ROS2 Docker installation

1. Install Docker Engine on Ubuntu

Update the apt package index and install packages to allow apt to use a repository over HTTPS:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Use the following command to set up the repository:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Update the apt package index:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Verify that the Docker Engine installation is successful by running the hello-world image:

sudo docker run hello-world

2. Manage Docker as a non-root user

Create the docker group.

sudo groupadd docker

Add your user to the docker group.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Activate the changes to groups

newgrp docker

Verify that you can run docker commands without sudo

docker run hello-world

3. Install the ROS2 Docker Image

Create a folder which will contain all the required files

mkdir ROS2
cd ROS2

Clone the ros2_docker_installation repository

git clone https://github.com/MarineAutonomy/ros2_docker_installation.git

cd ros2_docker_installation

Build the Docker Image from the Dockerfile

./docker.sh

Run the docker image and start a conatiner

./run_docker.sh

You should now see docker@ at the start of command-lines

colcon build

This creates the build install and log inside the colcon_ws folder.

You can exit the container to see the file system

exit

4. SBG sensor demo

Restart the container

./run_docker.sh

Though the sensor is not connected to your device you can stil see the data being published as the device is connected to tutorial host's device ROS2 allows devices with same ROS_DOMAIN_ID and connected by same network to communicate with each other easily.

ros2 topic list

If the entire setup process till now was successful, you should be able to see the following

/imu/nav_sat_fix
/imu/pos_ecef
/imu/temp
/imu/utc_ref
/imu/velocity
/parameter_events
/rosout
/sbg/ekf_euler
/sbg/ekf_nav
/sbg/ekf_quat
/sbg/gps_hdt
/sbg/gps_pos
/sbg/gps_raw
/sbg/gps_vel
/sbg/imu/data
/sbg/imu_data
/sbg/imu_short
/sbg/status
/sbg/utc_time
/tf
/tf_static

Let's check the data being provided by the sensor

ros2 topic echo /sbg/imu/data

We can also visualize the live data from the sensor using rqt

rqt

5. Other useful installations

Terminal emulator - terminator

sudo apt install terminator

Visual Studio Code