What's the interface between robotics-toolbox-python and ROS？

[xiaohua121]

As is shown in the picture above, In the robotics-Toolset-Python documentation it says "As few dependencies as possible, in particular being able to work with ROS but not be dependent on ROS. ", which indicates that robotics-toolbox-python should have an interface with ROS. But I didn't find it, maybe I didn't look carefully enough. Does anyone know this interface?

Also, if there is no interface to ROS, how can I use this toolbox to control a real robot?
It's important to me, and I wish someone could tell me

[petercorke]

Hi @xiaohua121, thank you for your interest in RTB, and apologies for the very long delay in replying. Various life events got in the way, and since May this year I've been doing a lot of work across RTB, Swift and SpatialGeometry.

There is no ROS interface in the toolbox, and that sentence in the docs is worded misleadingly. It is a design goal: RTB has no dependency on ROS, so that it is not tied to ROS's operating system and Python version constraints, and can also be used inside a ROS node. As noted for a similar question in #332, you simply import roboticstoolbox in a Python ROS or ROS 2 node, as you would numpy or scipy.

In practice, to control a real robot you:

1. Use RTB for the kinematics and planning (fkine, ik_LM, jacob0, jtraj, and so on).
2. Use your own node to subscribe to the robot's joint states and publish joint commands, in whatever message and controller interface your robot provides.

The toolbox does not do the second part for you. There is a skeletal ROS 1 backend in roboticstoolbox/backends/ROS, but it is incomplete and unmaintained, so please don't rely on it. The only other physical-robot code is an experimental Dynamixel backend, also unfinished.

Thanks for the question. I've opened #727 to clarify that sentence in the docs. If you hit a problem using RTB inside a node, please post an Issue rather than a discussion thread.