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Goals

This guide walks you through connecting a Universal Robot UR7e industrial arm to its digital twin on Cyberwave via a Raspberry Pi running ROS 2. By the end, you will have:
  • Flashed a pre-configured ROS 2 image onto a Raspberry Pi
  • Created a Cyberwave environment with a UR7e digital twin
  • Connected the Raspberry Pi to the UR7e over Ethernet
  • Installed the Cyberwave edge stack and paired the robot
  • Launched the UR robot driver and MQTT bridge for real-time control

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Prerequisites

  • Universal Robot UR7e arm, powered on and in Remote Control mode
  • Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 (4 GB+ RAM recommended)
  • SD card: 32 GB minimum, 64 GB+ recommended
  • Ethernet cable connecting the Raspberry Pi to the UR7e
  • Monitor, keyboard, and mouse for initial Pi setup

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Phase 1: Flash the Raspberry Pi

Write the pre-configured ROS 2 image to your SD card.
  1. Download and install Raspberry Pi Imager.
  2. Launch the imager, click Choose OS → Use custom, and select the .img.xz image file.
  3. Click Choose Storage and select your SD card.
  4. Click Write. No need to extract the .xz file first.
  5. Wait 10–20 minutes, then safely eject the SD card.

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Option B: Command line (Linux / macOS)

# Identify your SD card device
lsblk

# Unmount if mounted (replace sdX with your device)
sudo umount /dev/sdX*

# Write the image
sudo sh -c 'xzcat <image-file>.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync'
sync
Double-check the device name before writing. Using the wrong device will erase that disk.

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Phase 2: First Boot and Network Setup

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Step 1: Boot the Raspberry Pi

  1. Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
  2. Connect an HDMI monitor, USB keyboard, and Ethernet cable (to the same network as the UR7e).
  3. Power on and wait 2–3 minutes for the first boot to complete.

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Step 2: Log in and expand the filesystem

# Default credentials
# Username: edgeros
# Password: provided with the image

# If your SD card is larger than 32 GB, expand the filesystem:
sudo raspi-config
# Navigate to: 6 Advanced Options → A1 Expand Filesystem → Reboot

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Step 3: Verify network connectivity to the UR7e

ip addr show
ping 192.168.1.102   # Replace with your UR7e's IP address
If the robot is not reachable, configure a static IP on the same subnet: 
# /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml
network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses:
        - 192.168.1.100/24
      routes:
        - to: default
          via: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses: [8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4]

sudo netplan apply
Change the default password with passwd before proceeding.

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Phase 3: Configure the Cyberwave Environment

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Step 1: Create an environment

An environment is a 3D virtual space that mirrors your real-world robot setup.
  1. Go to the Cyberwave dashboard and click New Environment.
  2. Give it a name (e.g., “UR7e Workstation”) and description.

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Step 2: Add the UR7e digital twin

  1. Inside your environment, click Add from Catalog in the left panel.
  2. Search for UR7e in the catalog.
  3. Add the UR7e digital twin and position it to match your physical setup.

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Phase 4: Install the Cyberwave Edge and Pair

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Step 1: Install the Cyberwave CLI

SSH into the Raspberry Pi and install the CLI: 
ssh edgeros@<raspberry-pi-ip>
curl -fsSL https://cyberwave.com/install.sh | bash
For more details, see Step 3 of the Quick Start guide.

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Step 2: Install the Edge Core

The Edge Core bridges the UR7e hardware and the Cyberwave cloud via MQTT. 
sudo cyberwave edge install
The CLI will prompt you to log in with your Cyberwave credentials and install the edge runtime on the Raspberry Pi.

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Step 3: Pair the UR7e with its digital twin

Follow the terminal prompts:
  1. Select the environment you created.
  2. Select the UR7e digital twin.
  3. The appropriate driver will be automatically installed and configured.
Your Universal Robot UR7e is now paired with its digital twin and syncing in real time.

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Phase 5: Launch the Robot Driver

Before Cyberwave can send commands, the ROS 2 driver must be running on the Raspberry Pi.

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Verify the ROS 2 installation

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 --version

cd ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash

rm -rf build/ install/ log/
colcon build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
source install/setup.bash
Add these lines to ~/.bashrc so the environment is sourced automatically on every login:
echo "source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "source ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

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Start the UR robot driver

Make sure the UR7e is powered on and in Remote Control mode, then: 
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
source ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash

ros2 launch ur_robot_driver ur_control.launch.py \
    ur_type:=ur7e \
    robot_ip:=192.168.1.102 \
    use_fake_hardware:=false
Verify the connection in a second terminal: 
source ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash
ros2 topic echo /joint_states
You should see real-time joint data streaming from the UR7e.

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Start the MQTT bridge

The MQTT bridge connects the ROS 2 driver to Cyberwave’s MQTT broker. First, configure the broker: 
nano ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/src/mqtt_bridge/config/bridge_params.yaml
Update the broker settings to point to the Cyberwave MQTT broker: 
mqtt_bridge:
  ros__parameters:
    broker:
      host: "your-mqtt-broker-hostname"
      port: 1883
      username: "your-username"
      password: "your-password"
Then launch the bridge: 
ros2 launch mqtt_bridge bridge_launch.py
The UR7e is now streaming data to Cyberwave and accepting commands through MQTT.

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EPick Gripper Setup (Optional)

If your UR7e is equipped with a Robotiq EPick vacuum gripper, configure it on the UR teach pendant first:
  1. Installation → URCaps → EPick on the teach pendant.
  2. Add a Modbus output register named epick_cmd at address 1000 with slave ID 9, baud rate 115200.
Then launch the gripper controllers: 
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
source ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash

ros2 launch epick_controllers epick_controller.launch.py
Test grip and release: 
ros2 service call /grip_cmd std_srvs/srv/SetBool "{data: true}"    # Grip
ros2 service call /grip_cmd std_srvs/srv/SetBool "{data: false}"   # Release

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Auto-Start on Boot (Optional)

To have the MQTT bridge start automatically when the Raspberry Pi boots, create a systemd service: 
# /etc/systemd/system/mqtt-bridge.service
[Unit]
Description=ROS 2 MQTT Bridge
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=edgeros
Environment="HOME=/home/edgeros"
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash && source /home/edgeros/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash && ros2 launch mqtt_bridge bridge_launch.py"
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable mqtt-bridge.service
sudo systemctl start mqtt-bridge.service

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Troubleshooting

Source the ROS 2 environment before running any ros2 command:
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
source ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver/install/setup.bash
  1. Verify the Ethernet cable is connected.
  2. Check the robot’s IP matches your configuration: ping 192.168.1.102.
  3. Ensure the robot is in Remote Control mode on the teach pendant.
  4. Review your netplan config and run sudo netplan apply.
cd ~/workspace/ros_ur_driver
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
rm -rf build/ install/ log/
colcon build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
Verify broker connectivity:
ping your-mqtt-broker-hostname
mosquitto_sub -h your-mqtt-broker-hostname -t "#" -v
Check the bridge_params.yaml for correct host, port, and credentials.