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MoveIt Setup — Binary Packages (No Source Build)

Original: Your First C++ MoveIt Project

Running the Tutorial

Open two terminals inside the devcontainer.

Terminal 1 — Robot + MoveIt + RViz

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 launch moveit_resources_panda_moveit_config demo.launch.py

This starts:

  • ros2_control_node with mock Panda hardware (no physical robot needed)
  • Controllers: joint_state_broadcaster, panda_arm_controller, panda_hand_controller
  • robot_state_publisher + static TF world -> panda_link0
  • move_group — the MoveIt planning/execution action server
  • rviz2 with the MotionPlanning GUI panel configured for group panda_arm

RViz MotionPlanning Plugin Settings

demo.launch.py pre-configures these, but verify under Displays > MotionPlanning if anything looks wrong:

Field Value Note
Robot Description robot_description Standard topic, same for any robot
Planning Scene Topic /monitored_planning_scene Published by move_group
Planned Path > Trajectory Topic /display_planned_path Published by move_group
Planning Group panda_arm Panda-specific. Do NOT use manipulator — that is the Kinova Gen 3 group name

Terminal 2 — Build and run your code

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
cd /workspace
colcon build --packages-select hello_moveit
source install/setup.bash
ros2 run hello_moveit hello_moveit

The node connects to the running move_group, plans to pose (x=0.28, y=-0.2, z=0.5), and executes. The trajectory plays back in RViz.

Source vs Binary: What Changes

The official tutorial builds MoveIt from source. This table covers every step that differs when using binary packages instead.

Changed

Step Official tutorial (source) This setup (binary)
Install MoveIt vcs import + colcon build (~30 MoveIt repos) apt-get install of 16 packages in the Dockerfile (done for you in the container)
Launch the demo ros2 launch moveit2_tutorials demo.launch.py ros2 launch moveit_resources_panda_moveit_config demo.launch.py
Build scope colcon build --mixin release (MoveIt + your code) colcon build --packages-select hello_moveit (your code only)
Workspace sourcing source ~/ws_moveit/install/setup.bash source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash then source /workspace/install/setup.bash

moveit2_tutorials only exists if you built it from source. moveit_resources_panda_moveit_config is the binary package that ships the same Panda demo launch file — same nodes, same controllers, same RViz config.

Unchanged — no edits needed

Item Why it's the same
#include <moveit/move_group_interface/move_group_interface.hpp> Headers install to /opt/ros/jazzy/include/ regardless of source or binary
CMakeLists.txt (find_package, ament_target_dependencies) Resolves via ament cmake configs installed to the same path either way
package.xml (<depend>moveit_ros_planning_interface</depend>) This is the ament package name; the Debian package installs it transparently
ros2 run hello_moveit hello_moveit Your package and executable names don't change

Installed Binary Packages

All installed in .devcontainer/Dockerfile under the INSTALL_MOVEIT block:

Package Role
ros-jazzy-moveit Meta package — pulls in the core MoveIt stack
ros-jazzy-moveit-resources-panda-moveit-config Panda URDF, SRDF, MoveIt config, and demo.launch.py
ros-jazzy-moveit-visual-tools Visual debugging markers in RViz
ros-jazzy-rviz-visual-tools Base visual tools library
ros-jazzy-moveit-task-constructor-core Task-level motion planning
ros-jazzy-moveit-py Python bindings for MoveIt
ros-jazzy-warehouse-ros-sqlite SQLite-backed scene persistence
ros-jazzy-ros2-control Hardware abstraction layer
ros-jazzy-controller-manager Controller lifecycle management
ros-jazzy-joint-trajectory-controller Executes joint trajectories
ros-jazzy-joint-state-broadcaster Publishes joint states
ros-jazzy-joint-state-publisher Joint state publisher
ros-jazzy-robot-state-publisher Publishes TF from URDF
ros-jazzy-rviz2 3D visualization
ros-jazzy-xacro URDF macro preprocessor
ros-jazzy-joy Joystick input

Note: The ros-jazzy-moveit meta package does NOT transitively pull moveit-task-constructor-core, moveit-py, moveit-resources-panda-moveit-config, warehouse-ros-sqlite, the ros2-control stack, xacro, or joy. All must be listed explicitly.

Planning Group Names

The Panda SRDF (from moveit-resources-panda-moveit-config) defines three groups:

Group Joints
panda_arm 7 arm joints (panda_joint1 through panda_joint7)
hand 2 finger joints
panda_arm_hand All 9 joints

Use panda_arm in your MoveGroupInterface for arm-only planning (this is what the tutorial and demo.launch.py default to).