Dev-containers for ROS 2 development

1. Reasons to use Docker for robotics development

1. Running incompatible libraries and OS.
2. Useful for using NVidia Jetsons. NVidia provides IDE Jetpack. Possible to use Jetpack with docker and any version of ROS necessary
3. Standardised a development environment: same tools and libraries4. Infrastructure as code: using code to define the environments
4. Cloud development: example for nav2

2. How to Use this repository

To use the GUI setup with ROS 2, follow these steps:

2.1. Build the Docker image

To build the Docker image for ROS 2 with GUI support, use the following command:

docker compose -f 01_ros2_gui/compose.ros2_gui_$ROS-DISTRO$.yaml build

Replace $ROS-DISTRO$ with the desired ROS 2 distribution (e.g., humble, jazzy).

The build context for Docker is docker/.

2.2 Run the Docker container

Run the Docker container using the appropriate compose file for your ROS 2 distribution:

docker compose -f 01_ros2_gui/compose.ros2_gui_humble.yaml up
docker compose -f 01_ros2_gui/compose.ros2_gui_jazzy.yaml up

docker compose -f 05_ros2_control/compose.ros2_control.yaml up

docker compose -f 07_ros2_cartesian_robot_tutorial/compose.ros2_cartesian_robot_tutorial_humble.yaml up
docker compose -f 07_ros2_cartesian_robot_tutorial/compose.ros2_cartesian_robot_tutorial_jazzy.yaml up

This will start a Docker container configured for ROS 2 with GUI support. The container uses the Dockerfile-humble-entrypoint to build the image and mounts the src directory to /home/ros/ros2_ws/src inside the container.

Important Notes

• Ensure your host machine has an X11 server running and accessible.
• The DISPLAY environment variable is passed to the container to enable GUI applications.
• The .X11-unix directory is mounted to allow X11 communication.
• The container runs with network_mode: host and ipc: host to enable proper communication and shared memory access.

2.3 Develop using your container

To develop using the container, open VS Code and work from the local /src directory. This directory is bound to /home/ros/ros2_ws/src inside the container, ensuring your local changes are reflected within the container.

Building and Running

Build your ROS 2 packages inside the container and source the workspace:

colcon build --symlink-install --packages-select <your-package>
source install/setup.bash

realtime enabled:

docker compose -f 05_ros2_control/compose.ros2_control.yaml up ros2_control_demos_custom_rt

This setup allows you to leverage all your VS Code extensions while developing in a standardized environment.

3. How to add Docker images to this repository?

4. List of usable dev containters with tutorials

01_ros2_gui/
03_ros2_realsense/
04_ros2_gz_sim/
05_ros2_control/
06_universal_robot/
07_ros2_cartesian_robot_tutorial/
08_ros2_rmw_implementation/

Tools:

• Rviz
• Plotjuggler
• Gazebo harmonics with cartesian robot example (gantry)
• ros2 control
• Realsense with ROS 2 and opencv bridges with simple examples
• Zenoh setup

Todo:

• BT Tree with simple examples

• nav2

• tesseract

• PDDL and PlanSys2 : https://github.com/fjrodl/PDDL-course https://kas-lab.github.io/mirte_playground/mirte_pddl.html

• Trainings: Turtlebot4 : TODO: Docker images: https://github.com/IntelligentRoboticsLabs/docker_infrastructure/tree/main

• Training: Manipulation : https://gitlab.cc-asp.fraunhofer.de/ipa326/manipulation_training

• Training: DDS

• Convince : https://convince-project.github.io/AS2FM/installation.html

GZ Sim

docker compose -f compose.ros2_gz_harmonic.yaml up

Realsense

Launch

docker compose -f compose.ros2_camera.yaml up

Installatino

Test the realsense:

Install the realsense SDK:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key F6B0FC61
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://realsense-hw-public.s3.amazonaws.com/Debian/apt-repo $(lsb_release -cs) main"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install librealsense2-utils

Run the viewer:

realsense-viewer

Build the image with other UID and GUID

# build
docker compose -f 05_ros2_control/compose.ros2_control.yaml build \
  --build-arg USER_ID=$(id -u) \
  --build-arg GROUP_ID=$(id -g) \
  ros2_control_demos_custom_rt

# run
docker compose -f 05_ros2_control/compose.ros2_control.yaml up ros2_control_demos_custom_rt