RTControlDualArm

RTControlDualArm is a high-performance real-time control system for dual-arm manipulators. It is built on Linux with Xenomai RTOS and uses the EtherCAT protocol for low-latency hardware communication.

Key Features

• Real-Time Control: Low-latency control loops implemented with Xenomai 3.
• EtherCAT Integration: Robust hardware communication using Etherlab Master.
• Advanced Control Algorithms:
  • Joint-space Control (PID, Inverse Dynamics)
  • Task-space Control (CLIK, Operational Space Control)
  • Impedance Control (Joint and Task space)
  • Friction Identification and Compensation
• Multi-Tasking Architecture:
  • Control_proc: Main real-time control loop (up to 2kHz).
  • TCPIP_proc: Network communication for monitoring and remote control.
  • Console_proc: Real-time status logging and display.
  • Event_proc: Keyboard and event handling.
• Kinematics & Dynamics: Integrated with KDL (Kinematics and Dynamics Library) and custom utilities for complex manipulator configurations.

System Architecture

The system is designed as a modular real-time client (RTClient). It manages multiple real-time tasks synchronized to an EtherCAT master. The control logic is decoupled from hardware communication, allowing for flexible algorithm development.

Implementation Details

• OS: Linux with Xenomai 3.0.9 (Kernel 4.9.90)
• Communication: Etherlab 1.5.2
• Build System: CMake 3.9+
• Mathematics: Eigen 3, KDL

Prerequisites

Install the following dependencies:

sudo apt install libpoco-dev libeigen3-dev libboost-dev

Ensure Xenomai 3 and Etherlab are correctly installed and configured in your system path.

Project Structure

• include/: Standardized header directory.
  • control/: Motion control and trajectory headers.
  • ecat/: EtherCAT master, slave, and PDO configuration headers.
  • kdl/: Kinematics and Dynamics Library integration headers.
  • net/: Network communication and packet handler headers.
  • RTClient.h: Main application header.
• src/: Standardized source directory.
  • control/, ecat/, kdl/, net/: Implementation files and module-specific CMakeLists.txt.
  • main.cpp: Primary application entrance.
• cmake/: Custom CMake find modules and helper scripts.

Installation & Build

1. Clone the repository.
2. Create a build directory:

   mkdir build && cd build

3. Run CMake:

   cmake ..

4. Build the project:

   make

Usage

Run the compiled binary (requires root privileges for real-time tasks and EtherCAT):

sudo ./RTClient

Authors

• Junho Park - Initial work
• HYU Robotics Control Lab

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.