Example: Yaskawa GP50

This workshop creates a MoveIt configuration package for the Yaskawa Motoman GP50 and uses the generated package to plan motions in RViz.

Prerequisites

This tutorial uses ROS 2 Humble and assumes that:

• the workspace is located at /home/ros/ros2_ws;

• motoman_gp50_support is available in the workspace source directory; and

• MoveIt and the MoveIt Setup Assistant are installed.

1. Build the robot support package

Open a terminal and build the GP50 description and its dependencies:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
cd /home/ros/ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-up-to motoman_gp50_support
source install/setup.bash

2. Start the MoveIt Setup Assistant

ros2 run moveit_setup_assistant moveit_setup_assistant

Select Create New MoveIt Configuration Package and load this Xacro file:

/home/ros/ros2_ws/src/motoman_ros2_support_packages/motoman_gp50_support/urdf/gp50.xacro

The robot model should appear in the preview.

3. Generate the self-collision matrix

Open Self-Collisions, generate the collision matrix, and review the link pairs disabled because they are adjacent or never collide.

The GP50 is a fixed industrial arm. A virtual joint is unnecessary when its base is already fixed by the robot description.

4. Configure the planning group

Open Planning Groups and select Add Group.

Configure the group with:

• Group name: gp50_arm

• Kinematic solver: kdl_kinematics_plugin/KDLKinematicsPlugin

• Search resolution: 0.005

• Search timeout: 0.005

• Default planner: RRTConnect

Add a kinematic chain using:

• Base link: base_link

• Tip link: tool0

Save the group after selecting both links.

5. Define robot poses

Open Robot Poses and add useful named states for gp50_arm. Define HOME with all six joints at zero.

Add an UP pose by adjusting the joints to the required upright configuration.

Review the saved HOME, UP, and DOWN poses before continuing.

6. Configure ros2_control

Open ros2_control URDF Modifications. Add a position command interface and position and velocity state interfaces for the six arm joints.

7. Configure the controllers

Open ROS 2 Controllers and use Auto Add JointTrajectoryController Controllers For Each Planning Group. This creates a trajectory controller for gp50_arm.

Open MoveIt Controllers and auto-add the corresponding FollowJointTrajectory controller. Confirm that gp50_arm_controller contains joint_1 through joint_6.

Skip Perception unless the robot uses a configured 3D sensor. Add your name and email under Author Information.

8. Generate the configuration package

Open Launch Files and select the launch files required for the demo. The warehouse database launch file is optional.

Open Configuration Files and use this output directory:

/home/ros/ros2_ws/src/yaskawa_gp50_moveit_config

Review the generated files and select Generate Package.

9. Check the joint limits

Open the generated file:

/home/ros/ros2_ws/src/yaskawa_gp50_moveit_config/config/joint_limits.yaml

MoveIt Humble expects floating-point joint-limit values. Replace integer values such as 2 or 0 with 2.0 or 0.0 where required.

10. Build and run the demo

Build the generated package and source the workspace again:

cd /home/ros/ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-up-to yaskawa_gp50_moveit_config
source install/setup.bash

Launch the MoveIt demo:

ros2 launch yaskawa_gp50_moveit_config demo.launch.py

In the RViz MotionPlanning panel, select gp50_arm as the planning group. Choose one of the named states, then use Plan or Plan & Execute to test the generated configuration.

GP50 MoveIt demonstrations

Demonstration 1

Demonstration 2

Add a box as a collider:

And regenerate the plan: