Development of Delta Robot Arm Simulation in ROS2 Foxy Fitzroy Environment

Abstract

This work demonstrates the methodological steps to simulate a three-degree of freedom (DoF) delta robot arm in the Foxy Fitzroy version of Robot Operating System 2 (ROS2). The mechanical design of the delta robot was represented in the form of Simulation Description Format (SDF), translated from the customised Unified Robotic Description Format (URDF) file generated using SolidWorks to URDF Exporter after the designed mechanism had been finalised. It is necessary to use the SDF instead of URDF for delta robot simulation since this type of file format supports closed-loop linkages, one of the crucial features of a delta robot arm mechanism. The simulation of the delta robot motion was conducted in the Gazebo Robot Simulator, where the positioning of the delta robot end effector was observed when the specific force was applied to each of the robot arms. The mechanism of the delta robot behaviour on forward and inverse kinematic was then simulated to observe the positioning of the end effector toward the motion of motor rotational angle and vice-versa.