Control NERO’s 7-DoF Effortlessly with MoveIt 2 (Part I)

Agilex Robotics has released a detailed technical guide demonstrating how to control their NERO 7-degree-of-freedom robotic arm using MoveIt 2, the next-generation motion planning framework built on ROS2. The tutorial provides a complete workflow starting from downloading the URDF model from their GitHub repository, through configuring the MoveIt package using the Setup Assistant interface, to finally launching and controlling the arm in RViz. This represents a significant integration that leverages MoveIt2's improvements in real-time performance, scalability, and industrial applicability over the original MoveIt framework.

The step-by-step guide covers essential robotic control functions including collision checking, inverse kinematics calculations, trajectory generation, and execution through the ROS2 Humble distribution on Ubuntu 22.04. Developers create two planning groups (arm and gripper) using the KDL kinematics solver and RRTstar for OMPL planning, then configure position controllers for simulation in Gazebo. The final implementation allows users to drag markers in RViz to set arm positions, then execute planned movements through the intuitive Plan & Execute interface.

This release addresses a critical need in robotics development by providing clear documentation for integrating complex robotic hardware with modern ROS2 tooling. The tutorial serves both educational purposes for those learning robotic arm control and practical implementation guidance for developers working with Agilex's NERO platform. By bridging the gap between hardware specifications and software control frameworks, Agilex is lowering the barrier to advanced robotic manipulation development.