidance task leveraging simple collision models (eg. capsule decomposition) and fast collision checkers implementing minimum distance computation like FCL.

The first two points are working well in simulation. We're in the process of testing in hardware with a RTOS, and are also starting with the collision avoidance task, which should take some time to complete. Let me know if you'd like to be an early tester, or stay updated on progress.

Feedback given in the comments section of another answer states the following requirements:

• Task-space commands updated at 1KHz.
• Collision checking.
• Some form of filtering (maybe enforcing joint limits? ie. position and some of its derivatives?).
• No motion planning.

If the 1KHz update rate is a hard requirement, it will limit dramatically the list of possible solutions. I this case, you'll necessarily need to implement a realtime controller in some form or another. Existing tools for doing this are Orocos and ros_control, but no out-of-the-box solution exists yet. We have two interns working on precisely this problem, and their work will eventually be made public, but I wouldn't expect working deliverables to be available before the end of the year.

The approach we're following is:

• Use the Stack of Tasks for multi-task prioritized IK. Tasks can be defined as equality and inequality linear constraints in the velocity domain. Inequality constraints are important, as they provide the framework for enforcing constraints like joint limits, collision avoidance and visibility.

• Wrap the Stack of Tasks inside a ros_control controller. We run ros_control inside an Orocos component when working with real hardware.

• Implement a (local) collision avoidance task leveraging simple collision models (eg. capsule decomposition) and fast collision checkers implementing minimum distance computation like FCL.

The first two points are working well in simulation. We're in the process of testing in hardware with a RTOS, and are also starting with the collision avoidance task, which should take some time to complete. Let me know if you'd like to be an early tester, or stay updated on progress.