Main Content

Getting Started with ROS Connectivity

Products Required

  • Robotics System Toolbox™

  • ROS Toolbox

The robot can be connected to the MATLAB® using different methods depending on the communication interface provided by the robot manufacturer. For the Kinova® Gen3 robot arm, Kinova provides a MATLAB MEX API and ROS API that uses the Ethernet port or Wi-Fi® to communicate with the robot. For more information on MATLAB MEX API, see Download MATLAB MEX APIs for Kinova Gen 3. To configure the host computer for ROS API, see Install ROS Packages and Dependencies for ROS or Install ROS Packages and Dependencies for ROS on External Computer.

This example uses ROS API provided by KINOVA Robotics to connect the Gen3 robot to ROS network and to perform various common operations using ROS and MATLAB. For more information on the 'ros_kortex' ROS packages, see GitHub page of KINOVA Robotics.

Ensure that the robot hardware is setup completely and connected to the host computer before proceeding further. For more information, see Verify Connection to Kinova Gen 3 Robot.

The topic is divided into 6 parts:

  1. Connect to the Kinova Gen3 Robot and Initiate Required ROS Nodes to Control the Robot

  2. Connect to ROS Network

  3. Read Joint Angles

  4. Manipulate Individual Joint Angle Using MATLAB

  5. Control Cartesian Pose Using MATLAB

  6. Send Precomputed Trajectory to the Robot