Welcome to the Universal Robots ROS 2 driver documentation

This documentation covers everything around the Open-Source ROS (Robot Operating System) 2 driver packages for Universal Robots manipulators and the standalone Universal Robots Client Library (C++).

With those packages it is possible to control a Universal Robots arm from an external application either directly using a C++ API (see ur_client_library) or using ROS 2 (see ur_robot_driver).

This allows developing robot applications where one or more UR robots are a part of the complete application. Some key use cases are:

• External Monitoring and Control: It allows you to monitor and control UR robots from an external application. This can be useful for tasks like external vision systems for part detection or external user interfaces to control robot programs.

• Ease of Use: The ur_client_library has minimal external dependencies, primarily relying on standard C++ libraries, making it straightforward to integrate and maintain.

• Integration with ROS / ROS 2: The ur_client_library serves as the foundation for the ROS 2 driver, making it easier to integrate UR robots into ROS-based systems. ROS supports multiple programming languages, primarily C++ and Python, making it easier to integrate with other systems and tools. It also allows for communication between different nodes, enabling complex robotic systems. The Universal Robots ROS packages offer everything from Visualization, over simulation up to controlling a real robot bridging the great work of the ROS community with Universal Robots manipulators.

Note

There is also builtin ROS 2 support for PolyScope X robots, see the PolyScope X ROS 2 documentation and / or ROS 2 integration paths for details.

Table of Contents

• ur_client_library
  • Build / installation
  • Setup a robot
    • Robot setup
    • Network setup
    • Setup URSim with Docker
  • PolyScope version compatibility
  • Library architecture
    • DashboardClient
    • ReverseInterface
    • RTDEClient
    • Script Command Interface
    • ScriptSender
    • Trajectory Point Interface
    • UrDriver
    • Instruction Executor
  • Usage examples
    • Dashboard client example
    • Force Mode example
    • Freedrive Mode example
    • Instruction Executor example
    • Primary Pipeline example
    • Primary Pipeline Calibration example
    • RTDE Client example
    • Script Sender example
    • Spline Interpolation example
    • Tool Contact example
    • Trajectory Joint Interface example
    • Example driver
  • Setup for real-time scheduling
  • Migration notes
• ur_description
• ur_robot_driver
  • Overview
  • Installation
    • Installation of the ur_robot_driver
    • Setting up a UR robot for ur_robot_driver
  • Usage
    • Startup the driver
    • Move the robot
    • Controllers
    • Simulation
    • Sending URScript code to the robot
  • Operation modes
  • Setting up the tool communication on an e-Series robot
  • UR Hardware interface parameters
  • Dashboard client
  • Robot state helper
  • Controller stopper
• ur_calibration
  • Usage
  • Calibration correction algorithm
• ur_controllers
• ur_moveit_config
• ur_simulation_gz
  • Installation
  • Usage
• Tutorial examples
  • Custom workcell
    • Assembling the URDF
    • Start the ur_robot_driver
    • Build the MoveIt! config
• Migration Notes
  • Iron to Jazzy
    • ur_robot_driver
    • ur_moveit_config
    • ur_description
    • ur_simulation_gz
• Build status
• ROS 2 integration paths