ROS models for the dVRK

This repository is usually cloned along the rest of the dVRK repositories using the vcs command. See build instructions for the dVRK: https://github.com/jhu-dvrk/sawIntuitiveResearchKit/wiki ➡️ Software installation.

Content

This repository contains:

• meshes for the dVRK, both Classic and Si
• URDF files for the different arms (ECM, PSM, MTM) as well setup joints (SUJ)
• launch files and RViz configuration files

The directories for meshes and URDF are the same for ROS 1 and ROS 2.

The top level directories launch and rviz are for ROS 1. For ROS 2, the directories are under ros2/launch and ros2/rviz are the equivalent for ROS 2. When using ROS 2, the files are installed in the shared directory for this package and can be used with ros2 launch dvrk_model ....

Launch files

The top launch files for the dVRK are either for individual arms (MTML, MTMR, PSM1...) or, either the patient cart or the surgeon's console. All launch files in the dvrk_model package are used for RViz visualization.

All launch files require a generation argument (generation:=Classic or generation:=Si). As of 2024, the MTMs and the surgeon's console can only be "Classic" so the the generation argument is not used for the MTML, MTMR and surgeon's console launch files.

There is also an optional simulated argument (default is True). When this argument is set the launch files starts the node dvrk_robot dvrk_console_json with a configuration file to simulate the dVRK. When simulated:=False, the dVRK console is not started. This can be used to visualize the physical robot assuming the user has already started the dVRK console in a separate terminal.

Examples:

roslaunch dvrk_model arm.launch arm:=PSM1 generation:=Si
roslaunch dvrk_model arm.launch arm:=MTMR generation:=Classic simulated:=False
roslaunch dvrk_model arm.launch arm:=ECM generation:=Classic
roslaunch dvrk_model patient_cart.launch generation:=Si
roslaunch dvrk_model patient_cart.launch generation:=Classic simulated:=False
roslaunch dvrk_model surgeon_console.launch

URDF files

Files using all capitalized names are for full arms, e.g. ECM, MTMR, MTML, PSM1, PSM2, PSM3. Files using all lower case names are for parts or full system (e.g. patient_cart, surgeon_console).

xacro stands for XML macro, i.e. parameterized XML code. xacro files can be "compiled" using:

rosrun xacro xacro mtm.urdf.xacro .... > result.urdf

Parts:

• common.urdf.xacro: general material info
• mtm.urdf.xacro: definition of xacros for da Vinci MTMs

Arms:

• PSM{1,2,3}.urdf.xacro: definition of PSM1, PSM2 and PSM3 using xacros from psm*.urdf.xacro
• MTM{L,R}.urdf.xacro: definition of MTML and MTMR using xacros from mtm.urdf.xacro

Systems:

• patient_cart.urdf.xacro: definition of the full patient cart (SUJs, PSMs and ECM)
• surgeon_console.urdf.xacro: definition of the surgeon's console (MTML and MTMR)

CAD files

Most meshes are in STL format. Some of the original CAD files can be found in the repository https://github.com/jhu-dvrk/dvrk_cad. The CAD files are stored in a different repository as they tend to be fairly large.