MUR5e (UR5e on MiR100)

An autonomous mobile manipulation system built on ROS 2 Jazzy and Gazebo Harmonic. The robot — a MiR 100 differential drive base carrying a UR5e 6-DOF arm with a parallel-jaw gripper — can locate a target object, navigate to an optimal pick pose, grasp the object, carry it to a drop location, and place it, all under the supervision of a BehaviorTree.CPP mission executive.

Demo / Showcasing

Watch the full, autonomous 12-step pick-and-place mission in action:

FuLL_Working_pickplace_example.mp4

System Overview

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    pick_place_orchestrator                 │
│   BehaviorTree.CPP  ──►  12-step pick-and-place mission   │
│    TargetAcquisition │ OptimizePose │ NavigateToPose       │
│    MoveArm │ GripperControl │ Attach/DetachPayload         │
└────────┬─────────┬──────────────┬────────────┬────────────┘
         │         │              │            │
         ▼         ▼              ▼            ▼
  [Nav2 stack] [MoveIt 2]  [Base Placement] [Gazebo Bridge]
  autonomous   motion       Optimizer       ros_gz_bridge
  navigation   planning     (IK + costmap   topic bridging
  (Nav2 + SLAM  (MoveIt 2   scoring)
   Toolbox)     + ros2_control)

The 12-step mission (6 pick + 6 place) is encoded in a single BehaviorTree XML file. A fallback recovery branch detaches any held payload and stows the arm if any step fails.

Hardware & Simulation Stack

Layer	Technology
Mobile Base	MiR 100 (differential drive)
Manipulator	Universal Robots UR5e (6-DOF)
Gripper	Parallel-jaw (prismatic fingers)
Simulator	Gazebo Harmonic (`ros_gz_sim`)
Motion Planning	MoveIt 2
Navigation	Nav2
SLAM	slam_toolbox (online async)
Mission Logic	BehaviorTree.CPP 4
Build System	ROS 2 Jazzy · `ament_cmake`

Repository Layout

mobile_manipulator/
├── src/
│   ├── mir_description/               # MiR 100 URDF / meshes
│   ├── ur_description/                # UR5e URDF macros (upstream)
│   ├── mobile_manipulator_description/# Combined robot xacro + gripper
│   ├── mobile_manipulator_gazebo/     # Worlds, simulation launch
│   ├── mobile_manipulator_slam/       # slam_toolbox bringup + maps
│   ├── mobile_manipulator_nav/        # Nav2 bringup + arm-stow condition
│   ├── mobile_manipulator_moveit_config/ # MoveIt 2 SRDF + config
│   ├── base_placement_optimizer/      # IK-aware base pose action server
│   └── pick_place_orchestrator/       # BT engine + mission action server
├── specs/                             # Feature specs & implementation plans
│   ├── 001-mir-ur5e-description/
│   ├── …
│   └── 012-unified-launch/
└── .agents/                           # Spec Kit agent skills

Package Reference

`mobile_manipulator_description`

Provides the unified robot URDF/xacro.

mobile_manipulator.urdf.xacro — Assembles the MiR 100 base, UR5e arm (mounted on the surface link), safety collision volume, parallel-jaw gripper, and an Intel RealSense D435 camera mounted on the end-effector (ur5e_tool0) for visual servoing alignment.
mobile_manipulator.gazebo.xacro — Adds Gazebo plugins (ros2_control, differential drive, wrist depth camera, IMU, etc.).

`mobile_manipulator_gazebo`

Simulation world and launch infrastructure.

World: worlds/nav_workspace.sdf — Table, shelving, and target workpiece in a realistic warehouse scene. Includes 2 static monitoring cameras and a top-down overview camera to visualize navigation and manipulation.
Gazebo GUI: Configured via config/gazebo_gui.config to dock the 3D View and display live monitoring feeds of the workspace and robot.
simulation.launch.py — Brings up Gazebo Harmonic, spawns the robot, starts all ros_gz_bridge topics (cmd_vel, odom, tf, joint_states, camera/points), and sequences controller spawners via event handlers.

Launch arg	Default	Description
`world`	`nav_workspace.sdf`	SDF world file name
`headless`	`false`	Run Gazebo without GUI
`x_pose`	`-4.0`	Robot spawn X
`y_pose`	`0.0`	Robot spawn Y
`z_pose`	`0.15`	Robot spawn Z

`mobile_manipulator_slam`

Online SLAM using slam_toolbox.

Configured for async online mapping (mapper_params_online_async.yaml).
RViz preset included for live map visualization.

`mobile_manipulator_nav`

Nav2 bringup and a custom lifecycle condition node.

is_arm_stowed_condition — Monitors the arm joint state and prevents navigation when the arm is not in its safe travel pose.
Launch variants: full Nav2, nav2 without collision monitor, and a minimal nav_bringup.

`mobile_manipulator_moveit_config`

Auto-generated (and hand-tuned) MoveIt 2 configuration.

Planning group: robot_arm (UR5e joints).
SRDF defines stowed named state for safe travel.
Deterministic Motion Planning: Configured with the Pilz Industrial Motion Planner pipeline (CommandPlanner) for deterministic named (PTP) and straight-line Cartesian (LIN) trajectories. Enforces strict end-effector roll/pitch locking ($\pm 0.02$ rad) during Cartesian approaches/retreats, with automatic fallback to OMPL only for free-space/named transitions. Aborts immediately on linear approach planning failure to ensure safety.

OctoMap 3D Occupancy Grid Representation

`base_placement_optimizer`

ROS 2 Action Server that computes a reachable, collision-safe base pose around a target object.

Action: optimize_placement (OptimizePlacement.action)

Algorithm:

Sample angular_samples candidate poses at reach_radius around the target.
Filter by Nav2 OccupancyGrid (obstacle check).
Score each pose via IK feasibility + manipulability.
Score = alpha × manipulability + (1 − alpha) × (1 / path_distance).

See src/base_placement_optimizer/README.md for full parameter reference, and src/base_placement_optimizer/ARCHITECTURE.md for a deep dive into the system architecture, algorithm flowcharts, and how to run the end-to-end task example.

`pick_place_orchestrator`

The mission executive. Exposes a PickPlaceMission action server and drives execution through a BehaviorTree.CPP tree.

Action: pick_place_mission (PickPlaceMission.action)

BT Nodes:

Node	Type	Description
`TargetAcquisition`	Action	Resolve pick/place pose from parameter server
`OptimizePose`	Action	Call `optimize_placement` action
`NavigateToPose`	Action	Send Nav2 NavigateToPose goal
`MoveArm`	Action	Execute MoveIt 2 Cartesian or named-pose goal
`VisualServo`	Action	Refine end-effector alignment using wrist depth camera feedback
`GripperControl`	Action	Open / close gripper via `gripper_controller`
`AttachPayload`	Action	Attach collision object to `ur5e_tool0` in MoveIt
`DetachPayload`	Action	Detach collision object from `ur5e_tool0`
`CheckPoseCondition`	Condition	Guard: skip place phase if no place pose set

Mission flow (behavior_trees/pick_place_mission.xml):

Steps 1-6  (PICK_PHASE):
  1. TargetAcquisition(pick)
  2. OptimizePose(pick)  →  optimized_pick_base_pose
  3. NavigateToPose(optimized_pick_base_pose)
  4. Execute Pick:
     - GripperOpen
     - MoveArm(grasp_ready) [PTP]
     - MoveArm(pick_pose + 20cm standoff) [PTP]
     - VisualServo (align wrist camera to cylinder side contours)
     - MoveArm(pick_pose + 3cm advance) [PTP]
     - GripperClose
  5. AttachPayload
     - MoveArm(pick_pose + 15cm lift) [PTP]
  6. MoveArm(stowed) [PTP]

Steps 7-12 (PLACE_PHASE, optional):
  7. TargetAcquisition(place)
  8. OptimizePose(place)  →  optimized_place_base_pose
  9. NavigateToPose(optimized_place_base_pose)
 10. Execute Place:
     - MoveArm(place_pose + 15cm approach) [PTP]
     - MoveArm(place_pose) [LIN]
     - GripperOpen
 11. DetachPayload
     - MoveArm(place_pose + 15cm retract) [PTP]
 12. MoveArm(stowed) [PTP]

Recovery (on any failure):
  DetachPayload → MoveArm(stowed) → AlwaysFailure

📺 See the Demo / Showcasing section at the top of the page for a video of the full mission in action.

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

# ROS 2 Jazzy + Gazebo Harmonic
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-desktop ros-jazzy-ros-gz*

# MoveIt 2
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-moveit

# Nav2
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-navigation2 ros-jazzy-nav2-bringup

# BehaviorTree.CPP 4
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-behaviortree-cpp

# slam_toolbox
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-slam-toolbox

# ros2_control
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-ros2-control ros-jazzy-ros2-controllers

2. Clone & Build

git clone <repo-url> mobile_manipulator
cd mobile_manipulator
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

3. Run the Full Pick-and-Place Mission (Auto-Triggered)

You can launch the entire stack (Gazebo simulation, Nav2, MoveIt 2, Base Placement Optimizer, BT Orchestrator) and automatically trigger the 12-step pick-and-place mission:

Via the Quickstart Script:
```
./run_pick_place_mission.sh
```

Via ROS 2 Launch:

ros2 launch pick_place_orchestrator pick_place_mission.launch.py

Options:

# Run Gazebo in headless mode (no GUI)
ros2 launch pick_place_orchestrator pick_place_mission.launch.py headless:=true

# Launch without auto-starting the mission (manual trigger)
ros2 launch pick_place_orchestrator pick_place_mission.launch.py auto_start:=false

# Pass custom pick and place locations
ros2 launch pick_place_orchestrator pick_place_mission.launch.py \
  pick_x:=4.5 pick_y:=4.0 pick_z:=0.80 \
  place_x:=4.5 place_y:=-4.0 place_z:=0.75

The mission trigger node will send the action goal after an 80-second delay, allowing all system layers (localization, costmaps, planning scenes) to fully initialize.

4. Run the Validation Stack (Manual/Custom Goals)

Alternatively, bring up the entire stack without auto-starting the mission immediately:

ros2 launch pick_place_orchestrator validation.launch.py

Then, send a mission goal manually in another terminal:

ros2 action send_goal /pick_place_mission \
  pick_place_orchestrator/action/PickPlaceMission \
  "{pick_pose: {header: {frame_id: 'map'}, pose: {position: {x: 4.5, y: 4.0, z: 0.80}, orientation: {w: 1.0}}}, \
    place_pose: {header: {frame_id: 'map'}, pose: {position: {x: 4.5, y: -4.0, z: 0.75}, orientation: {w: 1.0}}}}"

Launch Reference

All launch files across all packages are documented in LAUNCH.md, including every argument, its default value, and concrete ros2 launch examples.

Quick summary of the most-used files:

Launch File	Package	What it starts
`pick_place_mission.launch.py`	`pick_place_orchestrator`	🚀 Complete Mission — brings up the full stack and auto-starts the pick-and-place sequence
`validation.launch.py`	`pick_place_orchestrator`	⭐ Full stack — sim + Nav2 + MoveIt + optimizer + orchestrator (no auto-start)
`orchestrator.launch.py`	`pick_place_orchestrator`	Orchestrator node only (assumes stack is up)
`optimizer_demo.launch.py`	`base_placement_optimizer`	Sim + Nav2 + MoveIt + optimizer (no orchestrator)
`simulation.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_gazebo`	Gazebo + robot spawn + all bridges + controllers
`nav_bringup.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_nav`	Sim + full Nav2 stack (map server, AMCL, planners)
`navigation.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_nav`	Nav2 stack only (no Gazebo)
`demo.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_moveit_config`	Sim + MoveIt move_group + RViz MotionPlanning panel
`move_group.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_moveit_config`	MoveIt move_group only
`slam_mapping.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_slam`	Sim + slam_toolbox (map building session)
`display.launch.py`	`mobile_manipulator_description`	RViz URDF viewer + joint sliders

See LAUNCH.md for the remaining files (gazebo.launch.py, optimizer.launch.py, rviz.launch.py, spawn_controllers.launch.py, nav2_no_collision_monitor.launch.py, mir_description/display.launch.py, and the UR5e standalone demos).

Architecture

TF Tree

map
 └── odom
      └── base_link  (MiR 100)
           └── surface
                ├── ur5e_mount_link
                │    └── ur5e_base_link → … → ur5e_tool0
                │         ├── finger_left
                │         └── finger_right
                └── safety_collision_volume

Topic Graph (key interfaces)

Topic	Type	Direction
`/cmd_vel`	`geometry_msgs/Twist`	ROS → Gazebo
`/odom`	`nav_msgs/Odometry`	Gazebo → ROS
`/tf`	`tf2_msgs/TFMessage`	Gazebo → ROS
`/joint_states`	`sensor_msgs/JointState`	Gazebo → ROS
`/camera/points`	`sensor_msgs/PointCloud2`	Gazebo → ROS
`/optimize_placement`	`OptimizePlacement` action	ROS action
`/pick_place_mission`	`PickPlaceMission` action	ROS action

Controller Layout

Controller	Joints
`joint_state_broadcaster`	All joints (read-only)
`joint_trajectory_controller`	UR5e arm joints
`gripper_controller`	`finger_left_joint`, `finger_right_joint`

License

Apache-2.0 — see individual package.xml files for per-package declarations.

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

MUR5e (UR5e on MiR100)

Demo / Showcasing

Table of Contents

System Overview

Hardware & Simulation Stack

Repository Layout

Package Reference

`mobile_manipulator_description`

`mobile_manipulator_gazebo`

`mobile_manipulator_slam`

`mobile_manipulator_nav`

`mobile_manipulator_moveit_config`

`base_placement_optimizer`

`pick_place_orchestrator`

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

2. Clone & Build

3. Run the Full Pick-and-Place Mission (Auto-Triggered)

4. Run the Validation Stack (Manual/Custom Goals)

Launch Reference

Architecture

TF Tree

Topic Graph (key interfaces)

Controller Layout

License

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Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
src		src
LAUNCH.md		LAUNCH.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
run_pick_place_mission.sh		run_pick_place_mission.sh

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MUR5e (UR5e on MiR100)

Demo / Showcasing

Table of Contents

System Overview

Hardware & Simulation Stack

Repository Layout

Package Reference

mobile_manipulator_description

mobile_manipulator_gazebo

mobile_manipulator_slam

mobile_manipulator_nav

mobile_manipulator_moveit_config

base_placement_optimizer

pick_place_orchestrator

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

2. Clone & Build

3. Run the Full Pick-and-Place Mission (Auto-Triggered)

4. Run the Validation Stack (Manual/Custom Goals)

Launch Reference

Architecture

TF Tree

Topic Graph (key interfaces)

Controller Layout

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`mobile_manipulator_description`

`mobile_manipulator_gazebo`

`mobile_manipulator_slam`

`mobile_manipulator_nav`

`mobile_manipulator_moveit_config`

`base_placement_optimizer`

`pick_place_orchestrator`