rahgirrafi/kontrolem

Kontrol'Em is a framework for controlling robots, built to work with ROS 2, a widely used set of tools for building robot software. The idea behind it is that many different methods of controlling a robot, from simple approaches to more advanced ones that plan several steps ahead, can all be plugged into the same system through one shared interface, rather than each method needing its own separate setup. The project describes itself as something like MoveIt, a well known ROS 2 tool, but for the control side of robotics instead of motion planning. Right now the project supports four different control methods. One is a simple approach that reacts to the robot's current state with a fixed rule. Another adds an internal estimate of things the robot cannot measure directly, such as speed, based only on position readings. A third solves a small optimization problem on the fly to respect limits like maximum motor torque. The fourth looks ahead over a short time horizon to plan smoother movements, which the project says tracks a moving target noticeably more accurately than the simplest method alone. The codebase is organized in layers, with the core robot model and control logic written in plain C++ using the Eigen math library and completely independent of ROS itself, so that part can be tested and reused without needing a full robot software environment. Only the outermost layer actually connects to ROS 2. Included with the project are ready to run example demos, such as balancing a simulated cart with a pole on it, or controlling a simple two joint robot arm, along with a small physics simulator so these examples can run without needing separate simulation software. The project relies on Pinocchio, a robotics math library, ROS 2 Humble, and the colcon build tool, and includes an automated test suite covering both the underlying math and the closed loop behavior of all four control methods. According to its own status notes, the core functionality is complete, with support for robots that are not fixed to the ground still in progress.