An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators
To enable the design of planning and control strategies in simulated environments before their direct application to the real robot, exploiting the Sim2Real practice, powerful and realistic dynamic simulation tools have been proposed, e.g., the ROS-Gazebo framework. However, the majority of such sim...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.713083/full |
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| author | Riccardo Mengacci Grazia Zambella Giorgio Grioli Danilo Caporale Manuel G. Catalano Antonio Bicchi Antonio Bicchi |
| author_facet | Riccardo Mengacci Grazia Zambella Giorgio Grioli Danilo Caporale Manuel G. Catalano Antonio Bicchi Antonio Bicchi |
| author_sort | Riccardo Mengacci |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To enable the design of planning and control strategies in simulated environments before their direct application to the real robot, exploiting the Sim2Real practice, powerful and realistic dynamic simulation tools have been proposed, e.g., the ROS-Gazebo framework. However, the majority of such simulators do not account for some of the properties of recently developed advanced systems, e.g., dynamic elastic behaviors shown by all those robots that purposely incorporate compliant elements into their actuators, the so-called Articulated Soft Robots ASRs. This paper presents an open-source ROS-Gazebo toolbox for simulating ASRs equipped with the aforementioned types of compliant actuators. To achieve this result, the toolbox consists of two ROS-Gazebo modules: a plugin that implements the custom compliant characteristics of a given actuator and simulates the internal motor dynamics, and a Robotic Operation System (ROS) manager node used to organize and simplify the overall toolbox usage. The toolbox can implement different compliant joint structures to perform realistic and representative simulations of ASRs, also when they interact with the environment. The simulated ASRs can be also used to retrieve information about the physical behavior of the real system from its simulation, and to develop control policies that can be transferred back to the real world, leveraging the Sim2Real practice. To assess the versatility of the proposed plugin, we report simulations of different compliant actuators. Then, to show the reliability of the simulated results, we present experiments executed on two ASRs and compare the performance of the real hardware with the simulations. Finally, to validate the toolbox effectiveness for Sim2Real control design, we learn a control policy in simulation, then feed it to the real system in feed-forward comparing the results. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:34:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f84bc5199f5e4df08cb6d2865644820e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-9144 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:34:45Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
| spelling | doaj.art-f84bc5199f5e4df08cb6d2865644820e2022-12-21T21:30:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Robotics and AI2296-91442021-08-01810.3389/frobt.2021.713083713083An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant ActuatorsRiccardo Mengacci0Grazia Zambella1Giorgio Grioli2Danilo Caporale3Manuel G. Catalano4Antonio Bicchi5Antonio Bicchi6Research Center “Enrico Piaggio”, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyResearch Center “Enrico Piaggio”, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalySoft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, ItalyResearch Center “Enrico Piaggio”, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalySoft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, ItalyResearch Center “Enrico Piaggio”, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalySoft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, ItalyTo enable the design of planning and control strategies in simulated environments before their direct application to the real robot, exploiting the Sim2Real practice, powerful and realistic dynamic simulation tools have been proposed, e.g., the ROS-Gazebo framework. However, the majority of such simulators do not account for some of the properties of recently developed advanced systems, e.g., dynamic elastic behaviors shown by all those robots that purposely incorporate compliant elements into their actuators, the so-called Articulated Soft Robots ASRs. This paper presents an open-source ROS-Gazebo toolbox for simulating ASRs equipped with the aforementioned types of compliant actuators. To achieve this result, the toolbox consists of two ROS-Gazebo modules: a plugin that implements the custom compliant characteristics of a given actuator and simulates the internal motor dynamics, and a Robotic Operation System (ROS) manager node used to organize and simplify the overall toolbox usage. The toolbox can implement different compliant joint structures to perform realistic and representative simulations of ASRs, also when they interact with the environment. The simulated ASRs can be also used to retrieve information about the physical behavior of the real system from its simulation, and to develop control policies that can be transferred back to the real world, leveraging the Sim2Real practice. To assess the versatility of the proposed plugin, we report simulations of different compliant actuators. Then, to show the reliability of the simulated results, we present experiments executed on two ASRs and compare the performance of the real hardware with the simulations. Finally, to validate the toolbox effectiveness for Sim2Real control design, we learn a control policy in simulation, then feed it to the real system in feed-forward comparing the results.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.713083/fullarticulated soft robotsROS-Gazebo simulatorscompliant actuatorsSim2Real methodsdigital twins |
| spellingShingle | Riccardo Mengacci Grazia Zambella Giorgio Grioli Danilo Caporale Manuel G. Catalano Antonio Bicchi Antonio Bicchi An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators Frontiers in Robotics and AI articulated soft robots ROS-Gazebo simulators compliant actuators Sim2Real methods digital twins |
| title | An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators |
| title_full | An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators |
| title_fullStr | An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators |
| title_short | An Open-Source ROS-Gazebo Toolbox for Simulating Robots With Compliant Actuators |
| title_sort | open source ros gazebo toolbox for simulating robots with compliant actuators |
| topic | articulated soft robots ROS-Gazebo simulators compliant actuators Sim2Real methods digital twins |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.713083/full |
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