Robert: We’re past due for a new release – originally planned to do one every 6 weeks. We need to test to see what’s working. Need to continue support for ROS1. Melodic release will require more work, since no backporting has happened since May.
Need to create a list of commits that need to be backported – still TODO.
Henning: Do we actually have a working version from melodic-devel? (probably not, since we have been building from the master branch).
Tyler: Since 22.04 is out soon, should we keep Melodic as-is and focus on Noetic? We have limited resources, so Melodic seems to be less valuable.
v4hn: We definitely need releases in Melodic.
v4hn: We don’t have a clear policy for MTC either.
Tyler: current de facto policy is that if you want new features on older versions, you need to build from source.
v4hn: Prioritize backporting critical issues and fixes.
Tyler: Blocker for release is reviewing places where the API changed between Melodic and the current state of the master branch.
Nathan: backporting changes from ROS2 MoveIt will likely introduce more API-breaking changes, which would necessitate targeting a specific version.
Robert: I will cut new Melodic and Noetic releases from the current state this weekend.
Maintenance
Henning: we’re applying more structure for the MoveIt2 roadmap and issue tracking. Set up a Zenhub project board for this.
Tyler: Hoping that this provides more visibility into our work and the planning process. Does require the Zenhub Chrome or Firefox plugin to view the integrations.
Nathan: Performance in Chrome is better
MoveIt Config Packages / MoveIt Setup Assistant
Robert: Panda packages were broken in last release, which caused problems with the tutorials. Hoping to have FrankaEmika support this package again, but this depends on having technical availability. Would like to have this as a standalone repo again.
v4hn: Originally happened for historical project-support reasons. Good to tie the Panda moveit config packages to the tutorials.
Robert: Some open issues need to be merged and resolved first.
v4hn: Changes to config packages are related to MSA work. Would we consider changing the package structure for Noetic, as well as the generated launch files?
Henning: There’s ongoing work in MoveIt2 along these lines.
David: Have done some work on this in the context of the Stretch robot.
v4hn: Prefer to focus on technical contributions like IK plugins and planning scene updates than on MSA. Launch file structure isn’t as high priority – needs to “just work” for the average user.
Henning: current practice is to use ROS1 MSA and manually copy the output to ROS2 – not sustainable. This work needs to happen in MoveIt2 anyway.
v4hn: Current config package structure is way overcomplicated and redundant.
Henning: Ongoing work in MoveIt2 to make this happen. Fewer templates, more parameters. Still discussing how this will look in the future, though.
David: One annoying issue was the lack of a central URDF parameter. Was working on resolving this.
Robert: What’s our take on moving the Panda config back to the company?
Henning: Good to do this, makes sense.
v4hn: moveit_resources will keep a separate Panda config file.
Robert: Will provide feedback to the new maintainers. No voices of dissent = approval.
MoveIt Task Constructor ROS2 Branch Strategy
Jafar: We have a big PR for ROS2 MTC. The commit history needs to be cleaned up. Need to decide how we’ll manage the branches on the repo in the future, though.
v4hn: Create a new tag, make a release, rebase the devel branch. Need to check to make sure Github doesn’t throw away old tags. Releases don’t need to be based on the parent branch.
Robert: Proposes a merging approach. Use Rviz as an example for how this works. Two branches: melodic-devel and noetic-devel. Periodically merge melodic-devel into noetic-devel.
v4hn: How does this work with incompatible changes that are specific to individual versions?
Robert: Changes get reverted during the merge.
v4hn: Yikes!
v4hn: One side note to this approach: not well-supported in Github since it assumes a linear history. A separate tool will be needed to visualize this in a meaningful way.
Joe: need to have a linear history.
Henning: Cherry-picking between branches might be the easiest way going forward.
v4hn: +1 to cherry-picks – can individually revise commits to fix breakages.
Need to test to see which approach works best for our use case.
v4hn: The controller manager and trajectory execution manager plugins should be refactored.
Andy/Joe: Will prepare more detailed content in advance of next meeting.
Hybrid Planning:
Sebastian: PR is mostly reviewed, looking forward to getting it merged within the next month!
Attendees
Dave Coleman
David Lu!!
Davide Faconti
Gauthier Hentz
Giovanni Remigi
Henning Kayser
Jafar Abdi
Joe Schornak
Jorge Nicho
Lior Lustgarten
Mark Moll
Marq Rasmussen
Nathan Brooks
Parthasarathy Bana
Rick Staa
Robert Haschke
Sebastian Jahr
Sencer Yazici
Simon Schmeisser
Tyler Weaber
Vatan Aksoy Tezer
v4hn