SAUVC 2026 Gazebo Simulator

ROS 2 Humble package for simulating the Singapore AUV Challenge 2026 competition environment using Gazebo Sim 8 (Harmonic).

Arena Spesfications

• Pool: 25m × 16m × 1.6m deep
• Water simulation: Buoyancy, underwater fog effects, and proper lighting
• Gazebo Sim 8 (Harmonic): Latest stable Gazebo version with full ROS 2 integration

Models

• Starting Zone
• Qualification Gate
• Final Gate
• Drums (red and blue drums)
• Flares (orange, yellow, red, blue)
• BlueROV2 (not integrated yet)
• Golf Ball (still in development)
• Drum Pinger (still in development)

Requirements

System Requirements

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• ROS 2 Humble
• Gazebo Sim 8 (Harmonic)

Setup

1. Clone the repository into your ROS 2 workspace (src/)

2. Install dependencies:

# ROS 2 packages
ros-humble-ros-gz-sim
ros-humble-ros-gz-bridge
ros-humble-ros-gz-interfaces
# Python dependencies
python3-catkin-pkg
python3-pyyaml
# rosdep
cd ~/ros2_ws
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Usage

1. Build the package: for first time or any changes in workspace

rm -rf ~/.gz/sim ~/.gz/rendering build/sauvc_sim2 install/sauvc_sim2 && colcon build --packages-select sauvc_sim2 2>&1 | tail -3

2. Launch the Simulation

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch sauvc_sim2 sauvc2026_launch.py

Development Notes

Places

The model’s starting position is at x = 12.50, y = 8.10, z = 0

The model’s final position is at x = -12.50, y = -8.10, z = -1.6

Example: If you want to place a model 10 meters from the starting point, then: x = 12.50 - 10 = 2.50

Area Parts

X-axis range for the Task 3 area: -4.5 to 3.5

X-axis range for the orange_flare area: -8.5 to -4.5

BlueROV2 and Ardupilot Integration

BlueROV2 model and Ardupilot still not integrated due to early development, see:

• BlueROV2
• Ardupilot Gazebo

Some references that might helps:

• https://github.com/ardupilot/ardupilot_gazebo/wiki
• https://gazebosim.org/docs/harmonic/install
• https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/building-setup-linux.html
• https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/setting-up-sitl-on-linux.html
• https://ardupilot.org/mavproxy/docs/getting_started/download_and_installation.html
• https://www.ardusub.com/developers/rc-input-and-output.html
• https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/cloud-native/container-toolkit/install-guide.html