Rethink Robotics just released a new update of Baxter SDK: Baxter Research Robot SDK 1.1.1.
The company, which unveiled their new collaborative robot Sawyer in March, states that the Baxter SDK v1.1.1 is focused mainly on adding fixes to further stabilize the SDK with ROS Indigo.
The Machine Sync I/O
These changes were partly developed to compliment the Machine Sync I/O addition that came in the previous update: Baxter Research Robot SDK v1.1 . The Machine Sync I/O enables a tighter integration of Baxter with other equipment and automation systems already set up, making Baxter deployment easier for its new users.
Update highlights
True to themselves, Rethink Robotics software engineers considered customers’ feedback to develop this update, and a great number of enhancements were made in order to meet their expectations of what collaborative robotics should look like.
Here is a list of this new update highlights:
- Added torso navigators to control the User Interface
- Upgraded OpenCV to 2.4.9 and recompiled with several plugins enabled (including gtk).
- This fixes an issue that prevented running rosrun baxter_examples xdisplay_image.py -f baxterworking.png on the ruser account from displaying any image on Baxter’s screen
- Reduced overall robot restart/shutdown time
- Fixed an issue in syncing gripper playback with joint_trajectory_playback arm execution
- Fixed an issue that caused the IK service to be too conservative in estimating if solutions were feasible that resulted in an increase in No Solutions
To learn more about the update, you can read the release notes published on the Rethink Robotics website . The update SDK v1.1.1 for the collaborative robot Baxter is available for download from the Rethink Robotics community website (instructions for updating from 1.1.0 to 1.1.1).
It is also important to note that ROS Indigo requires an upgrade to your workstation – to Ubuntu 14.04. If you need help to upgrade your workstation to Ubuntu 14.04, Rethink Robotics released a step-to-step instructions guide , that will guide you through the update.
Now over to you! Feel free to contact us about this update and send us your feedback!