ControlBoardDriver: add iJointCoupling interface

[Nicogene]

This PR adds the iJointCoupling interface, that allows to handle coupled systems using YARP device driver such as:

• https://github.com/icub-tech-iit/ergocub-software/blob/master/src/modules/couplingXCubHandMk5/README.md

[Nicogene]

Yesterday @traversaro @xela-95 and I had an alignment, and we decided to deeply refactor the plugin in order to make cleaner the introduction of the coupling.

I managed to have a first version that compiles, it is already a success given how many things I changed :D

I will now test it using the current configuration files of ergocub (no coupling involved), in case of positive outcome I will move to test it with the coupling of the hands mk5.x.

[traversaro]

If you want a more self-contained test with a smaller model w.r.t. to ergocub, it seems that also the single_pendulum tests is currently failing.

[Nicogene]

If you want a more self-contained test with a smaller model w.r.t. to ergocub, it seems that also the single_pendulum tests is currently failing.

Thanks for the heads up! I used that test for debugging it and I managed to find that specific error, one controlboard test is still failing I am not sure if it is due to my changes

[Nicogene]

I managed to fix:

• limits
• names

for the actuated axes, I am still getting a segmentation fault on ControlBoardCommonsTest

At first glance, ergocub seems controllable with my changes

[traversaro]

for the actuated axes, I am still getting a segmentation fault on ControlBoardCommonsTest

Are you sure that you do not have some stale or dirty file in your system, for example some old installation? The ControlBoardCommonsTest test passes fine in CI.

[Nicogene]

The coupling seems to work just fine

[traversaro]

Great! Not blocking, but most of the (implicit) documentation for plugins is given in the tutorial folder in form of examples for each plugin. To have an example for the coupling functionality, we could port https://github.com/robotology/gazebo-yarp-plugins/tree/master/tutorial/model/coupled_pendulum (and obviously it will start depending on icub-main). That will provide also a simple smoke test for the coupling functionality in

gz-sim-yarp-plugins/tests/gz-sim-yarp-plugins-check-model/CMakeLists.txt

Line 19 in 64deb83

.

[Nicogene]

I noticed that enabling the control of the hands make drop the RTF of a ~ 20%, this can be noticed also in the screenshots I posted:

• No hands RTF 79%
• With hands RTF 58%

I have also checked the RTF on main and it is ~ 78% so it seems not that my changes slowed down the simulation, probably the more joints to control make the simulation slower

cc @xela-95 @traversaro

[Nicogene]

Great! Not blocking, but most of the (implicit) documentation for plugins is given in the tutorial folder in form of examples for each plugin. To have an example for the coupling functionality, we could port robotology/gazebo-yarp-plugins@master/tutorial/model/coupled_pendulum (and obviously it will start depending on icub-main). That will provide also a simple smoke test for the coupling functionality in

gz-sim-yarp-plugins/tests/gz-sim-yarp-plugins-check-model/CMakeLists.txt

Line 19 in 64deb83

.

Ok for me! But we need first to merge the coupling device PR in icub-main:

• Add couplingICubEye device icub-main#997

[traversaro]

Great! Not blocking, but most of the (implicit) documentation for plugins is given in the tutorial folder in form of examples for each plugin. To have an example for the coupling functionality, we could port robotology/gazebo-yarp-plugins@master/tutorial/model/coupled_pendulum (and obviously it will start depending on icub-main). That will provide also a simple smoke test for the coupling functionality in

gz-sim-yarp-plugins/tests/gz-sim-yarp-plugins-check-model/CMakeLists.txt

Line 19 in 64deb83

.

Ok for me! But we need first to merge the coupling device PR in icub-main:

* [Add `couplingICubEye` device icub-main#997](https://github.com/robotology/icub-main/pull/997)

Sure! We can also just add tutorial and then add the tests once robotology/icub-main#997 is merged.

[Nicogene]

Great! Not blocking, but most of the (implicit) documentation for plugins is given in the tutorial folder in form of examples for each plugin. To have an example for the coupling functionality, we could port robotology/gazebo-yarp-plugins@master/tutorial/model/coupled_pendulum (and obviously it will start depending on icub-main). That will provide also a simple smoke test for the coupling functionality in

gz-sim-yarp-plugins/tests/gz-sim-yarp-plugins-check-model/CMakeLists.txt

Line 19 in 64deb83

.

Ok for me! But we need first to merge the coupling device PR in icub-main:

* [Add `couplingICubEye` device icub-main#997](https://github.com/robotology/icub-main/pull/997)

Sure! We can also just add tutorial and then add the tests once robotology/icub-main#997 is merged.

I would prefer to add the tutorial after merging robotology/icub-main#997 because I am not 100% about the configuration file for that coupling, I can add the tutorial but it is possible that the configuration files has to be revised after testing the coupling of the eyes.

Our plan is to test the coupling devices of icub once this PR is merged (cc @martinaxgloria)

[traversaro]

Ok, no problem for me!

[traversaro]

Minor comments, the one that I care more is to avoid to change the content of m_pluginParameters

[xela-95]

Thanks a lot @Nicogene for the great work! It looks good to me! 🚀

Maybe it could be useful to add the coupled pendulum tutorial as suggested by @traversaro both as an example for the user and as a smoke test for the coupling feature. But this can be done in another PR.

[Nicogene]

I should have addressed all your requested changes, and I re-tested the coupling after the changes

[traversaro]

Great, thanks a lot!

[traversaro]

@xela-95 the PR for me is ready to merge once CI is happy. I guess we can merge with squash as the history is not curated.