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Install ROS Packages and Dependencies for ROS

Note

This section explains the steps to install ROS packages and dependencies if MATLAB® and ROS are installed on the same computer, which is connected to Kinova® Gen3 robot. If the ROS and MATLAB are installed on different computers, see Install ROS Packages and Dependencies for ROS on External Computer.

Kinova Robotics provides set of external ROS packages to communicate and control Gen3 robot. More information on the individual packages can be found on this GitHub Page. Execute the following steps sequentially to clone required packages and install required dependencies.

  1. Install python3 and python3-pip by executing the following command in the Linux® terminal. 

    sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

  2. Install conan using pip and setup a default profile.

    sudo python3 -m pip install conan==1.59 
conan config set general.revisions_enabled=1
conan profile new default --detect > /dev/null
conan profile update settings.compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11 default

  3. Create a new workspace with src folder.

    mkdir -p kinova_ws/src
cd kinova_ws

  4. Download the ros_kortex ROS packages (version 2.2.1) from GitHub archive of Kinova Robotics.

  5. Extract the contents of the ZIP file to the src folder. The src folder should contain ros_kortex-2.2.1 folder.

  6. Install dependencies from the custom ROS packages by executing the following command in the Linux terminal.

    rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -y

  7. Build the workspace using catkin tool. This will take a few minutes to complete.

    catkin_make

  8. Once the build is successful, continue with the hardware setup screens if you are not planning to use the vision module. If you are planning to use the vision module, execute the setup instructions mentioned in the following section.

Install Dependencies for Vision Module of Kinova Gen3 Robot

Kinova Robotics provides set of external ROS packages to acquire various image data from the vision module of Gen3 robot. For more information on the ROS packages, refer to this GitHub Page. Execute the following steps sequentially to clone required packages and install required dependencies.

  1. Install GStreamer and associated packages by executing the following command in the Linux terminal. 

    sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-tools gstreamer1.0-libav libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-good1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-base

  2. Install rgbd launch ROS package

    sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-rgbd-launch

  3. Navigate to the src folder that has been created in the Step 3 of the earlier setup process. Clone the required ROS packages in the src folder. 

    git clone https://github.com/Kinovarobotics/ros_kortex_vision.git

  4. Build the workspace using catkin tool. This will take a few minutes to complete. 

    catkin_make
catkin_make install