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Contains some useful tools for creating and testing your own arm kinematics package.
You can test various kinematics solvers: newton-raphson, KDL, IKFast
Rviz and a fake joint state publisher allows you to easily position your robot in various configurations and validate the solution.

Based on code from arm_kinematics and the PR2 arm tutorials.

Tested with ROS Fuerte.


Documentation


Installation

Go to your ROS working directory. eg. 

cd ~/ros_workspace

Checkout the arm_kinematics_tools stack from the KAIST repository: 

$ svn checkout http://kaist-ros-pkg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/arm_kinematics_tools

The IKFast API demo requires the lapack library.
To install it: 

sudo aptitude install liblapack-dev

Build the binary executables: 

$ rosmake arm_kinematics_tools

Add the stack to your ROS_PACKAGE_PATH. e.g. 

$ export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=~/ros_workspace/arm_kinematics_tools:$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH

So this won't be lost when you reboot, edit ROS_PACKAGE_PATH in your .bashrc file too. 

$ pico ~/.bashrc


Usage

Example kinematic solvers

Launches fake joint state publisher GUI, Rviz and kinematics service using Newton-Raphson methods: with or without joint limits, and searching with multiple seeds.
Based on the arm_kinematics package.

You need to modify the launch files to point to your own <robot_name>_description package.

To launch a kinematics service, run either: 

$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools arm_kinematics_nr.launch
$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools arm_kinematics_nr_jl.launch
$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools arm_kinematics_nr_jl_search.launch


Example kinematics plugin as a service

Launches fake joint state publisher GUI and Rviz, to generate a pose or joint angles.
Loads the KDL or IKFast plugins as a kinematics service, outside of the planning scene environment, which can be tested using the methods below.

You need to create your own arm_navigation stack and optionally an IKFast plugin (read the section below).
Edit the fake_jointstate_pub_kinematics_solver.launch file in this package, to suit your own robot.

To launch it from within this package: 

$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools fake_jointstate_pub_kinematics_solver.launch


Examples of get_fk, get_ik

Demonstrates how to call an FK or IK kinematics service. Can be used with the above services based on N-R, or with the KDL or IKFast plugins.

Reads joint angles from /joint_states topic, calls get_fk service and continuously prints translation-quaternion pose of end link.
To launch: 

$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools get_fk.launch

Gets end link pose using TF, calls the get_ik service and continuously prints joint angles.
To launch: 

$ roslaunch arm_kinematics_tools get_ik.launch


IKFast kinematics plugin generator

This has been updated to support output generated from IK Fast 54/56/61.
You can automatically generate a kinematics solution for your manipulator and immediately start using it with the arm_navigation planning warehouse.

To generate your own plugin: 

$ rosrun arm_kinematics_tools create_ikfast_plugin.py

For detailed information, see ROS Tutorial: create a kinematics solution using IKFast
http://wiki/Industrial/Tutorials/Create_a_Fast_IK_Solution


IKFast API demo

Simple command-line demo, allows you to validate the output from IKFast before you integrate it with your own software.
Calculates FK from joint angles.
Calculates IK from either translation-rotation matrix or translation-quaternion pose.
Performance tests - generates random joint angles, finds FK then times the IK.

To see available options, run: 

$ rosrun arm_kinematics_tools compute


Report a Bug

Use the kaist-ros-pkg issue tracker to report bugs or request features.


2025-11-01 12:19