[Question beginner] Moveit Gazebo

[DimiSf]

Hello there,

You have done significant work and thank you for your contribution @AndrejOrsula!

I would really appreciate some guidance if you're available.

My goal is to create a simple motion planning setup using MoveIt 2 and Ignition Gazebo Fortress for a Franka Emika R3 robot — starting with a basic point-to-point example and then expanding to pick and place (no vision involved).

My setup:

• ROS 2 Humble
• MoveIt 2
• Ignition Gazebo Fortress
• Ubuntu 22.04 with real-time kernel
• Franka Emika R3

However, I’m currently stuck trying to get MoveIt and Gazebo working together, especially when trying to activate controllers via ros2_control and gz_ros2_control. I’ve run into pluginlib errors and controller manager issues during launch, and I suspect it might be related to the plugin configuration or missing interface links.

I'd like to ask for help understanding a confusion that still persists for me:

With all the rebranding (Ignition → Gz, and different plugin models), even though I know I'm using Ignition Gazebo (Fortress), I still find it hard to pinpoint what exactly to follow in this repository to reach my goal.
There’s a lot of valuable info and structure here, but the different layers (ros2_control, gz_ros2_control, MoveIt, Gazebo, etc.) and multiple plugin frameworks make it hard to orient myself.

Could you possibly suggest:

• Which exact files or launch scripts in your repo I should focus on?
• What the minimal working pieces are to test a simple MoveIt motion plan inside Ignition?

Even a hint or brief direction would be massively helpful, thank you in advance!

[AndrejOrsula]

Hello @DimiSf,

What the minimal working pieces are to test a simple MoveIt motion plan inside Ignition?

As a first step, I would suggest you start looking into the panda_gz_moveit2 repository on its own. Just ignore this repository for now until you get motion planning work via the RViz plugin. To test the integration with Ignition Gazebo, you can run:

ros2 launch panda_moveit_config ex_ign_control.launch.py

Which exact files or launch scripts in your repo I should focus on?

• For now, focus on the ex_ign_control.launch.py.
• As for the robot configuration, most of it is done through URDF xacros here.
• MoveIt integration is mostly done through the configs here. The most relevant of those would be the controllers config, but it is interface specific, e.g. controllers_position.yaml.

For support in Humble, please check AndrejOrsula/panda_gz_moveit2#40.

Good luck!

[j-rivero]

Hello @DimiSf:

You are good on time since we are trying to use the panda_gz_moveit2 repository to host basic documentation about how to setup the ROS2 + MoveIt 2 + Gazebo and server as a template. Some questions for understanding the problems of newcomers:

• How did you find this repository?
• How did you install the necessary software for your ROS 2 Humble + Gazebo + MoveIt2 setup?

@AndrejOrsula gave you the best pointers in the right direction. Keep us informed of your progress.

Thanks.

[DimiSf]

Thank you so much for your helpful and quick response, @AndrejOrsula and @j-rivero!

I'm starting right away to follow your instructions, and I’ll come back with feedback as soon as I try everything.

@j-rivero To answer your question — I'm currently working on my Bachelor's Thesis, and this is the first time I’m operating this robot in the lab (Franka Emika R3). I’ve done a lot of research through past GitHub issues, tutorials, and forum posts to understand what others have tried, and that’s how I stumbled across a reply of yours on a MoveIt-related question (I wish I had saved the link) and i followed your prompt here!
As for installing the software, I followed the official documentation of each tool (ROS 2, MoveIt 2, Gazebo) and tried to match the compatible versions. Getting the real-time kernel working correctly made it a bit more tricky, but I think I’ve got it under control now.

As a newcomer, one of the most difficult parts has been trying to find a clear path through the “tutorial hell” , the overwhelming situation, how many fields you have to understand and sick for help with any possible way you can . I’m really grateful for your guidance and for making these examples available. I admire your work and the effort behind this project — and I truly don’t take any of it for granted.

Thanks again !!

Dimitra.

[DimiSf]

Hey @AndrejOrsula I dont quite understand something...
I clone this for devel-humble branch (since i work with Humble ROS2) in my franka_ros2 workspace...? i will use for fr3 not panda so i will erase these urdfs and srdfs? Sorry I am very confused how these work...

[AndrejOrsula]

I am not sure @DimiSf, as I have never used the franka_ros2 repo with Ignition Gazebo.

Are there any kinematic differences between the Franka Research 3 and the original Panda model? If not, you could try to start using the included Panda model and then change it into FR3 later, once everything works (for visuals and other differences).

Otherwise, you could also try to see if the developers/maintainers of franka_ros2 have some suggestions for using their model inside the new Gazebo with MoveIt 2.