BCR Bot

amr_showcase_navigation.mp4

About

This repository contains Gazebo, MuJoCo, and Isaac Sim simulations for a differential drive robot, equipped with an IMU, a depth camera, stereo camera and a 2D LiDAR. ROS2 versions also include Nav2 and SLAM Tool Box support. Currently, the project supports the following combinations -

1. ROS Noetic + Gazebo Classic 11 (branch ros1)
2. ROS2 Humble + Gazebo Classic 11 (branch ros2)
3. ROS2 Humble + Gazebo Fortress (branch ros2)
4. ROS2 Humble + Gazebo Harmonic (branch ros2)
5. ROS2 Humble + Isaac Sim (branch ros2)
6. ROS2 Jazzy + Gazebo Harmonic (branch ros2-jazzy)
7. ROS2 Jazzy + Isaac Sim (branch ros2-jazzy)
8. ROS2 Jazzy + MuJoCo Sim (branch ros2-jazzy)

Each of the following sections describes depedencies, build and run instructions for the combinations supported by the ros2-jazzy branch.

Jazzy + Harmonic (Ubuntu 24.04)

Dependencies

Install Gazebo harmonic using ROS2 binaries:

sudo apt install ros-jazzy-ros-gz-sim ros-jazzy-ros-gz-bridge ros-jazzy-ros-gz-interfaces

Install other dependencies with rosdep.

# From the root directory of the workspace. This will install everything mentioned in package.xml
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Build

colcon build --packages-select bcr_bot

Run

To launch the robot in Gazebo,

ros2 launch bcr_bot gz.launch.py

To view in rviz,

ros2 launch bcr_bot rviz.launch.py

Configuration

The launch file accepts multiple launch arguments,

ros2 launch bcr_bot gz.launch.py \
	camera_enabled:=True \
	stereo_camera_enabled:=False \
	two_d_lidar_enabled:=True \
	position_x:=0.0 \
	position_y:=0.0  \
	orientation_yaw:=0.0 \
	odometry_source:=world \
	world_file:=small_warehouse.sdf

Note:

1. To use stereo_image_proc with the stereo images excute following command:

ros2 launch stereo_image_proc stereo_image_proc.launch.py left_namespace:=bcr_bot/stereo_camera/left right_namespace:=bcr_bot/stereo_camera/right

Jazzy + MuJoCo (Ubuntu 24.04)

Dependencies

Install the simulation, controller, visualization, and navigation packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install \
  ros-jazzy-mujoco-ros2-control \
  ros-jazzy-mujoco-ros2-control-plugins \
  ros-jazzy-ros2controlcli \
  ros-jazzy-joint-state-broadcaster \
  ros-jazzy-imu-sensor-broadcaster \
  ros-jazzy-diff-drive-controller \
  ros-jazzy-depth-image-proc \
  ros-jazzy-twist-stamper \
  ros-jazzy-teleop-twist-keyboard \
  ros-jazzy-rviz2 \
  ros-jazzy-slam-toolbox \
  ros-jazzy-navigation2 \
  ros-jazzy-nav2-bringup

Install the remaining declared dependencies from the workspace root:

rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Build

Run from the workspace root:

colcon build --packages-select bcr_bot
source install/setup.bash

Run

Launch the robot in the MuJoCo warehouse:

ros2 launch bcr_bot mujoco.launch.py

The launch enables wheel control and odometry, IMU, 2D LiDAR, the depth camera, and stereo cameras. A colored point cloud is generated for the depth camera.

To view the robot and sensor data in RViz, open another sourced terminal:

ros2 launch bcr_bot rviz.launch.py

Jazzy + Isaac Sim (Ubuntu 24.04)

Dependencies

In addition to ROS2 Humble Isaac Sim installation with ROS2 extension is required. Remainder of bcr_bot specific dependencies can be installed with rosdep

# From the root directory of the workspace. This will install everything mentioned in package.xml
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Build

colcon build --packages-select bcr_bot

Run

To launch the robot in Isaac Sim:

• Open Isaac Sim and load the warehouse_scene.usd or scene.usd from here.
• Add in extra viewports for different camera views.
• Start the Simulation: Run the simulation directly within Isaac Sim.
• The following USDs are included in the package:
  • warehouse_scene.usd - Warehouse scene with a robot.
  • scene.usd - Scene with a robot in a empty world.
  • bcr_bot.usd - Robot model that can be imported into any scene.
  • ActionGraphFull.usd - Action graph for the robot to publish all the required topics.

To view in rviz:

ros2 launch bcr_bot rviz.launch.py

NOTE: The command to run mapping and navigation is common between all versions of gazebo and Isaac sim see here.

Mapping with SLAM Toolbox

SLAM Toolbox is an open-source package designed to map the environment using laser scans and odometry, generating a map for autonomous navigation.

NOTE: The command to run mapping is common between all versions of gazebo and MuJoCo.

To start mapping:

ros2 launch bcr_bot mapping.launch.py

Use the teleop twist keyboard to control the robot and map the area:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard --ros-args -r cmd_vel:=/bcr_bot/cmd_vel

To save the map:

cd src/bcr_bot/config
ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f bcr_map

Using Nav2 with bcr_bot

Nav2 is an open-source navigation package that enables a robot to navigate through an environment easily. It takes laser scan and odometry data, along with the map of the environment, as inputs.

NOTE: The command to run navigation is common between all versions of gazebo, MuJoCo and Isaac sim.

To run Nav2 on bcr_bot:

ros2 launch bcr_bot nav2.launch.py

To choose another map, pass its YAML path

ros2 launch bcr_bot nav2.launch.py map:=/full/path/to/map.yaml

For the included MuJoCo warehouse map:

ros2 launch bcr_bot nav2.launch.py map:="$(ros2 pkg prefix --share bcr_bot)/config/bcr_map_mujoco.yaml"

Simulation and Visualization

1. Gz Sim (Ignition Gazebo) (small_warehouse World):

2. MuJoCo:

3. Isaac Sim:

4. Rviz (Depth camera) (small_warehouse World):