Controlling Synapticon Devices Using ROS2 Package

Description

This repository provides an example of using Synapticon drives (SOMANET Node, SOMANET Circulo and SOMANET Integro) in CSP (Cyclic Sync Position), CSV (Cyclic Sync Velocity), and CST (Cyclic Sync Torque) modes using the ROS2 package. It utilizes SOEM Ethercat Master. ROS2 package was originally developed by Andy Zelenak. Synapticon GmbH adds examples, simulation and adds the extended instructions for easier installation as well as support for containerization using Docker.

Table of Contents

1. Intention
2. Overview
   • 2.1. Hardware
   • 2.2. Software
     • 2.2.1. Ubuntu with ROS2
       • 2.2.1.1. ROS2 Installation
       • 2.2.1.2. Synapticon Package Installation
       • 2.2.1.3. Demo
       • 2.2.1.4. Running Without Sudo (Optional)
     • 2.2.2. Isolated Environment (Docker)
       • 2.2.2.1. Docker Installation
       • 2.2.2.2. Synapticon Package Installation
       • 2.2.2.3. Demo
3. Disclaimer

1. Intention

The intention of this document is to provide instructions on how to quickly start using Synapticon Devices with ROS2 package using Synapticon library.

Additionally, in order to make it compatible with other Linux distributions, we provide corresponding Docker images.

2. Overview

The following subsections briefly demonstrate hardware and software required for using Synapticon devices with this package.

2.1. Hardware

In the figure below, a block diagram of the wiring used in this setup is given. Drives can be used once the parameters are configured with OBLAC tools. Detailed instructions and wiring diagrams for all the devices are available at our official web page documentation. The package allows daisy chaining of all the Synapticon drives in any order as shown on the image below.

2.2. Software

In this demo, we consider two scenarios:

• Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 is installed on the system and ROS2 (humble for Ubuntu 22.04 and rolling or jazzy for Ubuntu 24.04) together with Synapticon package will be installed on that system
• User wants to run the package in an isolated environment (Docker)

2.2.1. Ubuntu with ROS2

To install ROS2 on your Ubuntu machine, follow the steps from the official website and install the full version (you can also install minimal version, but then you need additionally to install RViZ if you want simulation). After the installation, some configuration steps as described here are needed. For the completeness of the demo, the commands in the following subsection are copied from the official website and should be executed for the ROS2 installation.

2.2.1.1. ROS2 Installation

To make sure that locale supports UTF-8, run the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install locales
sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Enable Ubuntu Universe repository:

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe

Add GPG key:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg

Add repository to the sources:

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null

Update apt cache:

sudo apt update

This command is for updating the packages on your system and if the commands after it will work, we recommend skipping it:

sudo apt upgrade

Finally, install ROS and compilers (replace ROS_DISTRO with the the ROS distribution you want - humble, jazzy or rolling):

sudo apt install ros-ROS_DISTRO-desktop
sudo apt install ros-dev-tools

After the installation is complete, add the following line to the end of /home/USER/.bashrc file (replace ROS_DISTRO with the the ROS distribution you want - humble, jazzy or rolling):

source /opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash

In order for ROS2 not to interfere with communication on other ports, we need to set Domain ID (detailed information is available here). In this demo, we just used ROS_DOMAIN_ID=1. To do so, add the following at the end of /home/$USER/.bashrc

export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=1

After this, close and reopen all your terminals. To verify the installation, open two terminals and run:

ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker
ros2 run demo_nodes_py listener

If the nodes are communicating, the installation was successful.

2.2.1.2. Synapticon Package Installation

OPTION 1: Installing from Source

Create a ROS2 workspace:

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws/src

Clone the Synapticon package:

git clone https://github.com/synapticon/synapticon_ros2_control

Install build tools:

sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions

Build the package:

cd ~/ros2_ws
rosdep install --from-paths src -y --ignore-src
colcon build

Additionally, you can source the workspace by adding the following line to the /home/USER/.bashrc file, but above the line where you sourced the ROS installation (above this line: source /opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash):

source /home/USER/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash

OPTION 2: Binary Installation

If needed, add the ROS repository (this is done only once):

sudo apt install software-properties-common 
sudo add-apt-repository universe 
sudo apt update

Install Synapticon package (replace ROS_DISTRO with the the ROS distribution you want - humble, jazzy or rolling):

sudo apt install ros-ROS_DISTRO-synapticon-ros2-control

Make sure your rosdep is initialized and updated:

sudo rosdep init 
rosdep update

Install its dependencies:

rosdep install synapticon_ros2_control

The package will get installed to /opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/share/synapticon_ros2_control/.

VERIFICATION

You need to know the name of your ethernet device to which the drive is connected. This could be checked with ifconfig command. Ethernet adapters usually start with en. To check if the master could be run and if the slaves are found, in the terminal execute the following (replace YOUR_ETHERNET_INTERFACE) with the one you found with ifconfig). If you installed from source:

sudo ./home/$USER/ros2_ws/install/synapticon_ros2_control/bin/torque_control_executable YOUR_ETHERNET_INTERFACE

or if you installed using binary installation (replace ROS_DISTRO with the the ROS distribution you want - humble, jazzy or rolling):

sudo ./opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/share/synapticon_ros2_control/bin/torque_control_executable YOUR_ETHERNET_INTERFACE

Before running other scripts, stop this one by CTRL+C (or wait, it will shutdown automatically after a while).

2.2.1.3. Demo

For turning the motor in different modes, you will need 5 terminals and in all of them execute:

sudo -i
source /home/YOUR_USER/.bashrc

• Terminal 1:

If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control elevated_permissions_1_dof.launch.py

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control elevated_permissions_2_dof.launch.py

• Terminal 2:

If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control single_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control two_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

• Terminal 3 - to show the running controllers

ros2 control list_controllers

(Information does not automatically refresh - it can be refreshed each M seconds using watch -n M ros2 control list_controllers, but the output format might be ugly)

• Running motors with different controllers:

CSV (Cyclic Sync Velocity) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_velocity_controller'], deactivate_controllers: []}"

Terminal 5 to create a publisher:

If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_velocity_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100]

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_velocity_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100,100]

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_velocity_controller']}"

• CSP (Cyclic Sync Position) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_position_controller'], deactivate_controllers: [quick_stop_controller]}"

Terminal 5 to create a publisher:

If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_position_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [140]

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_position_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [140, 140]

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_position_controller']}"

• CST (Cyclic Sync Torque) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_torque_controller'], deactivate_controllers: [quick_stop_controller]}"	

Terminal 5 to create a publisher (value is in per mille of torque):

If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_torque_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100]	

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_torque_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100, 100]	

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_torque_controller']}"

2.2.1.4. Running Without Sudo (Optional)

If you want to run the example without using sudo, you need to create:

sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/ros2_control_node.service

and use text editor to paste in that file the following (you need to replace YOUR_USER, ROS_DISTRO, pythonX.XX and elevated_permissions_X_dof.launch.py with the correct data):

[Unit]
Description=Launch ros2_control_node with socket permissions

[Service]
Type=simple
User=YOUR_USER
ExecStartPre=/bin/bash -c 'source /opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash; source /home/YOUR_USER/.bashrc; source /home/YOUR_USER/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash'
# Write the user environment to file, for debugging
#ExecStartPre=/bin/bash -c 'env > /home/YOUR_USER/Documents/ros_env_before_start.txt'

# This is essentially a copy of my normal user env
Environment="AMENT_PREFIX_PATH=/home/YOUR_USER/ros2_ws/install/synapticon_ros2_control:/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO"
Environment="HOME=/home/YOUR_USER"
Environment="LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/opt/rviz_ogre_vendor/lib:/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/lib"
Environment="PATH=/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/bin:/usr/lib/ccache:/home/YOUR_USER/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/snap/bin"
Environment="PYTHONPATH=/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/lib/pythonX.XX/site-packages:/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/local/lib/pythonX.XX/dist-packages"
Environment="ROS_DISTRO=ROS_DISTRO"
Environment="ROS_DOMAIN_ID=1"
Environment="ROS_PYTHON_VERSION=3"
Environment="ROS_VERSION=2"
Environment="ROSCONSOLE_FORMAT=[${severity}] - ${node}: [${time}] ${message}"
Environment="USER=YOUR_USER"
Environment="USERNAME=YOUR_USER"

ExecStart=/opt/ros/ROS_DISTRO/bin/ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control elevated_permissions_X_dof.launch.py
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_RAW

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file, restart the daemon:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

and start the service:

sudo systemctl restart ros2_control_node.service

If you want to check the service status and see the ROS console logging:

sudo systemctl status ros2_control_node.service

Now, the example can be run by these two commands:

sudo systemctl restart ros2_control_node.service

and, if running demo with one motor:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control single_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control two_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

Changing the controllers and publishing the desired position/velocity/torque can be now executed without sudo. To stop the ros2_control_node:

sudo systemctl stop ros2_control_node.service

2.2.2. Isolated Environment (Docker)

For users with different Linux distributions or those preferring isolated environment, Docker can be used. Installation steps can be found in the Docker Documentation. For the completeness of the documentation, we provide those steps here as well:

2.2.2.1. Docker Installation

Install Docker and add the user to the Docker group:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker.io
sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

2.2.2.2. Synapticon Package Installation

With the following command, you can pull the Docker image (replace ROS_DISTRO with the desired ROS_distribution - humble, jazzy or rolling):

docker pull ghcr.io/synapticon/synapticon_ros2_control:ROS_DISTRO

To allow Docker containers to output the screen on your system (this is required for RViZ), execute this on the host system:

xhost +

For the first execution of the program, we build container named ros2_container from the downloaded docker image (replace ROS_DISTRO with the desired ROS_distribution - humble, jazzy or rolling):

docker run -it -v /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket:/var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix --ipc=host -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY  --network=host --env QT_X11_NO_MITSHM=1 --privileged --name ros2_container ghcr.io/synapticon/synapticon_ros2_control:ROS_DISTRO

Now we have our container running. Each other time, we start container using:

docker start ros2_container

For opening a new terminal in the running container, use:

docker exec -it ros2_container bash

and, once it opens, source ROS2 environment using

source /root/.bashrc

To check if the master could be run and if the slaves are found, in the container terminal execute:

./install/synapticon_ros2_control/bin/torque_control_executable

Before running other scripts, stop this one by CTRL+C (or wait, it will shutdown automatically after a while).

2.2.2.3. Demo

Connect Synapticon device configured with OBLAC Tools to your ethernet port as shown in Figure 1. For the demo, run 5 terminals in the container (docker exec -it ros2_container bash and source /root/.bashrc)

• Terminal 1 If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control elevated_permissions_1_dof.launch.py

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control elevated_permissions_2_dof.launch.py

• Terminal 2 - this one will open RViZ (if it fails, you forgot to execute xhost + on your host machine). If you spin the motor by hand, you should see the movement in RViZ. If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control single_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 launch synapticon_ros2_control two_dof.launch.py eth_device:=YOUR_ETHERNET_DEVICE

• Terminal 3 - to show the running controllers

ros2 control list_controllers

(Information does not automatically refresh - it can be refreshed each M seconds using watch -n M ros2 control list_controllers, but the output might be ugly)

• Running motors with different controllers: CSV (Cyclic Sync Velocity) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_velocity_controller'], deactivate_controllers: []}"

Terminal 5 to create a publisher: If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_velocity_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100]

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_velocity_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100,100]

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_velocity_controller']}"

• CSP (Cyclic Sync Position) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_position_controller'], deactivate_controllers: [quick_stop_controller]}"

Terminal 5 to create a publisher: If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_position_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [140]

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_position_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [140, 140]

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_position_controller']}"

• CST (Cyclic Sync Torque) mode:

Terminal 4 to turn on the controller :

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['forward_torque_controller'], deactivate_controllers: [quick_stop_controller]}"	

Terminal 5 to create a publisher (value is in per mille of torque): If you are running demo with one motor:

ros2 topic pub /forward_torque_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100]	

If you are running demo with two motors:

ros2 topic pub /forward_torque_controller/commands std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray data:\ [100, 100]	

Stopping it: CTRL+C on Terminal 5 and in Terminal 4:

ros2 service call /controller_manager/switch_controller controller_manager_msgs/srv/SwitchController "{activate_controllers: ['quick_stop_controller'], deactivate_controllers: ['forward_torque_controller']}"

3. Disclaimer

This repository is an example of using SOMANET drives with ROS2 (humble, jazzy and rolling). It does not guarantee compatibility with the latest ROS versions or SOMANET firmware. The included code is for demonstration purposes only. Synapticon GmbH refuses any responsibility for any problem or damage by the use of the example configuration and code!