Care-O-bot 3

ROS Software Maintainer: Fraunhofer IPA

The Care-O-bot is a mobile manipulation platform built by Fraunhofer IPA. The software running on Care-O-bot supports ROS for the driver level as well as for higher level applications. Robots Using ROS: Care-O-bot 3 (Fraunhofer IPA)

You can find information about the distribution and configuration of Care-O-bot 3 at the distribution site.

Installation

Setup your desktop machine

The recommended way for most of the users is to use the stable releases. Unstable should only be used if you need new features which aren't available in the stable releases. Directly downloading and installing the sources from git is only recommended for developers if you want to modify stacks.

Stable Releases (well tested)

• C Turtle

• Diamondback

• Electric

• Fuerte

Unstable Release (new features, mostly tested)

• none

Version Control (brand new features, but not tested)

• From git sources

Setup the robot machines (for robot administrators)

If you want to setup the installation on the robot, please have a look at the Care-O-bot Manual.

Capability Overview

Basic Configuration

Hardware Drivers and Simulation

High-Level Capabilities

Running

Environment variables

By using the stacks you will be prompted to set two environment variables ROBOT and ROBOT_ENV:

• ROBOT, this variable is used to define which configuration of Care-O-bot or rob@work you are going to use (see full list of robots on the distribution site). Currently you can set it to:

  • cob3-1: Care-O-bot with Kuka LBR arm and 2 Schunk PW torso

  • cob3-2: Care-O-bot with Schunk LWA arm and 2 Schunk PW torso

  • cob3-3: Care-O-bot with Kuka LBR arm and 3 Schunk PRL torso

  • cob3-4: Care-O-bot with Kuka LBR arm and 3 Schunk PRL torso

  • cob3-5: Care-O-bot with Schunk LWA arm and 3 Schunk PRL torso

  • cob3-6: Care-O-bot with Schunk LWA arm and 3 Schunk PRL torso

  • desire: Desire robot with two Kuka LBR arms and 1 Schunk PW torso

  • raw3-1: Rob@work 3 with a Universal Robot arm and 1 Schunk PW torso

• ROBOT_ENV, this variable is used to define in which environment you are going to use the robot. Currently you can set it to:

  • ipa-kitchen: Former kitchen environment at Fraunhofer IPA

  • ipa-apartment: Apartment environment at Fraunhofer IPA

  • ipa-factory: Factory environment at Fraunhofer IPA outpost (Industriestrasse)

Using Care-O-bot in simulation

Have a look at the cob_bringup_sim package to bringup Care-O-bot in simulation.

Using a real Care-O-bot

For a first start on Care-O-bot, please have a look at the Care-O-bot Manual and the cob_bringup package to bringup a real Care-O-bot.

Tutorials

Please see the official Care-O-bot tutorials.

Support

Please consult the Care-O-bot Manual or ros answers to see if your problem is already known.

Please use the mailing list for additional support or feature discussion.

Use trac to report bugs or request features. View active tickets

Related Repositories

The care-o-bot software is distributed into different repositories , for the bringup level:

• cob_extern

• cob_common

• schunk_modular_robotics

• cob_driver

• cob_robots

• cob_environments

• cob_simulation

• cob_command_tools

Please find a list of all Care-O-bot related stacks here.