Work / Manipulation Hardware
Hydra
Six-axis manipulator from CAD and PCB to real-time control
Hydra is a complete manipulator built end to end. The arm was designed in SolidWorks, 3D printed and assembled, with custom PCB and electronics. A ROS 2 workspace provides MoveIt 2 simulation and trajectory planning, and MoveIt Servo enables real-time control.
Challenge
A manipulator that could be used for planning and control experiments without the cost of a commercial arm, while keeping the same software interface a commercial arm would have.
Approach
The ros2_control hardware interface was written and tested so that the same software drives both the simulated and the physical arm. Planning runs through MoveIt 2; MoveIt Servo gives real-time Cartesian jogging.
Result
A working hardware prototype that executes MoveIt plans on the bench, with simulation and hardware sharing one codebase.
In brief
- Full design pipeline: CAD, PCB, electronics, 3D printing and assembly
- MoveIt 2 trajectory planning
- MoveIt Servo for real-time control
- ros2_control hardware interface tested on the real arm