To all Phidget users,

I guess what I'm ultimately getting at, is that it appears there are several people using phidgets now. When I do a wiki search, I see there are several packages (this includes the CCNY and other two I listed before).

http://www.ros.org/wiki/phidgets_drivers
http://www.ros.org/wiki/phidgets_ros
http://www.ros.org/wiki/phidgets_py_api
http://www.ros.org/wiki/phidgets
http://www.ros.org/wiki/PhidgetMotor
http://www.ros.org/wiki/ce_phidgets
https://launchpad.net/phidgets-ros-pkg
http://ros.org/wiki/phidget_ik

So I see C, C++, and Python wrappers dispersed throughout several packages, each which support different devices. I think it would be great for us to avoid duplicating efforts and make one monolithich phidgets stack, that is supported by the ROS/Phidgets community.

Myself, having used only one package (https://launchpad.net/phidgets-ros-pkg) working with a friend's hardware, was pretty impressed at the phidgets hardware, but the code took a little work due to less than optimal documentation. Once we figured out the inner workings, it worked beautifully -- an encoder board and motor control board with PID was already written and just needed some minor tweaks. I'm hoping to push those edits and knowledge back upstream.

I'm rather new to ROS, but wondering if others feel the same way. Is it time for a Phidgets SIG?

Regards,
Doug


On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Doug Sievers <dwsievers@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ivan,

I've done some work with phidgets in ROS. Can you comment on differences between your package and existing ones?

1) By Bob Mottram, rather extensive : https://launchpad.net/phidgets-ros-pkg
2) By Tully Foote, only RFID? : http://ros.org/wiki/phidgets

Thanks,
Doug



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2012 23:10:42 -0400
From: Ivan Dryanovski <ivan.dryanovski@gmail.com>
To: User discussions <ros-users@code.ros.org>
Subject: [ros-users] ccny-ros-pkg release: phidgets_drivers
Message-ID: <504C08B2.8020706@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi everyone,

We have put together a small stack with drivers for Phidgets devices:

http://www.ros.org/wiki/phidgets_drivers

The stack contains a package that downloads and installs the official
Phidgets C API, as well as a C++ API which we've written on top of it.
The C++ API provides a single Phidget class which specific devices can
inherit from. We have currently implemented two Phidgets: the
PhidgetSpatial 3/3/3 IMU and the Phidget IR, as well as ROS nodes for
both of them.

Extending the stack with more Phidget device classes should be fairly
easy using the API.

More info is available at the wiki pages. As always, we welcome any
feedback and suggestions.

Cheers,

Ivan

--
Ivan Dryanovski
Research Assistant, CCNY Robotics Lab
City University of New York (CUNY)
http://robotics.ccny.cuny.edu/People/Dryanovski