A ROS-based framework to boost the manipulation tasks programming and execution

This paper introduces a robotic manipulation frame- work for the programming and execution of manipulation tasks. The framework is based on the ROS platform and provides advanced motion planning and control functionalities to re- lieve the upper control layers from the management of low- level functionalities and the task geometrical information. The framework is modular with respect to motion planning and control algorithms and is able to deal with dynamically updated scenes. Moreover, it provides an interface through which high- level actions can be implemented and executed automatically. Examples of some basic actions, such as go to, pick, place, are also available and ready to use.