Integrating a Mobile Robot Navigation Control, Visual Object Detection and Manipulation Using ROS and V-REP

Abstract

The integration of robotic manipulators and mobile robots is a challenging task involving control of both the mobile base and the manipulator in an coordinated way. In order to study this coordination, in this paper a robotics simulation environment is used. Combining ROS (Robot Operating System) and a realistic robotics simulator, V-REP (Virtual Experimentation Platform), a KUKA youBot robot was used to integrate mobile navigation and object manipulation. The omni-directional mobile base is controlled using a fuzzy position controller, the detection of an object of interest over a table is performed using a simulated camera (with a blob detection algorithm), and then the manipulator arm is controlled for object grasping. The use of the simulator allows for a first step in the development of a complete ROS solution to manipulation/pick-and-place, and its use in industrial/commercial/residential environments.