Using `iCub` and `ergoCub` with ROS 2

Note

We illustrate in this documentation how to control iCub and ergoCub physical robots using ROS 2 (simulation models are not covered).

Info

As the last supported ROS 1 distribution (ROS Noetic Ninjemys) is reaching its End of Life (EOL) on May 2025, with the distro release v2024.11.1 ROS 1 support was deprecated.

Overwiew

All the YARP Network Wrapper Server (NWS) and Network Wrapper Client (NWC) devices that use ROS 2 can be found under yarp-devices-ros2 repository.

yarp-devices-ros2 contains the devices and utilities for YARP-ROS 2 compatibility. The devices are in the form of NWS/NWC that read/write information from/to ROS 2 topics and make them available via the YARP API. Starting from the distro v2024.11.1, the devices can be built with robotology-superbuild by enabling the ROBOTOLOGY_USES_ROS2 CMake option.

Publishing `iCub/ergoCub`'s joints state: the `controlBoard_nws_ros2` module

Modules description

controlBoard_nws_ros2 is the controlBoard network wrapper server for ROS 2. As per the controlBoard_nws_yarp, this device publishes the joint position information on ROS 2 topics instead of YARP ports. The device uses the yarpDeviceParamParserGenerator with its list of required parameters.

Using `controlBoard_nws_ros2`

The NWS/NWC for YARP and ROS 2 are organized into separate wrappers. In this way, it is possible to attach multiple wrappers to the same device (controlBoard_nws_yarp for YARP, controlBoard_nws_ros2 for ROS 2) and include them to the same configuration file used to launch the yarprobotinterface.

ergoCub

All ergoCub robots have the configuration files to enable this module under robots-configuration repository. To activate them, run the yarprobotinterface with the following option:

yarprobotinterface --enable_tags "(enable_ros2)"

iCub

For iCub robots, instead, the module can be activated using an xml file, for example this alljoints-mc_nws_ros2.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE devices PUBLIC "-//YARP//DTD yarprobotinterface 3.0//EN" "http://www.yarp.it/DTD/yarprobotinterfaceV3.0.dtd">

<device xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" name="alljoints-mc_nws_ros2" type="controlBoard_nws_ros2">
    <param name="node_name"> icub_cb_node </param>
    <param name="topic_name"> /joint_states </param>
    <action phase="startup" level="15" type="attach">
        <param name="device"> alljoints-mc_remapper </param>
    </action>
    <action phase="shutdown" level="20" type="detach" />
</device>

Warning

Not all iCub configuration files have been modified to support ROS 2. If you didn't find those files within your robot name folder under robots-configuration, please don't hesitate to file an issue.

With this kind of file, the positions of all the joints specified in the alljoints-mc_remapper are published on the /joint_states ROS 2 topic.

In particular, this file is meant to be used as part of the same yarprobotinterface with which you launch the robot. To include it among the launched devices, you have to modify the icub_all.xml (or any file that is launched with your yarprobotinterface) to include the line:

<xi:include href="wrappers/motorControl/alljoints-mc_nws_ros2.xml" />

xcub-moveit2

xcub-moveit2 contains ROS 2 packages to control a YARP-based robot (iCub/ergoCub) with MoveIt2 platform. Check it out for more details.

Using iCub and ergoCub with ROS 2