Foreman

Note: Still under active development!

ros2_control component lifecycle manager for easier brinup.

It takes a named group of component lifecycle states (a system state) in config/scenario.yaml, and tries to automatically transition between them.

Quick start:

1. Describe your system

controller_manager: my_controller_manager
transition_pause: 0.5

lifecycle_nodes:
  - my_node

hardware:
  - franka
  - kassow

controllers:
  joint_state_broadcaster:
    requires: [all, inactive]
  kassow_joint_trajectory_controller:
    requires: 
      - [kassow, active]
      - [my_node, active]
  franka_joint_trajectory_controller:
    requires: [franka, active]

goal_states:

  idle:
    controllers:
      joint_state_broadcaster: inactive
      kassow_joint_trajectory_controller: inactive
      franka_joint_trajectory_controller: inactive
    hardware:
      franka: inactive
      kassow: inactive
    lifecycle_nodes:
      my_node: active
  
  # ... more named states

2. Run the node

ros2 run foreman foreman_node --ros-args -p config_path:=/path/to/scenario.yaml

3. Set the goal

ros2 service call /foreman/set_goal foreman_msgs/srv/SetGoal "{goal: 'idle'}"

... or any other named goal in config/scenario.yaml

4. Monitor the component state changes

ros2 topic echo /my_controller_manager/activity

Architecture

Check types.py and engine.py for main API. Check planner.py for business logic. Check adapters/ for how we integrate foreman with the rest of the system. Check node.py how we glue it all up into a ros executable and run it.

• Foreman Engine

  • Pure python domain model
  • business logic + API, no ROS details
  • just take snapshot of the component states and output next state.

• Adapters

  • ComponentStateMonitor (inbound): Subscribes to cm/activity for HW + controllers. Monitors lifecycle nodes via /node/transition_event subscription with QoS matched event for discovery/death detection.
  • ControllerManagerServiceCaller (outbound): Calls controller_manager services.
  • LifecycleNodeServiceCaller (outbound): Calls /node/change_state for lifecycle node transitions.
  • RosSetGoalServer (inbound): Exposes /foreman/set_goal service.
  • DatalayerAdapter (outbound): ctrlX Datalayer integration (optional, to be added).