launch_pal

Utilities for simplifying some common ROS2 launch operations.

get_pal_configuration

Implementation of the PAL’s PAPS-007 standard for configuration management.

Retrieves all the parameters, remappings and arguments for a given node by looking for ament_index-registered YAML configurations file. It properly handle overloading of parameters, enabling for instance to have a default configuration and a specific configuration for a given robot family or robot unit.

User overrides

Users can provide local overrides via configuration files in $HOME/.pal/config.

For instance, creating a file ~/.pal/config/default_volume.yml with the content:

/volume:
  ros__parameters:
    default_volume: 75

would override the ROS parameter default_volume for the node /volume.

This is useful for eg persist user configuration across robot reboots.

The default location of user configuration is $HOME/.pal/config. It can by changed by setting the environment variable $PAL_USER_PARAMETERS_PATH.

Variables

Configuration files can cointain variables in the form ${VAR}.

/costmap:
  ros__parameters:
    robot_radius: ${robot_radius}

These variables are resolved by using the robot_info_publisher.

/robot_info_publisher:
  ros__parameters:
    robot_radius: 0.275

By default, variables values are stored in /etc/robot_info/conf.d and can be overriden by the user in $HOME/.pal/robot_info/conf.d.

Templates

Templates define configuration presets of a Node. They define a set of parameters, remappings and arguments that define a way to achieve a certain functionality of a node. Templates are independent from the node they are used in, and can be used in multiple nodes.

rgb_camera_low_contrast.yaml

ros__parameters:
  ...
  color:
    contrast": 20
    gain": 10
    gamma": 100
    saturation": 10
  ...

rgb_camera_high_contrast.yaml

ros__parameters:
  ...
  color:
    contrast": 50
    gain": 60
    gamma": 300
    saturation": 60
  ...

To use a Template, the template key must be set in the Node’s configuration file.

head_camera.yaml

/head_camera_node:
  template: "rgb_camera_low_contrast.yaml"
  ...

right_hand_camera.yaml

/right_hand_camera_node:
  template: "rgb_camera_low_contrast.yaml"
  ...

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Changelog for package launch_pal

0.16.0 (2025-08-26)

• added map name
• Contributors: martinaannicelli

0.15.0 (2025-08-22)

• added stockbot to list of robots name
• Contributors: martinaannicelli

0.14.1 (2025-06-16)

• Fix end-effector ari
• Contributors: davidterkuile

0.14.0 (2025-06-05)

• introduce robot_info_file
• Contributors: antoniobrandi

0.13.0 (2025-06-05)

• introduce IfNodeRunning and UnlessNodeRunning
• Contributors: antoniobrandi

0.12.1 (2025-04-09)

• Added argument for the side an arm is mounted
• Contributors: oscarmartinez

0.12.0 (2025-04-02)

• read ROBOT_INFO_PATH env if available
• fix log color resets
• linters
• restore _parse_config and mark as deprecated
• add filtering to get_pal_configuration
• use consistent messages is get_pal_configuration
• rename pal configuration templates to presets
• rename pal configuration templates to presets
• Improve logging and variables substitution
• fix pal configuration logging in case of no arguments specified
• pal_parameter configuration files support paths splitting also with ;
• add variables support to pal_parameters
• use flattened parameter names in pal_parameters
• add template support; rework test_pal_parameters
• Contributors: Luka Juricic, antoniobrandi

0.11.0 (2025-02-04)

• Add comments
• fix ament_pep8 linting
• add generic string substitution concat
• Contributors: thomasung

0.10.0 (2025-01-20)

• Update wrong return value
• Apply suggestion after review
• Apply 1 suggestion(s) to 1 file(s)
• Add jinja2 dependency
• Add master calibration implementation
• Contributors: David ter Kuile, antoniobrandi

0.9.0 (2024-12-02)

• Merge branch 'abr/feat/docking' into 'master' added docking args See merge request common/launch_pal!73
• added docking args
• Merge branch 'upt/tun/readme' into 'master' update robot_arguments readme section See merge request common/launch_pal!71
• remove internal gitlab links
• fix linting issues
• update robot_arguments readme section
• Contributors: antoniobrandi, davidterkuile, thomasung

0.8.0 (2024-11-11)

• Suggestions apply
• Added xacro missing arg warning
• Removing unnecesary parsing
• Launch arguments check
• Xacro args checker
• Contributors: oscarmartinez

0.7.0 (2024-10-16)

• update README iwith get_pal_configuration automatic arguments
• [pal_get_params] ensure we get the default values for nested parameters
• [get_pal_parm] automatically creates cmdline arguments for node params This is controlled by the 'cmdline_args' param of :
  • cmdline_args=True (default): create cmd line arguments for all params
  • cmdline_args=[...]: create cmdline arguments for the listed params

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