Andino Gazebo Simulation

June 18, 2025 · View on GitHub

:clipboard: Description

This package provides a simulation environment for Andino in Gazebo Fortress relying on ros_gz to integrate it with ROS 2.

:clamp: Platforms

ROS 2: Humble Hawksbill
OS:
- Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish
Gazebo:
- Fortress

:inbox_tray: Installation

From binaries

Meet prerequisites: ROS 2 Humble installation
Install andino_gz package
```
sudo apt install ros-humble-andino-gz
```
You can jump directly to Usage section and start using it.

From source using a containerized environment

Clone this repository

git clone git@github.com:ekumenlabs/andino_gz.git

Set up docker environment: Refer to docker readme

Once the container is running and dependencies have been installed you can proceed to package building.

:package: Build

The package contains some dependencies that must be installed in order to build it:

rosdep install --from-paths src -i -y

Then build the package and source the install workspace. To do so run the following commands:

colcon build
source install/setup.bash

:rocket: Usage

Andino simulation

Once the package is built and sourced, you can start a simulation.

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py

Note: You can use world_name flag to indicate other world to use. (For example: populated_office.sdf(default), office.sdf, depot.sdf, empty.sdf)

By default the ros bridge and rviz are initialized. In case you prefer to disable any of those you can do it via its flags:

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py ros_bridge:=False rviz:=False

To see a complete list of available arguments for the launch file do:

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py --show-args

Using a different world:

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py world_name:=depot.sdf

Make sure to review the required topics using ign topics and ros2 topic CLI tools. Also, consider using looking at the translation entries under andino_gz/config/bridge_config.yaml.

:robot::robot::robot: Multi robot simulation

This simulation also supports multi-robot simulation.

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py robots:="
     andino1={x: 0.0, y: -1.0, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};
     andino2={x: -0.4, y: -0.9, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};
     andino3={x: -0.4, y: -1.1, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};
     andino4={x: -0.8, y: -0.8, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};
     andino5={x: -0.8, y: -1.2, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};
     andino6={x: -0.8, y: -1.0, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};"

Note1: You can add as many Andino as you want.
Note2: If enabling Nav2(Using nav2:=True) try first with 2 robots and see how they perform in your system before using more robots.

The launch file is in charge of:

Start Gazebo simulator with a defined world (See '--world_name' flag)
Spawn as many robots as commanded.
Launch ros bridge for each robot.
Launch Rviz visualization for each robot.

The simulation allows you to spawn as many robots as you want via the --robots flags. For that, you can pass the information of the robots in some YAML format via ROS2 cli:

  <robot_name>={x: 0.0, y: 0.0, yaw: 0.0, roll: 0.0, pitch: 0.0, yaw: 0.0};

Note1: A ROS Namespace is pushed for each robot so all the topics and nodes are called the same with a difference of a <robot_name> prefix.
Note2: For RViz2 to work with the ROS namespace that is pushed, one has to ensure that no absolute topics are being used.

Run the simulation passing the nav2 flag.
```
ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py nav2:=True
```
As before, you can launch as many robots as you want, for example launching two:
```
ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py nav2:=True robots:="andino1={x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};andino2={x: 0.0, y: 1.0, z: 0.1, yaw: 0.};"
```
Once Gazebo window pops up, play the simulation using the gui.

Important!:
- When using nav2 flag, the map must match the selected world. For example:
  - For office.sdf and populated_office.sdf worlds, the map need to be office:
```
ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py nav2:=True world_name:=office.sdf map:=office
```
  - For depot.sdf world, the map need to be depot:
```
ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py nav2:=True world_name:=depot.sdf map:=depot
```
    Typically, as this is the default world-map, there is no need to indicate them.
An RViz window will be spawned for each robot so it can be controlled independently. Use 2D Pose Estimate to pass a hint to AMCL where is the initial point. Note you have to do it per robot, namely, per RViz window.
Send the desired goal using Nav2 Goal

:world_map: SLAM

Run simulation with ros bridge and RViz.

ros2 launch andino_gz andino_gz.launch.py

Run slam toolbox
```
ros2 launch andino_gz slam_toolbox_online_async.launch.py
```
Configuration can be forwarded to the slam_toolbox_node. By default, the configuration parameters are obtained from andino's configuration file. In case a custom file is wanted to be passed, simply use the launch file argument for indicating the path to a new file.
```
ros2 launch andino_gz slam_toolbox_online_async.launch.py slams_param_file:=<my_path>
```
Visualize in RViz: Add map panel to RViz and see how the map is being generated.

:raised_hands: Contributing

Issues or PRs are always welcome! Please refer to CONTRIBUTING doc.

Code development

Note that a Docker folder is provided for easy setting up the workspace.