Keeping the Franka Emika Panda alive: a ROS 2 stack with a reliable position interface

2026-08-20

AI Summary

本文通过开发一个包含异步硬件接口和位置域参考生成策略的ROS 2软件栈，解决了Franka Emika Panda机器人外部位置控制不稳定的问题。

Abstract

This paper presents an open-source software stack that restores ROS 2 support for the Franka Emika Panda robot while resolving the long-standing unreliability of its external position control interface. We first analyze the root causes of unstable position control and show that the observed vibrations and protective stops arise from the timing of the external control loop and sampling jitter, rather than from limitations of the robot itself. Building on this analysis, we introduce an asynchronous hardware interface that decouples real-time communication from the ROS 2 control loop, a rate-matching mechanism for slower command sources, and a position-domain reference generation strategy that produces reliable, smooth position commands. Experimental validation shows that the proposed architecture reliably tracks velocity references by reducing motion artifacts introduced by the official implementation, and the stack is validated across motion planning, compliance control, position-controlled manipulation, and haptic teleoperation on two independent Panda platforms. By restoring a modern, reliable, and open ROS 2 ecosystem for the Panda, this work lowers the barrier to developing safe, responsive, and reproducible human-robot collaboration applications that integrate planning, perception, interaction, and shared autonomy. Code and videos are available on our website at https://sites.google.com/view/fer-ros2/.

Problem

• Franka Emika Panda
• ROS 2
• position control
• unreliability
• vibrations

Innovation

• asynchronous hardware interface
• rate-matching mechanism
• position-domain reference generation