Högskolan i Skövde

Industrial robot programs are usually created with the programming language that the manufacturer provides. These languages are often limited to cover the common usages within the industry. However, when a more advanced program is needed, then third-party programs are often used to, e.g., locating objects using vision systems, applying correct force with force torque sensors, etc.

Instead of using both the language of the robot and third-party programs to create more advanced programs, it is preferable to have one system that can fully control the robot. Such systems exist, e.g., Robot Operating System (ROS), Yet Another Robot Language (YARP), etc. These systems require more time to fully set up, but once they are set up supposedly they can be used for a lot of different applications and can be used on several industrial robots from different manufacturers.

Currently, University of Skövde have robots from Universal Robots (UR) with several peripheral equipment which has limited control because the built-in language does not support it. Therefore, they need help with both investigating which robot system could be used and implementing that robot system.

This thesis will prove the suitability of using ROS to control aforesaid hardware, fulfilling all the requirements. It will be also demonstrated the feasibility of ROS in the long-term, according to the future plans for this equipment in University of Skövde.