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installation.md

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Installation

Installation of this ROS2 package has been tested with Ubuntu 20.04 and Windows 10.

Force Dimension SDK

In order to build the Force Dimension ROS2 node, the Force Dimension SDK must be available to the ROS2 build system. The SDK also provides all drivers and libraries that are essential for interfacting with a Force Dimension robot.

To install the Force Dimension SDK, download it from the Force Dimension website.1 Extract the SDK to a desired location in the target computer's filesystem (e.g., /path/to/sdk or C:\path\to\sdk). The build system must then be made aware of the SDK via CMake configuration. Copy the file ForceDimensionSDKConfig.cmake from the root of this project into the root directory of the Force Dimension SDK (e.g., /path/to/sdk or C:\path\to\sdk). Set the environmental variable ForceDimensionSDK_DIR to point to the directory containing the CMake config file.2 For example, issue a terminal command like the following:

  • Linux: export ForceDimensionSDK_DIR=/path/to/sdk
  • Windows: set ForceDimensionSDK_DIR=C:\path\to\sdk

Additional steps: Linux

Some additional steps might be required for Linux builds. In particular, some additional dependencies might need to be installed via a package manager, and dynamic libraries might need to be registered with the build system via ldconfig.

If the SDK builds, but the applications fail during testing, then device permissions might need to be adjusted.

Additional steps: Windows

If building the Force Dimension SDK from the command line, then an appropriate command line environment must be initialized.

Build

The SDK build is accomplished in the following way:

  • Linux: Run the make command in a terminal at the root of the Force Dimension SDK path.
  • Windows: Use MS Visual Studop to build the project.

Test

Once the SDK is built, test it by running one of the included binaries (e.g., bin/gravity or bin\gravity.exe).

Note: Force Dimension robots must be calibrated to function properly. See the section on robot calibration for further details.

ROS2 package

The Force Dimension ROS2 package is built in the standard fashion,3 using colcon.4 If the Force Dimension SDK has been installed correctly, then no additional steps are required.

Footnotes

  1. At the time of writing this document, the current version is 3.13. ↩

  2. This environmental variable does not need to be set persistently. It is only required during the build process. ↩

  3. Do not forget to configure or source your ROS2 environment. ↩

  4. Reminder: The ForceDimensionSDK_DIR environmental variable must be set during the build process. See the instructions for installing the Force Dimension SDK. ↩