Add CM switch_controller service timeout as parameter to spawner.py

controller_manager/controller_manager/spawner.py

@@ -112,7 +112,16 @@ def main(args=None):
         "--controller-manager-timeout",
         help="Time to wait for the controller manager",
         required=False,
-        default=0,
+        default=0.0,
+        type=float,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--switch-timeout",
+        help="Time to wait for a successful state switch of controllers."
+        " Useful when switching cannot be performed immediately, e.g.,"
+        " paused simulations at startup",
+        required=False,
+        default=5.0,
         type=float,
     )
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -129,6 +138,7 @@ def main(args=None):
     controller_manager_name = args.controller_manager
     param_file = args.param_file
     controller_manager_timeout = args.controller_manager_timeout
+    switch_timeout = args.switch_timeout
 
     if param_file and not os.path.isfile(param_file):
         raise FileNotFoundError(errno.ENOENT, os.strerror(errno.ENOENT), param_file)
@@ -206,7 +216,13 @@ def main(args=None):
 
                 if not args.inactive and not args.activate_as_group:
                     ret = switch_controllers(
-                        node, controller_manager_name, [], [controller_name], True, True, 5.0
+                        node,
+                        controller_manager_name,
+                        [],
+                        [controller_name],
+                        True,
+                        True,
+                        switch_timeout,
                     )
                     if not ret.ok:
                         node.get_logger().error(
@@ -224,7 +240,13 @@ def main(args=None):
 
         if not args.inactive and args.activate_as_group:
             ret = switch_controllers(
-                node, controller_manager_name, [], controller_names, True, True, 5.0
+                node,
+                controller_manager_name,
+                [],
+                controller_names,
+                True,
+                True,
+                switch_timeout,
             )
             if not ret.ok:
                 node.get_logger().error(
@@ -250,7 +272,13 @@ def main(args=None):
                 node.get_logger().info("Interrupt captured, deactivating and unloading controller")
                 # TODO(saikishor) we might have an issue in future, if any of these controllers is in chained mode
                 ret = switch_controllers(
-                    node, controller_manager_name, controller_names, [], True, True, 5.0
+                    node,
+                    controller_manager_name,
+                    controller_names,
+                    [],
+                    True,
+                    True,
+                    switch_timeout,
                 )
                 if not ret.ok:
                     node.get_logger().error(

controller_manager/controller_manager/unspawner.py

@@ -36,17 +36,33 @@ def main(args=None):
         default="/controller_manager",
         required=False,
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--switch-timeout",
+        help="Time to wait for a successful state switch of controllers."
+        " Useful when switching cannot be performed immediately, e.g.,"
+        " paused simulations at startup",
+        required=False,
+        default=5.0,
+        type=float,
+    )
 
     command_line_args = rclpy.utilities.remove_ros_args(args=sys.argv)[1:]
     args = parser.parse_args(command_line_args)
     controller_names = args.controller_names
     controller_manager_name = args.controller_manager
+    switch_timeout = args.switch_timeout
 
     node = Node("unspawner_" + controller_names[0])
     try:
         # Ignore returncode, because message is already printed and we'll try to unload anyway
         ret = switch_controllers(
-            node, controller_manager_name, controller_names, [], True, True, 5.0
+            node,
+            controller_manager_name,
+            controller_names,
+            [],
+            True,
+            True,
+            switch_timeout,
         )
         node.get_logger().info("Deactivated controller")
 

controller_manager/doc/userdoc.rst

@@ -157,9 +157,9 @@ There are two scripts to interact with controller manager from launch files:
 .. code-block:: console
 
     $ ros2 run controller_manager spawner -h
-    usage: spawner [-h] [-c CONTROLLER_MANAGER] [-p PARAM_FILE] [-n NAMESPACE] [--load-only] [--inactive] [-t CONTROLLER_TYPE] [-u]
-                      [--controller-manager-timeout CONTROLLER_MANAGER_TIMEOUT]
-                      controller_name
+    usage: spawner [-h] [-c CONTROLLER_MANAGER] [-p PARAM_FILE] [-n NAMESPACE] [--load-only] [--inactive] [-u] [--controller-manager-timeout CONTROLLER_MANAGER_TIMEOUT]
+                  [--switch-timeout SWITCH_TIMEOUT] [--activate-as-group]
+                  controller_names [controller_names ...]
 
     positional arguments:
       controller_names      List of controllers
@@ -177,10 +177,10 @@ There are two scripts to interact with controller manager from launch files:
       -u, --unload-on-kill  Wait until this application is interrupted and unload controller
       --controller-manager-timeout CONTROLLER_MANAGER_TIMEOUT
                             Time to wait for the controller manager
+      --switch-timeout SWITCH_TIMEOUT
+                            Time to wait for a successful state switch of controllers. Useful if controllers cannot be switched immediately, e.g., paused
+                            simulations at startup
       --activate-as-group   Activates all the parsed controllers list together instead of one by one. Useful for activating all chainable controllers altogether
-      --fallback_controllers FALLBACK_CONTROLLERS [FALLBACK_CONTROLLERS ...]
-                            Fallback controllers list are activated as a fallback strategy when the spawned controllers fail. When the argument is provided, it takes precedence over the fallback_controllers list in the
-                            param file
 
 
 The parsed controller config file can follow the same conventions as the typical ROS 2 parameter file format. Now, the spawner can handle config files with wildcard entries and also the controller name in the absolute namespace. See the following examples on the config files:
@@ -243,15 +243,18 @@ The parsed controller config file can follow the same conventions as the typical
 .. code-block:: console
 
     $ ros2 run controller_manager unspawner -h
-    usage: unspawner [-h] [-c CONTROLLER_MANAGER] controller_name
+    usage: unspawner [-h] [-c CONTROLLER_MANAGER] [--switch-timeout SWITCH_TIMEOUT] controller_names [controller_names ...]
 
     positional arguments:
-      controller_name       Name of the controller
+      controller_names      Name of the controller
 
-    optional arguments:
+    options:
       -h, --help            show this help message and exit
       -c CONTROLLER_MANAGER, --controller-manager CONTROLLER_MANAGER
                             Name of the controller manager ROS node
+      --switch-timeout SWITCH_TIMEOUT
+                            Time to wait for a successful state switch of controllers. Useful if controllers cannot be switched immediately, e.g., paused
+                            simulations at startup
 
 ``hardware_spawner``
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

doc/release_notes.rst

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ controller_manager
 * The ``--controller-type`` or ``-t`` spawner arg is removed. Now the controller type is defined in the controller configuration file with ``type`` field (`#1639 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1639>`_).
 * The ``--namespace`` or ``-n`` spawner arg is deprecated. Now the spawner namespace can be defined using the ROS 2 standard way (`#1640 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1640>`_).
 * Added support for the wildcard entries for the controller configuration files (`#1724 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1724>`_).
+* ``--switch-timeout`` was added as parameter to the helper scripts ``spawner.py`` and ``unspawner.py``. Useful if controllers cannot be switched immediately, e.g., paused simulations at startup (`#1790 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1790>`_).
 * The ``ros2_control_node`` node now accepts the ``thread_priority`` parameter to set the scheduler priority of the controller_manager's RT thread (`#1820 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1820>`_).
 
 hardware_interface