Using the arm robot

Setting up

1. Setup main bwi workspace using the following instructions: https://github.com/utexas-bwi/bwi
2. Follow the instructions for cloning the arm related repositories here: https://github.com/utexas-bwi/segbot_arm
3. After going through the list, then clone the actual segbot_arm repository as well. Compile.
4. If setting up on a new computer (one on which nobody has set up the arm before), then install the arm drivers per the instructions in the

Kinova documentation available here: www.cs.utexas.edu/~jsinapov/kinova.zip

The PDF's location in the archive is the following: /kinova/Documentation/Drivers Guides/

The correct .deb file for our system is located in /kinova/Drivers/Ubuntu/64Bits/.Navigate to that folder in the terminal and then install the drivers by typing:

sudo dpkg -i KinovaAPI-5.0.6-amd64.deb

Launching the robot arm

1. Every time you start working with the robot, you should disconnect it from charging at the wall. Find the white connector from the battery charger and disconnect the battery. Please detach by holding the connectors only, and don't pull the connection apart using the wires as they may break off.
2. Start the laptop and login
3. Turn on the arm and home it
4. Turn on the base pushing the green button first and then the yellow button
5. Open a new terminal and: run roslaunch segbot_arm_launch xtion.launch
6. Check in a separate terminal if the xtion topics are running: rostopic list | grep “xtion”
7. Then launch the arm running: roslaunch segbot_arm_launch segbot_v2.arm.launch
8. Look in rviz to insure that no errors have occurred and localize the robot

Basic Trouble Shooting

Some reasons the arm fails is do to hanging on the xtion so try unplugging it and plunging it into different USB ports. Killing the launch files and relaunching them. If these fail try launch the arm directly running roslaunch jaco_driver mico_arm.launch If this fails try going into the kinova package you downloaded from above and run the ExampleRestoreFactoryDefault the relative path to the file to compile it should be ~/kinova/Documentation/API Examples/Ubuntu/64Bits/Examples/ExampleRestoreFactoryDefault/Debug Compile the executable if it has not been done already and run it and the try to rerun the arm Overall the arm is very finicky so try these things a few times.

Demos

For the grasping demo after launching the arm and moving the robot near a table with objects roslaunch mimic_motion agile_grasp_demo.launch and rosrun mimic_motion agile_grasp_demp For running the demo to explore an object on a table in segbot_arm_manipulation roslaunch segbot_arm_manipulation segbot_arm_explore.launch In another termainl, rosrun segbot_arm_manipulation demo_explore_object