Dockerfiles and run files used for the Myhal Simulator project

Docker images description

Two docker image folders are provided: docker_ros_melodic and docker_ros_noetic.

• docker_ros_melodic contains the dockerfile that builds the ROS melodic docker image. This is the main docker image. It is used to run the gazebo simulation and all the robot navigation stack

• docker_ros_noetic contains the dockerfile that builds the ROS noetic docker image. This image is used to run the deep learning prediction. We can connect a container running on this image to the main container (running on the melodic image). This container will recieve the lidar point clouds, perform deep predictions, and publish the classifications. The main container will use this classifications

Installation

Prerequisite

This repo was tested with Ubuntu 18.04. You need to have docker engine installed. See instructions here .

Optionnally, if you have a nvidia GPU, make sure you have installed the nvidia drivers for your card. Then you need to install nvidia-docker.

Setup the file structure

Clone this repository and the source code for the simulator in an experiment folder of your choice that we call EXP_ROOT_PATH in the following.

cd [EXP_ROOT_PATH]
git clone https://github.com/utiasASRL/MyhalSimulator
git clone https://github.com/utiasASRL/MyhalSimulator-docker
git clone https://github.com/utiasASRL/MyhalSimulator-DeepPreds

Build the docker images

Execute /docker_build.sh to build either the docker_ros_melodic or the docker_ros_noetic docker images. Always use the provided scripts which set the right user and id for permissions.

cd EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator-docker/ROS-Dockerfiles/docker_ros_melodic/
./docker_build.sh
cd EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator-docker/ROS-Dockerfiles/docker_ros_noetic/
./docker_build.sh

Test the simulator

Run the following command to test the compiled simulator with the docker_ros_melodic image:

cd /EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator-docker/
./melodic_docker.sh -c "./master.sh -ve -m 2 -t A_tour -p Sc1_params"

Run with nvidia gpu (Optional)

If you have a nvidia gpu, the simulator can use it. First make sure you have installed the nvidia drivers for your card. Then you need to install nvidia-docker.

Now, you should be able to uncomment the following line in melodic_docker.sh:

# Running on gpu (Uncomment to enable gpu)
# docker_args="${docker_args} --gpus all "

Note that this is mandatory for the noetic docker as the network predictions need a GPU to be computed.

Compile simulator with command line

You can compile the simulator in command line, but we advise to use the developpement environment below if you plan to make modifications to the code.

cd /EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator/docker_scripts
./melodic_docker.sh -c "./catkin_maker.sh"

Set up a development environment

Using VSCode in a dev container

With VSCode, you can develop your code directly within a container. This way, you can use nice code features like auto-completions, variable types, etc.

Install Visual Studio Code (vscode) and open it. In the software, you can now install the extentions Docker and Remote-Containers.

We will set up vscode to work inside a container built on our image docker_ros_melodic. Open vscode: 'Files' > 'Open worspace' and navigate to /EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator/melodic-TourGuide.code-workspace.

The .devcontainer/devcontainer.json gives vscode information about which image to build a container from and the extensions that should be downloaded in the containerized vscode environment. In the same way as melodic_docker.sh, it also sets volumes but with relative path so you should not need to modify anything in it.

Build / Rebuild the container environment

Now that the simulator files are ready in vscode, we can build the containerized vscode environment.

In vscode, press F1 to open the command editor, and type Remote-Containers: Rebuild containers... If this is the first time you build the container, you might have to chose Remote-Containers: Open folder in containers...

Compiling the simulator in the container

VSCode provides automated tasks, for example for compilation. These tasks are defined in .vscode/tasks.json. As you can see, the catkin_build task is already defined in the provided tasks file.

Just press ctrl+maj+b to compile the simulator code (much simpler than using the command line above).

Noetic dev container

The same can be done with the noetic container and /EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator-DeepPreds/noetic.code-workspace

Scripts description

The running scripts are located in EXP_ROOT_PATH/MyhalSimulator/docker_scripts. Here is a brief description

Run Files

Filename	Description
melodic_docker.sh	Starts a container on the docker_ros_melodic image. This is the main file to start the simulation with a robot performing a tour (see MyhalSimulator repo for details).
noetic_docker.sh	Start a container on the docker_ros_noetic image.
double_docker.sh	Start two containers on docker_ros_melodic and docker_ros_noetic images. This script is used in the same way as melodic_docker.sh but only if we need deep network predictions.
double_docker_2.sh	Same as above but the two containers are started in a different order. Ignore this one

Run multiple expriments

Filename	Description
multi_tours.sh	Runs multiple experiments with different parameters. Customize this file as you want for your own experiments
nohup_multi_tours.sh	Runs the multi_tours.sh in nohup mode so that you can close your ssh session and let the code run on the remote machine

Debug scripts

Filename	Description
connect_to_container.sh	Open a Bash terminal inside the container)
root_in_container.sh	Open a root Bash terminal inside the container Use with caution

To avoid ROS master conflicts when running multiple ROS containers on the same machine, the running scripts will incremement a local variable called ROSPORT. If not initially set, it will default to 1100. export ROSPORT=<value> will be appended to your ~/.bashrc file, over-writing a previous export ROSPORT statement if it is there.

To ensure that the enviroment variable is changed in your local terminal, either run the script with source melodic_docker.sh, or after running a script use source ~/.bashrc.

Melodic and Noetic Flags

-d, if set it will run the container in detached mode

-c [arg], will run the argument as a command in the container

For example calling ./melodic_docker.sh -c "./catkin_maker.sh" -d will run the compile command "./catkin_maker.sh" in a detached ROS melodic docker container.