ReconCell software installation manual

Installing robot-side scripts

The ReconCell is robot agnostic, meaning it can be used with robots from different manufacturers. In order for the robots to receive commands, a small local script must be running on the robot controller. The instructions for installing the scripts on different robots are described in the following sections.

Universal Robot UR10, UR5, UR3

  1. Please insert the USB stick with the Universal Robot Script Software into the robot controller as seen in this figure. ../../_images/usb.jpgRobot controller with USB
  2. A prompt window will pop up to tell you the installation procedure is in progress
  3. A notification window will pop up to tell you the installation is done

Please repeat this procedure for both robots in the workcell. This installs a UDP-TCP converter and the ReconCell.script.

Installing the Master computer

A master computer is responsible for running the ROS core and standard ReconCell packages. As of writing, the current version requires an Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS with ROS Kinetic. In order to install the standard packages follow this procedure:

  • Make sure you have ssh installed:
$ sudo apt install openssh-server
  • Obtain an SSH key that will allow you to access the repo (repo.ijs.si). The key must be in your user’s .ssh folder
$ cd && cd .ssh
  • Create a catkin directory with the appropriate structure:
$ mkdir -p catkin_ws/src
  • In your catkin src directory, clone the repository:
$ git clone git@repo.ijs.si:reconcell/reconcell.git
  • Use wstool to get all of the other dependencies:
$ wstool init
$ wstool merge reconcell/dependencies.rosinstall
$ wstool up

The cloned dependencies should show up in your src directory.

  • Query and install all libraries and packages:
$ rosdep install --from-paths . --ignore-src --rosdistro kinetic
  • Catkin build:
$ cd ..
$ catkin build

Network setup

In order for ReconCell smart modules to function properly over ROS network, the hostnames of the modules must be successfully resolved. This is achieved by installing a DNS server on the Master computer

Alternatively one can modify hosts files on all computers in the network with proper names and IPs.