KUKA LBRs (iiwa and med) now on RoboStack

The open-source RoboStack project has integrated official ROS 2 drivers for KUKA's sensitive LBR (Leichtbauroboter) series, specifically the iiwa and med models. This integration means researchers and developers can now install the necessary software stacks—including the `lbr-fri-ros2-stack` for robot communication and MoveIt configurations for path planning—directly via the Conda-forge and RoboStack channels using the `pixi` package manager. The support covers ROS 2 distributions Humble and Jazzy and, notably, extends to macOS, a platform often underserved in industrial robotics. With a few terminal commands, users can launch a mock robot simulation with the RViz visualization tool or connect to physical hardware using controllers like an admittance controller for hand-guiding.

This release, contributed to by developers from institutions like the German Aerospace Center (DLR), represents a major step in standardizing and simplifying robot software deployment. Currently, the distribution includes the FRI (Fast Robot Interface) 1.x client SDK, with plans to support versions up to 3.0. The associated LBR-Stack paper was recently published in the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS), cementing its academic credibility. By packaging everything from the low-level driver to high-level motion planning configs, RoboStack turns what was a complex, days-long setup process into a task achievable in under 60 seconds, as demonstrated in their launch video.