I've been working on the ROS 2 driver for the AR4, I'm wondering what changes would need to be made to the firmware or software to support the MK3? Any changes to link dimensions (for kinematics calculation purposes) or joint limits or anything like that? Thanks, Yifei

Hi Annin Robotics Community, I'm excited to share that I've recently developed and released a ROS 2 driver for the AR4 robot arm. It uses ros2_control framework for robot control, MoveIt 2 for motion planning, and Rviz2 for user interface and visualization. It's available to use at https://github.com/ycheng517/ar4_ros_driver (https://github.com/ycheng517/ar4_ros_driver)a(https://github.com/ycheng517/ar4_ros_driverIt's)nd will be actively developed and maintained. Check it out if you wish to tap into the power of ROS 2 with the AR4, and contributions are welcome!

upon running the "test encoders" program, I realized that my J2 encoder value does not change from 1000, it merely flickers between 1000 and 999 when I move the motor. All motors and all other encoders work fine. I spliced the encoder cable near the encoder and found that when the teensy is plugged in, the voltage difference between the red and black encoders near the encoder is 4.8V. I then decided to directly wire the blue encoder cable to pin 16 on the teensy, and the brown encoder cable to pin 17. However, the encoder is still not working. Is there any other checks that I can do or should I conclude that the encoder is broken? Thanks, Yifei

The startup procedure specifies "Check continuity on all wires and connectors for each motor, encoder and limit switch." I was able to check for continuity of everything in the electrical panel, but on the robotside, the electrical contacts of the limit switches are covered by liquid electrical tape, and most motor and encoder wires are attached to the motor via connectors and thus can't be unplugged. Therefore I'm wondering how to check for continuity on the robot side? Is it just check what you can get access to? Thanks, Yifei

My HK1612 bearing has a really tight fit on the J5 bearing post and cannot budge at all, so much so that I cannot remove it from the post. Should it be freely rotating around the post? What are consequences of the bearing being stuck? Thanks in advance!