Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation

Research

The Care-O-bot research initiative aims at making the Care-O-bot and rob@work systems available as high-tech research platforms. The main objectives to reach this goal are to

provide a common open source repository for the hardware platform
provide simulation models of all hardware components

All systems can be customized and equipped with sensors and actuators individually. Information about the distribution and configuration of Fraunhofer IPA's robots can be found here.

If you are interested in obtaining a Care-O-bot 3, Care-O-bot 4 or rob@work 3 platform, please contact us.

Software - Open-source repository

For using the Care-O-bot or rob@work systems we provide an open-source repository for different robotic frameworks (at the moment ROS and Orocos). The repository includes hardware drivers as well as simulation models and application examples.

Installation

First of all you need to install ROS. Please follow the ROS installation instructions. Afterwards you have to install the Care-O-bot repository. Information about supported releases and installation instructions can be found here.

Stacks

The open source repository is organized in stacks. Each stack contains packages which offer a typical functionality. You can find a list of selected Care-O-bot and rob@work related stacks and packages here.

Running the Software

Instructions for running the software can be found here. The repository also provides a simulation stack with Gazebo simulation models of all hardware components of Care-O-bot 3 and rob@work 3.

Tutorials

To get a step into the repository it is enclosed with some tutorials. An overview of the official Care-O-bot research tutorials can be found here.