ROS-PyBullet Interface: A Framework for Reliable Contact Simulation and Human-Robot Interaction

Christopher Mower, Theodoros Stouraitis, João Moura, Christian Rauch, Lei Yan, Nazanin Zamani Behabadi, Michael Gienger, Tom Vercauteren, Christos Bergeles, Sethu Vijayakumar
Proceedings of The 6th Conference on Robot Learning, PMLR 205:1411-1423, 2023.

Abstract

Reliable contact simulation plays a key role in the development of (semi-)autonomous robots, especially when dealing with contact-rich manipulation scenarios, an active robotics research topic. Besides simulation, components such as sensing, perception, data collection, robot hardware control, human interfaces, etc. are all key enablers towards applying machine learning algorithms or model-based approaches in real world systems. However, there is a lack of software connecting reliable contact simulation with the larger robotics ecosystem (i.e. ROS, Orocos), for a more seamless application of novel approaches, found in the literature, to existing robotic hardware. In this paper, we present the ROS-PyBullet Interface, a framework that provides a bridge between the reliable contact/impact simulator PyBullet and the Robot Operating System (ROS). Furthermore, we provide additional utilities for facilitating Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in the simulated environment. We also present several use-cases that highlight the capabilities and usefulness of our framework. Our code base is open source and can be found at https://github.com/ros-pybullet/ros_pybullet_interface.

Cite this Paper

BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v205-mower23a, title = {ROS-PyBullet Interface: A Framework for Reliable Contact Simulation and Human-Robot Interaction}, author = {Mower, Christopher and Stouraitis, Theodoros and Moura, Jo\~ao and Rauch, Christian and Yan, Lei and Behabadi, Nazanin Zamani and Gienger, Michael and Vercauteren, Tom and Bergeles, Christos and Vijayakumar, Sethu}, booktitle = {Proceedings of The 6th Conference on Robot Learning}, pages = {1411--1423}, year = {2023}, editor = {Liu, Karen and Kulic, Dana and Ichnowski, Jeff}, volume = {205}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, month = {14--18 Dec}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v205/mower23a/mower23a.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v205/mower23a.html}, abstract = {Reliable contact simulation plays a key role in the development of (semi-)autonomous robots, especially when dealing with contact-rich manipulation scenarios, an active robotics research topic. Besides simulation, components such as sensing, perception, data collection, robot hardware control, human interfaces, etc. are all key enablers towards applying machine learning algorithms or model-based approaches in real world systems. However, there is a lack of software connecting reliable contact simulation with the larger robotics ecosystem (i.e. ROS, Orocos), for a more seamless application of novel approaches, found in the literature, to existing robotic hardware. In this paper, we present the ROS-PyBullet Interface, a framework that provides a bridge between the reliable contact/impact simulator PyBullet and the Robot Operating System (ROS). Furthermore, we provide additional utilities for facilitating Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in the simulated environment. We also present several use-cases that highlight the capabilities and usefulness of our framework. Our code base is open source and can be found at https://github.com/ros-pybullet/ros_pybullet_interface.} }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T ROS-PyBullet Interface: A Framework for Reliable Contact Simulation and Human-Robot Interaction %A Christopher Mower %A Theodoros Stouraitis %A João Moura %A Christian Rauch %A Lei Yan %A Nazanin Zamani Behabadi %A Michael Gienger %A Tom Vercauteren %A Christos Bergeles %A Sethu Vijayakumar %B Proceedings of The 6th Conference on Robot Learning %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2023 %E Karen Liu %E Dana Kulic %E Jeff Ichnowski %F pmlr-v205-mower23a %I PMLR %P 1411--1423 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v205/mower23a.html %V 205 %X Reliable contact simulation plays a key role in the development of (semi-)autonomous robots, especially when dealing with contact-rich manipulation scenarios, an active robotics research topic. Besides simulation, components such as sensing, perception, data collection, robot hardware control, human interfaces, etc. are all key enablers towards applying machine learning algorithms or model-based approaches in real world systems. However, there is a lack of software connecting reliable contact simulation with the larger robotics ecosystem (i.e. ROS, Orocos), for a more seamless application of novel approaches, found in the literature, to existing robotic hardware. In this paper, we present the ROS-PyBullet Interface, a framework that provides a bridge between the reliable contact/impact simulator PyBullet and the Robot Operating System (ROS). Furthermore, we provide additional utilities for facilitating Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in the simulated environment. We also present several use-cases that highlight the capabilities and usefulness of our framework. Our code base is open source and can be found at https://github.com/ros-pybullet/ros_pybullet_interface.
APA
Mower, C., Stouraitis, T., Moura, J., Rauch, C., Yan, L., Behabadi, N.Z., Gienger, M., Vercauteren, T., Bergeles, C. & Vijayakumar, S.. (2023). ROS-PyBullet Interface: A Framework for Reliable Contact Simulation and Human-Robot Interaction. Proceedings of The 6th Conference on Robot Learning, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 205:1411-1423 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v205/mower23a.html.

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