robot_sim_diff_drive_rbs

Version 0.1.4 (2022/04/07)

This project is a simulated differential drive robot intended to be used with Gazebo. The robot is specified within a ROS package using URDF/Xacro files.

With this version, it is possible to do:

• Fixed gravity bug of having only 1 simulated caster wheel for diff_drive
• diff_drive model compatible with different radius for each wheel (left and right)
• Usage of the diff_drive_controller_rbs controller for differential drive robots
• 2D laser scanner on top of the robots
• Absolute paths when including files in a xacro file
• Launch file with an argument to select the intended URDF model
• Complete URDF model with odometry of a two-wheeled differential drive robot
• Complete URDF model with odometry of a four-wheel differential drive robot (aka skid-steer drive)

The next version will add these features:

• IMU

Models

Two-wheeled differential drive robot

• Odometry working fine
• Two caster wheels simulated with two spheres (front and back to support the robot)

Four-wheeled differential drive robot

• Equivalent to a skid-steer drive robot
• Angular motion should make the robot slipping (bad for odometry)

ROS

Current version:

• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• ROS Melodic

Dependencies

• controller_manager
• diff_drive_controller_rbs
• gazebo_ros
• gazebo_ros_control
• joint_state_controller
• position_controllers
• robot_state_publisher
• rqt_robot_steering
• rviz
• xacro

Parameters

• diff_drive.yaml | diff_drive_4.yaml
• joints.yaml

Publishes

• TBD

Subscribes

• TBD

Services

None.

Actions

None.

Usage

Spawn robot in an empty world

$ roslaunch robot_sim_diff_drive_rbs gazebo.launch

Simulate a differential drive robot

$ roslaunch robot_sim_diff_drive_rbs diff_drive.launch model:=<diff_drive|diff_drive_4>

Contacts

• Ricardo B. Sousa (gitlab, github, personal, feup:professor, feup:student, inesctec)
• Héber Miguel Sobreira (gitlab, inesctec)
• António Paulo Moreira (feup)