BlueROV2 ROS 2

This repository contains the robot description and necessary launch files to describe and simulate the BlueROV2 (unmanned underwater vehicle) with Gazebo and its hydrodynamics plugins under ROS 2.

Requirements

For the description

• Xacro , installable through apt install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-xacro
• simple_launch, installable through apt install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-simple-launch

Gazebo

• ROS 2 with Gazebo Fortress or newer with ros_gz_bridge
  • Look out for your ROS 2 / Gazebo versions combination
• pose_to_tf, to get the ground truth from Gazebo if needed.

For the control part

• slider_publisher, installable through apt install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-slider-publisher
• auv_control for basic control laws, from source

Installation

Clone the package and its dependencies (if from source) in your ROS 2 workspace src and compile with colcon

Running

To run a demonstration with the vehicle, you can run a Gazebo scenario, such as an empty world with buoyancy and sensors setup:

ros2 launch bluerov2_description world_launch.py

and then spawn the robot with a GUI to control the thrusters:

ros2 launch bluerov2_description upload_bluerov2_launch.py sliders:=true

Using with Docker

This repository provides a Docker setup to simplify installation and ensure a reproducible ROS 2 + Gazebo environment.

Requirements (Docker)

• Linux host
• Docker Engine (How to Install, it is recommended to use the option “Install using the APT repository”)
• Optional: NVIDIA GPU with NVIDIA Container Toolkit (for GPU acceleration)

Build the Docker image

From the root of the repository, build the Docker image locally:

./build_docker.sh

This step needs to be executed once, or whenever the Dockerfile is modified.

Run the container

Run without GPU support:

./run_docker.sh

Run with GPU support (recommended for Gazebo):

./run_docker.sh --gpu

The container provides access to:

• Gazebo GUI (X11)
• USB devices (e.g. joystick, serial interfaces)
• ROS 2 communication with nodes running outside the container

ROS 2 communication outside Docker

The container uses host networking, allowing ROS 2 nodes running on the host (or other machines on the same network) to communicate directly with the simulation inside Docker.

Input / output

Gazebo will:

• Subscribe to /bluerov2/cmd_thruster[1..6] and expect std_msgs/Float64 messages, being the thrust in Newton

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