Allegro Hand ZMQ Interface

Adapted from https://github.com/simlabrobotics/allegro_hand_linux_v4

This interface allows communicating with a v4 Allegro hand via ZMQ.

Required hardware

1. Allegro hand v4
2. PCAN-USB interface

Setup instructions

Prerequisites

1. PCAN-USB driver

Download, build, and install PCAN-USB driver for Linux "libpcan"

tar -xzvf peak-linux-driver-x.x.tar.gz
cd peak-linux-driver-x.x
make NET=NO
sudo make install

Troubleshooting

• If encounter

  src/pcan-settings.c:47:10: fatal error: popt.h: No such file or directory
     47 | #include <popt.h>
      |      	^~~~~~~~
  compilation terminated.

  Run

  sudo apt install libpopt-dev

2. libpcanbasic

Download, build, and install PCAN-Basic API for Linux: libpcanbasic

tar -xzvf PCAN_Basic_Linux-x.x.x.tar.gz
cd PCAN_Basic_Linux-x.x.x/pcanbasic
make
sudo make install

3. libBHand grasping library

Download, build, and install Grasping Library for Linux, "libBHand": Grasping_Library_for_Linux

unzip LibBHand_{32|64}.zip
cd libBHand_{32|64}
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Installing this interface

Build using cmake "out of source build" style.

cd allegro_hand_linux
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
make install

Usage

Launching the interface

1. Connect PCAN-USB and Allegro Hand (make sure to power off Allegro Hand)
2. Start the grasping program: "grasp": bin/grasp
3. Power on the Allegro Hand. The motors should actuate and the hand should return to the home configuration.

Controlling via ZMQ

Please refer to dex_grasp_nuc for usage examples.