Installation¶

Requirements¶

A computer with Ubuntu 18.04 / 20.04
ROS Melodic / Noetic

Steps¶

Clone the Frankapy Repository and its Submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:iamlab-cmu/frankapy.git

To allow asynchronous gripper commands, we use the franka_ros package, so install libfranka and franka_ros using the following command (Change melodic to noetic if you are on Ubuntu 20.04):
```
sudo apt install ros-melodic-libfranka ros-melodic-franka-ros
```
Create and enter a virtual environment (Virtual Environment) and then run the following commands:
```
cd frankapy
pip install -e .
```
Compile the catkin_ws using the following script:
```
./bash_scripts/make_catkin.sh
```
Afterwards source the catkin_ws using the following command:
```
source catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash
```
It is a good idea to add the following line to the end of your ~/.bashrc file:
```
source /path/to/frankapy/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash --extend
```

(Optional) Additional Steps¶

Protobuf¶

If you plan on modifying the library and the protobuf messages, you will need to compile the Google Protocol Buffer library from scratch using the following instructions.

First determine the number of cores on your computer using the command:
```
nproc
```

Execute the following commands:

sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool curl make g++ unzip
wget https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v21.8/protobuf-all-21.8.zip
unzip protobuf-all-21.8.zip
cd protobuf-21.8
./configure

Use the number that was previously printed out using the nproc command above and substitute it as N below:
```
make -jN
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
```
Afterwards, you can make the protobuf messages using the following script:
```
./bash_scripts/make_proto.sh
```

Virtual Environment¶

Note that these instructions work on Ubuntu 18.04. They might be slightly different for Ubuntu 20.04.

Install Python3.6:
```
sudo apt install -y python3-distutils
```

Install Pip:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | sudo -H python3.6

Install Virtual Environment and Other Useful Python Packages:
```
sudo -H pip3.6 install numpy matplotlib virtualenv
```
Create a Virtual Environment for Frankapy:
```
virtualenv -p python3.6 franka
```
Enter into the Virtual Environment:
```
source franka/bin/activate
```
How to exit the Virtual Environment:
```
deactivate
```