Differential Drive Robot Simulation

About

This package provides a simple differential drive robot model designed for use in Gazebo Harmonic simulation with ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco.

Requirements

To run this package, you'll need the following:

• Linux Ubuntu 24.04
• ROS2 Jazzy Jalisco
• Gazebo Harmonic

Install Required ROS 2 Packages

Make sure to install the following ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco packages:

sudo apt install -y                         \
    ros-jazzy-ros-gz                        \
    ros-jazzy-ros-gz-bridge                 \
    ros-jazzy-joint-state-publisher         \
    ros-jazzy-xacro                         \
    ros-jazzy-teleop-twist-keyboard         \
    ros-jazzy-teleop-twist-joy 

Usage

Clone the Repository

Clone this repository into your workspace/src folder. If you don't have a workspace set up, you can learn more about creating one in the ROS 2 workspace tutorial.

cd <path_to_your_workspace>/src
git clone git@github.com:lucasmazz/gazebo_differential_drive_robot.git
cd ..

Build the Package

Source the ROS 2 environment and build the package:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
colcon build

Launch the Robot

After building the package, launch the robot.launch.py file from the gazebo_differential_drive_robot package:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch gazebo_differential_drive_robot robot.launch.py

To launch the robot in a specified world with a custom initial pose, run the robot.launch.py file and specify the world path and robot pose arguments.

• world: Path to the world file
• x: Initial x-coordinate of the robot
• y: Initial y-coordinate of the robot
• z: Initial z-coordinate of the robot
• R: Initial roll orientation
• P: Initial pitch orientation
• Y: Initial yaw orientation

In the following example, the robot starts at position (x, y, z) = (1.0, 2.0, 0.5) with a yaw of 1.57 radians in the specified world:

ros2 launch gazebo_differential_drive_robot robot.launch.py world:=/path_to_world/world.sdf x:=1.0 y:=2.0 z:=0.5 R:=0.0 P:=0.0 Y:=1.57

Control the Robot

Using a Joystick

In a new terminal, source the environment and launch the teleop-launch.py file from the teleop_twist_joy package. Adjust the joy_config parameter to match your joystick controller (e.g., xbox).

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 launch teleop_twist_joy teleop-launch.py joy_config:='xbox'

Using a Keyboard

If you don't have a joystick, you can control the robot using the teleop_twist_keyboard package. Run the following command:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

Running with Docker

If you don't already have docker installed, you can install it using the docker installation instructions for your operating system. Be sure to follow the post-install instructions.

Create and run the container

For Windows there is a handy run.ps1 script for setting up the display service and running the container:

cd docker
.\run.ps1

Otherwise, run docker compose (you might have to set the display output to see the UI, I only tested on Windows):

cd docker
docker compose up -d

Launch Gazebo and see the robot

Enter the container:

docker exec -it gz_diff_drive_robot bash

Launch ROS2:

ros2 launch gazebo_differential_drive_robot robot.launch.py

Control the robot

Open another terminal and enter the container:

docker exec -it gz_diff_drive_robot bash

Run the following command:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard