Phidgets stepper ROS 2 driver

This is the ROS 2 driver for Phidgets stepper.

Usage

To run this driver standalone, do the following:

ros2 launch phidgets_stepper stepper-launch.py

Published Topics

• ~/config (phidgets_msgs/StepperConfig) - Get the min/max values of the configurable parameters
• ~/state (phidgets_msgs/StepperState) - Get the run time state (engaged, moving, target)
• ~/joint (sensor_msgs/JointState) - Publish the motor state as a standard joint message

Subscribed Topics

• ~/command (phidgets_msgs/StepperCommand) - Send a command to the motor, either in position or run mode, can also be used to disengage the motor

Services

• ~/zero (std_srvs/Trigger) - Mark the current position to zero

Parameters

• serial (int) - The serial number of the Phidgets stepper device to connect to. If -1 (the default), connects to any suitable stepper device that can be found.
• channel (int) - The channel number on the Phidgets device to connect to. Defaults to 0.
• hub_port (int) - The phidgets VINT hub port to connect to. Only used if the motor phidget is connected to a VINT hub. Defaults to 0.
• is_hub_port_device (bool) - Whether this device is directly connected to VINT hub port, or whether it is connected via another widget to the hub port. Only used if the digital input phidget is connected to a VINT hub. Defaults to false.
• base_frame (string) - The base frame_id for the sensor_msgs/JointState messages. Defaults to “phidgets”.
• joint_name (string) - The name of the joint in the sensor_msgs/JointState messages. Defaults to “stepper”.
• publish_rate (double) - How often the driver will publish data on the ROS topic. If 0 (the default), it will publish every time there is an update from the device (so at the data_interval_ms). If positive, it will publish the data at that rate regardless of the acquisition interval.
• server_name (string) - The name of the Phidgets network server to connect to. If specified along with server_ip, the driver will attempt to connect to a Phidgets device over the network.
• server_ip (string) - The IP address of the Phidgets network server. Used in conjunction with server_name.
• data_interval_ms (int) - The number of milliseconds between acquisitions of data on the device (allowed values are dependent on the device). Defaults to 250 ms.
• failsafe_time_ms (int) - The failsafe time in ms, default to 1000.
• position_offset (double) - Position to start at, default to 0.0
• rescale_factor (double) - Step multiplier applied to all the measurement. For a stepper with 1.8 degree step and a reduction of 14:1, (1./16) * (1.8/14) * (2*pi/360) makes sure all the output are in radians.
• acceleration (double) - Authorized acceleration, default to the max value supported by the driver.
• velocity_limit (double) - The maximum velocity, will be overloaded by messages published on ~/command.
• current_limit (double) - Authorized current limit, default to the max value supported by the driver.
• holding_current_limit (double) - Authorized holding current limit, default to the max value supported by the driver.

Changelog for package phidgets_stepper

2.3.4 (2025-05-19)

• Upgrade to CMake 3.8, add file depend (#189)
• Add stepper motor package for ROS2 (STC1005) (#186)
• Contributors: Cedric Pradalier, Martin Günther