Move a robot from Python by communicating with MoveIt 2 over ROS 2 actions and services

Joint Configuration	Cartesian Pose	Gripper Action	Real-Time Servoing

Installation

| humble | jazzy | lyrical | rolling | | :----------: | :---------: | :-----------: | :-----------: | | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |

Python package (PyPI)

pip install pymoveit2

Source build (colcon)

cd $COLCON_WS
git clone https://github.com/AndrejOrsula/pymoveit2.git src/pymoveit2
rosdep install -y -r -i --rosdistro $ROS_DISTRO --from-paths src/pymoveit2
colcon build --merge-install --symlink-install --cmake-args "-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release"
source install/local_setup.bash

Docker image

cd $WS
git clone https://github.com/AndrejOrsula/pymoveit2.git
pymoveit2/.docker/run.bash $ROS_DISTRO --network-host --ipc-host --gui

Quick start (demo with Franka Emika Panda)

1. Configure MoveIt 2 for your robot (install for widely available robots, or build one on your own):

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-moveit-resources-panda-moveit-config ros-$ROS_DISTRO-controller-manager

1. Launch the MoveIt 2 setup for your robot:

ros2 launch moveit_resources_panda_moveit_config demo.launch.py

1. Move the robot via pymoveit2 examples:

ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_joint_goal.py

Nothing moved? Run ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_doctor.py to investigate the problem.

Examples

Kinematics

# Forward (joint positions -> end effector pose)
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_fk.py
Inverse (end effector pose -> joint positions)
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_ik.py --ros-args -p position:="[0.3, 0.0, 0.3]" -p quat_xyzw:="[0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0]"

Motion planning and execution

# Move to a joint configuration (default to SRDF group state)
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_joint_goal.py
Move to a pose (motion in joint space or Cartesian space)
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_pose_goal.py --ros-args -p position:="[0.3, 0.0, 0.3]" -p quat_xyzw:="[0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0]" -p cartesian:=False
Move while maintaining a fixed orientation of the end effector
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_orientation_path_constraint.py --ros-args -p use_orientation_constraint:=True
Move via real-time servoing (MoveIt 2 Servo)
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_servo.py
Actuate the gripper (action: {toggle, open, close})
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_gripper.py --ros-args -p action:="toggle"

Session

# Move the robot through RobotSession (initialized via connect())
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_session.py --ros-args -p position:="[0.3, 0.0, 0.3]" -p quat_xyzw:="[0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0]"

Planning scene

# Add a primitive shape to the planning scene (shape: {box, sphere, cone, cylinder})
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_collision_primitive.py --ros-args -p shape:="sphere" -p position:="[0.5, 0.0, 0.5]" -p dimensions:="[0.04]"
Add a triangular mesh to the planning scene (action: {add, remove}) [Note: Requires trimesh Python package]
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_collision_mesh.py --ros-args -p action:="add" -p position:="[0.5, 0.0, 0.5]" -p quat_xyzw:="[0.0, 0.0, -0.707, 0.707]"
Allow or forbid collisions with a planning scene object (allow: {true, false})
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_allow_collisions.py --ros-args -p id:="sphere" -p allow:=true
Remove all objects from the planning scene
ros2 run pymoveit2 ex_clear_planning_scene.py

Python API

RobotSession

The simplest way to use pymoveit2 is via connect() that provides a context manager for your robot:

from pymoveit2 import connect
with connect() as robot:
    # Move to a pose while checking for failures
    if not robot.move_to_pose([0.4, 0.0, 0.4], [1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]):
        print(robot.last_failure())
        exit(1)
# Actuate the gripper
    robot.gripper.close()
# Move to SRDF group state
    robot.move_to_configuration()

The robot object represents a RobotSession that manages:

| Attribute | Manages | | :------------------ | :------------------------------------------- | | robot.node | ROS 2 node | | robot.executor | ROS 2 executor | | robot.description | Robot description (automatically discovered) | | robot.arm | MoveIt 2 interface for the motion planning | | robot.gripper | MoveIt 2 Gripper interface (optional) | | robot.servo | MoveIt 2 Servo interface (optional) |

RobotDescription + MoveIt2 + GripperInterface + MoveIt2Servo

Alternatively, you can build and customize the interfaces while managing the ROS 2 node and executor yourself:

from pymoveit2 import RobotDescription, MoveIt2, GripperInterface, MoveIt2Servo
node = ...  # your rclpy node
description = RobotDescription.from_node(node) # note: in the unlikely case of failure, pymoveit2.robots provides static robot presets
moveit2 = MoveIt2(node=node, **description.moveit2_kwargs())
gripper = GripperInterface(node=node, **description.moveit2_gripper_kwargs()) if description.gripper_group_name else None
servo = MoveIt2Servo(node=node, frame_id=str(description.moveit2_kwargs()["base_link_name"]))