ROS Net F/T Driver

netft_driver is a native ROS driver for ATI Ethernet Net F/T and Ethernet Axia force/torque sensors. It supports a standalone ROS 1 or ROS 2 node and a ROS 2 ros2_control sensor hardware plugin.

Features

• Publishes calibrated geometry_msgs/WrenchStamped data in N and Nm.
• Reports connection, sequence, receive-rate, and device-status diagnostics.
• Provides an explicit software-bias service.
• Integrates with the standard ROS 2 force-torque sensor broadcaster.
• Carries a reviewed private snapshot of the netft-cpp acquisition core.

Supported ROS distributions

ROS distribution	Standalone driver	ros2_control plugin	Support policy
ROS 2 Lyrical	Yes	Yes	Supported
ROS 2 Kilted	Yes	Yes	Supported
ROS 2 Jazzy	Yes	Yes	Supported
ROS 2 Humble	Yes	Yes	Compatibility
ROS 2 Rolling	Yes	Yes	Development
ROS 1 Noetic*	Yes	N/A	Legacy source support

* ROS 1 Noetic is end-of-life and supported from source only.

Installation

ROS 2

Replace lyrical with another supported ROS 2 distribution when required.

source /opt/ros/lyrical/setup.bash
mkdir -p ~/netft_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/netft/ros-netft.git ~/netft_ws/src/netft_driver
cd ~/netft_ws
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --packages-select netft_driver
source install/setup.bash

ROS 1 Noetic

source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
mkdir -p ~/netft_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/netft/ros-netft.git ~/netft_ws/src/netft_driver
cd ~/netft_ws
rosdep update --include-eol-distros
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
catkin_make
source devel/setup.bash

See the installation guide for prerequisites and package availability.

Quick start

ATI RDT permits one UDP client. Stop other RDT clients before starting the driver. The examples use 192.168.1.1, ATI's factory-default static address; replace it with the address assigned to your sensor.

Standalone driver

ROS 2:

ros2 launch netft_driver netft.launch.py sensor_ip:=192.168.1.1
ros2 topic echo --once /netft/wrench

ROS 1:

roslaunch netft_driver netft.launch sensor_ip:=192.168.1.1
rostopic echo -n 1 /netft/wrench

The default bias service is /netft/bias. Bias changes the measurement zero; call it only when the sensor and connected mechanism are in a safe state.

ros2_control

The plugin class is netft_driver/NetFTHardwareInterface. Include the installed Xacro macro in the robot description managed by your controller manager:

<xacro:include filename="$(find netft_driver)/urdf/netft.ros2_control.xacro"/>
<xacro:netft_ros2_control
  name="wrist_netft_hardware"
  sensor_name="wrist_ft"
  sensor_ip="192.168.1.1"
  sensor_port="49152"
  receive_timeout="0.1"
  activation_timeout="2.0"/>

Configure and spawn force_torque_sensor_broadcaster through the robot's existing controller manager. The repository also installs netft_ros2_control.launch.py as a minimal single-sensor example.

Documentation

• Standalone ROS driver tutorial
• ros2_control tutorial
• Standalone interface reference
• ros2_control reference
• Diagnostics and lifecycle
• Security and safety

Automatic sensor configuration is enabled by default. Validate the discovered calibration, units, status, freshness, and finite values before using wrench data for control. This driver is not a safety-rated control path.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development environments, tests, hardware authorization, and native-core synchronization. Report security issues through SECURITY.md.

License

The repository is licensed under Apache-2.0. The private netft-cpp snapshot retains its upstream license at src/core/LICENSE.

Candidate runtime contracts

Version 0.4.0 adds allow_bias for both standalone nodes and the ros2_control hardware parameters. It defaults to true to preserve existing service availability; set it to false for a read-only deployment. A disabled adapter does not create the bias service. ROS 2 standalone example:

ros2 run netft_driver netft_node --ros-args -p allow_bias:=false

For ros2_control use <param name="allow_bias">false</param> in the hardware block, or allow_bias="false" on the supplied xacro macro. ROS 1 uses the private ~allow_bias parameter. Restart/reconfigure for parameter changes; the toggle is not a dynamic authorization mechanism. Bias is a device command, and callers must own permission to alter the measurement reference.

docs/bias-policy.example.xml illustrates separate SROS2 driver, reader and operator identities: readers cannot request bias, operators can. Customize node, namespace, topic and service names and add lifecycle permissions if needed. The example includes logging, parameter-event publication/subscription and each node's own parameter-service replies; it does not grant clients parameter-service requests. It is a policy for adaptation, not an installed keystore. Enforce signed permissions with ROS_SECURITY_ENABLE=true, ROS_SECURITY_STRATEGY=Enforce and your provisioned ROS_SECURITY_KEYSTORE; test denied and allowed calls against a loopback sensor. The bounded test/integration/ros2_sros2_smoke.py --node-executable <installed-node> checks secure sample delivery, a denied reader bias endpoint and an allowed operator call, including the fake device's command count. Run it in an isolated container/CI host with SROS2 and Fast DDS installed; it creates temporary keys for the selected ROS_DOMAIN_ID and deletes them on exit. Jazzy CI runs it once with the graph smoke's installed node and leased domain, without an extra build. See the official access-control policy design and SROS2 sample policy. ROS 1 deployments must isolate the master, nodes and device network and disable bias for readers; a ROS_DOMAIN_ID or service name alone does not authorize users.

Wrench header stamps are ROS publication time. received_at, SDK age and control freshness use the host steady clock, so a paused or jumping simulated ROS clock does not make stale force data fresh. Diagnostics use wall timers; ros2_control read ignores its ROS-time argument for freshness. Callback SI overflow is rejected, and auxiliary executor failure latches a control fault and invalidates state interfaces. Release 0.4.0 passed the standalone checks on Noetic, Humble, Jazzy, Kilted, Lyrical and Rolling, and ros2_control checks on the supported ROS 2 distributions. Focused controller checks also cover SI overflow, disabled bias and executor failure. SROS2 Enforce-mode acceptance on Jazzy and Kilted verified sample delivery, denial of reader bias requests and one allowed operator bias command against a loopback sensor. These results cover the tested policies and middleware; validate any adapted deployment policy separately.

The existing CI contract classifies Jazzy and Lyrical as primary, Humble as compatibility, Kilted as active short-lived, Rolling as development, and Noetic as legacy/EOL source-only. Keep per-distribution results with each release; a configured matrix alone does not establish that a later release passed it.