Creating a RADI (RoboticsAcademy Docker Image)

March 11, 2026 · View on GitHub

The build.sh script is designed to build a Docker RADI image, from specific branches. It is customizable, allowing the user to choose the version of ROS (Robot Operating System) used, the branches of different repositories, and the tag of the Docker image. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to use the script.

Purpose

The goal of creating a new non official RADI is to test new dockerfile dependencies or changes done to the robot or worlds models in Robotics Infrastructure.

Prerequisites

  • Docker installed on your machine. You can download Docker from here.
  • Git installed on your machine. You can download Git from here.

Usage

  1. Navigate to the scripts directory

    cd /scripts/RADI

  2. Build the Docker image

    Run the script using the following command:

    ./build.sh -a [ROBOTICS_ACADEMY] -i [ROBOTICS_INFRASTRUCTURE] -m [RAM] -r [ROS_DISTRO] -t [IMAGE_TAG]

    Each of the parameters is explained below:

ROBOTICS_ACADEMY: This is the branch name of the Robotics Academy repository to use. Default value is humble-devel.

ROBOTICS_INFRASTRUCTURE: This is the branch name of the Robotics Infrastructure repository to use. Default value is humble-devel.

RAM: This is the branch name of the RoboticsApplicationManager repository to use. Default value is humble-devel.

ROS_DISTRO: This is the ROS distribution to use. The script currently supports humble. Default value is humble.

IMAGE_TAG: This is the tag of the Docker image that will be created. Default value is test.

  1. Change the tag when launching RA: launch the tag of the robotics-academy docker image to the one you have just created. If you are using either the developer script or docker compose remember to change the tag in the corresponding composecfg/dev_humble*.yaml file.

Example

For instance, to build a Docker image using the master branch of the Robotics Academy repository, the humble-devel branch of the Robotics Infrastructure repository, the humble-devel branch of the RAM repository, the humble ROS distribution, and tag the image as my_image, you would run:

./build.sh -f -a humble-devel -i humble-devel -m humble-devel -r humble -t my_image

Use '-f' to force build the base image. If omitted, the base image is created only if it doesn't exist.

⚠️ Note for External Contributors (Working from a Fork)

If you are developing from a personal fork of RoboticsAcademy (RA) or RoboticsInfrastructure (RI), specifying only the branch names in build.sh is not enough to apply your changes.

By default, the build process fetches repositories from the official JdeRobot GitHub organization. If your changes are located in a fork, you must also specify the repository owner so the build process pulls the code from your fork instead of the upstream repository.

You can do this using the following options:

  • --academy-owner to specify the GitHub owner of RoboticsAcademy
  • --infra-owner to specify the GitHub owner of RoboticsInfrastructure

Example:

./build.sh --academy-owner <github-user> --infra-owner <github-user> -a <academy-fork-branch> -i <infra-fork-branch> --tag my_image

This allows the build process to clone your fork directly without modifying the Dockerfiles.

If your changes come from another source that is not a GitHub fork supported by these options, you may still need to manually modify the repository URLs inside the Dockerfiles to point to your custom repository or file locations.

Note for JdeRobot contributors:
If you have write access to the official repositories, it is strongly recommended to work directly on branches within the JdeRobot organization instead of using forks.

Troubleshooting

If an error occurs while running the script, ensure that:

  • All the specified branches exist in their respective repositories.
  • The specified ROS distribution is humble.
  • You have the necessary permissions to build Docker images on your machine. If not you can run:
chmod +x build.sh
  • For more information about the build script:
./build.sh -h

Searching installed images

If you want to see what images you have installed you can use the command:

docker images

You probably need root permissions to use any command with docker, run them with sudo.

Deleting installed images

If you want to delete images you have installed (be careful not to delete the image you need or you will have to generate it again.) you can use the command:

docker rmi [image_id]

It is possible that an image is still running because it has not finished in some execution, if this happens, you will not be able to use this command. First, list the all the containers (also stopped) with this command:

docker ps -a

Then, remove the containers using the image you want to delete:

docker rm [docker_id]

Finally, you can delete the image.