Nova_ROS2

ROS 2 Humble packages for a Dobot Nova5 with a Robotiq 2F-85 gripper, MoveIt, and a wrist-mounted camera / AprilTag workflow.

This repository is the custom layer that sits on top of the upstream Dobot ROS 2 driver. It contains:

• A combined Nova5 + 2F-85 robot description
• A MoveIt configuration for the combined robot
• Bringup code that bridges Dobot joint feedback into /joint_states
• A full-system launch file that wires MoveIt, camera, TF, and AprilTag detection together
• An AprilTag relay node that republishes detected tags into the map frame
• A web-commanded grasp task planner for human-in-the-loop grasp experiments
• A planning-scene table object so MoveIt avoids the experiment table during planning

Platform target: Ubuntu 22.04 + ROS 2 Humble

Repository layout

src/Nova_ROS2/
├── nova5_2f85_description/
│   ├── urdf/nova5_2f85.urdf.xacro
│   └── meshes/
├── nova5_2f85_moveit/
│   ├── config/
│   └── launch/nova5_2f85_moveit.launch.py
└── robotiq_2f85_bringup/
    ├── config/
    │   ├── camera_calibration.yaml
    │   └── tags_36h11.yaml
    ├── launch/nova5_full_bringup.launch.py
    └── robotiq_2f85_bringup/
        ├── grasp_task_planner.py
        ├── nova5_2f85_joint_states.py
        ├── planning_scene_table.py
        └── apriltag_arm_planner.py

What each package does

nova5_2f85_description

Provides the combined robot model for the Nova5 arm and Robotiq 2F-85 gripper, including URDF/Xacro and meshes.

nova5_2f85_moveit

Provides the MoveIt configuration for the combined robot:

• SRDF
• kinematics
• joint limits
• controller config
• RViz config
• a MoveIt launch file: nova5_2f85_moveit.launch.py

robotiq_2f85_bringup

Contains runtime launch/config/python code for the real robot setup:

• nova5_full_bringup.launch.py Starts Dobot bringup, MoveIt, TF publishers, camera, AprilTag detection, and the local helper nodes.
• gripper_modbus_manager.py Single supported Robotiq Modbus owner. It publishes /gripper/joint_states and /web_feedback, serves the internal gripper action, and can reuse a configured modbus_index or create a new gripper channel when needed.
• action_server.py Public gripper action proxy. It forwards user-facing gripper goals to gripper_modbus_manager and does not open its own Modbus channel.
• nova5_2f85_joint_states.py Bridges /joint_states_robot from the Dobot driver into a combined /joint_states topic that also includes gripper mimic joints.
• apriltag_arm_planner.py Subscribes to /detections, resolves tag frames through TF, and republishes map_tag_<id> frames in the map frame.
• grasp_task_planner.py Subscribes to /web_command, accepts start_grasp and stop_grasp, reads /grasp_object_id, moves to fixed grasp poses in base_link, lifts with a Cartesian motion, and then moves to a fixed handover pose.
• planning_scene_table.py Applies a conservative box-shaped table collision object to MoveIt's planning scene. The default full bringup places a 0.7 x 0.7 x 0.8 m table at x=0.0 m, y=0.2 m in base_link, with the robot base assumed to sit 0.77 m above the floor.

gripper_feedback_publisher.py remains in the repository as a legacy standalone poller, but it is not part of the current bringup and is not the supported runtime path.

External dependencies

This repo expects the upstream Dobot ROS 2 stack to be present in the same workspace, especially:

• dobot_bringup_v3
• dobot_moveit
• dobot_msgs_v3

The launch files also expect common Humble packages such as:

• moveit_ros_move_group
• moveit_configs_utils
• robot_state_publisher
• rviz2
• camera_ros
• apriltag_ros
• tf2_ros

Suggested workspace setup

mkdir -p ~/dobot_ws/src
cd ~/dobot_ws/src

git clone https://github.com/Dobot-Arm/DOBOT_6Axis_ROS2_V3.git
git clone <this-repo-url> Nova_ROS2

Build from the workspace root:

cd ~/dobot_ws
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

Launch files

Full bringup

ros2 launch robotiq_2f85_bringup nova5_full_bringup.launch.py

This launch file is intended to start:

• Dobot TCP bringup and feedback
• robot_state_publisher
• the nova5_2f85_joint_states bridge
• gripper_modbus_manager as the single supported gripper Modbus owner
• robotiq_2f85_action_server as the public gripper proxy
• gripper_cmd_sender as the /web_command gripper router
• grasp_task_planner as the /web_command arm-task router
• planning_scene_table as the MoveIt collision-table publisher
• /web_feedback as string gripper readback for the web server (0=closed, 100=open)
• MoveIt move_group
• the Dobot MoveIt action bridge
• wrist camera input through camera_ros
• AprilTag detection through apriltag_ros
• static TF for camera mounting
• optional map -> base_link table transform
• RViz

Useful launch arguments:

• use_rviz:=false to run without RViz
• use_table_map:=false to disable the static map -> base_link transform
• use_planning_table:=false to disable the MoveIt table collision object
• cam_x, cam_y, cam_z, cam_roll, cam_pitch, cam_yaw to define the camera mounting transform
• modbus_host, modbus_port, slave_id for gripper communication settings
• modbus_index:=N to reuse a known Dobot Modbus channel directly
• /web_command accepts gripper_pos:<percent>, start_grasp, stop_grasp, and legacy bare gripper percentages like 83
• /grasp_object_id selects object IDs 1..5 for the grasp task planner
• /web_feedback publishes measured gripper state with 0=closed, 100=open

Example:

ros2 launch robotiq_2f85_bringup nova5_full_bringup.launch.py \
  use_rviz:=false \
  cam_x:=0.04 cam_y:=0.0 cam_z:=0.05 \
  cam_roll:=0.0 cam_pitch:=0.0 cam_yaw:=0.0

MoveIt-only launch

ros2 launch nova5_2f85_moveit nova5_2f85_moveit.launch.py

This starts:

• robot_state_publisher
• nova5_2f85_joint_states
• dobot_moveit/action_move_server
• move_group
• optional RViz

TF and perception notes

The full bringup connects the camera into the robot TF tree with:

base_link -> ... -> robotiq_85_base_link -> camera_link

It also publishes a zero-offset bridge:

camera_link -> camera

AprilTag detections from apriltag_ros can then be transformed into map, and apriltag_arm_planner.py republishes them as:

map_tag_0, map_tag_1, ...

The default table setup also publishes:

map -> base_link

with a fixed table height defined in nova5_full_bringup.launch.py.

For human-in-the-loop grasp experiments, grasp_task_planner.py uses the same /web_command topic for arm-task commands. start_grasp moves the arm to the configured grasp pose for the currently selected /grasp_object_id. After manual gripper adjustment via /web_command, stop_grasp lifts the tool straight up with a Cartesian path and then moves to a fixed handover pose.

Configuration files

• robotiq_2f85_bringup/config/camera_calibration.yaml Camera intrinsics loaded by camera_ros
• robotiq_2f85_bringup/config/tags_36h11.yaml AprilTag family and configured tag IDs, including tag_11

Current status

This README reflects the files currently present in this repository. If you change package names, add back removed runtime nodes, or split the full bringup into smaller launches, update this document to keep it aligned with the code.