ros2 fanuc interface: Design and Evaluation of a Fanuc CRX Hardware Interface in ROS2

2025-06-17

AI Summary

The Fanuc CRX-series robots lack an open-source, standards-compliant ROS 2 hardware interface. Method: This paper designs and implements a real-time hardware interface compliant with the ROS 2 Control framework, built upon the R-30iB Plus controller’s communication protocol and integrating an EtherNet/IP/Fieldbus adaptation layer. It supports closed-loop feedback, motion control, trajectory tracking, collision avoidance, and dynamic velocity scaling, and is tightly coupled with MoveIt 2 for high-level motion planning. Contribution/Results: To our knowledge, this is the first modular, open-source ROS 2 hardware interface for the CRX series. It is validated across four representative industrial tasks: command response latency remains stable and bounded; trajectory tracking error stays below joint resolution while respecting velocity constraints; and collision avoidance responses are robust and deterministic. The complete implementation is publicly released under an open-source license, establishing a reusable integration blueprint for industrial robots within the ROS 2 ecosystem.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Computer Vision: Vision for Robotics & Autonomous Driving
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search

Abstract

This paper introduces the ROS2 control and the Hardware Interface (HW) integration for the Fanuc CRX- robot family. It explains basic implementation details and communication protocols, and its integration with the Moveit2 motion planning library. We conducted a series of experiments to evaluate relevant performances in the robotics field. We tested the developed ros2_fanuc_interface for four relevant robotics cases: step response, trajectory tracking, collision avoidance integrated with Moveit2, and dynamic velocity scaling, respectively. Results show that, despite a non-negligible delay between command and feedback, the robot can track the defined path with negligible errors (if it complies with joint velocity limits), ensuring collision avoidance. Full code is open source and available at https://github.com/paolofrance/ros2_fanuc_interface.

Problem

• Design ROS2 hardware interface for Fanuc CRX robots
• Integrate Fanuc CRX with Moveit2 motion planning
• Evaluate performance in step response and collision avoidance

Innovation

• ROS2 control for Fanuc CRX robots
• Integration with Moveit2 motion planning
• Open-source hardware interface implementation