Differential Drive Robot Control in ROS 2

This project demonstrates the creation of a differential drive robot simulation in ROS 2. It includes a myrobot_description package to load and visualize the robot in RViz, and a separate myrobot_gazebo package with an empty world to spawn the robot in Gazebo. The project integrates velocity command plugins (/cmd_vel) and enables robot control using the teleop_twist_keyboard package to verify movement in the simulated environment.

Click here for the simulation video.

System Requirements

• Ubuntu: 22.04 LTS
• ROS 2: Humble Hawksbill
• Gazebo: Ignition Garden

Usage

Prerequisites

Install required ROS 2 packages:

sudo apt install ros-humble-robot-state-publisher \
                 ros-humble-joint-state-publisher \
                 ros-humble-xacro \
                 ros-humble-teleop-twist-keyboard \
                 ros-humble-ros-gz-sim \
                 ros-humble-ros-gz-bridge

Installation & Setup

1. Create Workspace and Clone Repository

mkdir -p my_ws/src && cd my_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/yashikasharma0301/diff_drive_robot_control.git .

2. Build the Workspace

cd ..
colcon build

3. Source the Workspace

source install/setup.bash

Running the Simulation

1. Launch Robot Visualization in RViz

ros2 launch myrobot_description myrobot.launch.py

If the robot model doesn't load automatically in RViz, click on the RobotModel dropdown arrow in the RViz panel and type /robot_description infront of Description Topic

2. Launch Gazebo Simulation

Source the workspace again if opening a new terminal and run:

ros2 launch myrobot_gazebo myrobot.launch.py

NOTE: If using Gazebo Harmonic, just change the gazebo launch command in launch file to "cmd=['gz', 'sim', world_path, '--verbose', '-r'],"

3. Control the Robot

In a new terminal, start keyboard teleoperation:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

Control Keys:

• i - Move forward
• k - Stop
• j - Turn left
• l - Turn right
• u - Move forward + turn left
• o - Move forward + turn right
• m - Move backward + turn left
• . - Move backward + turn right
• , - Move backward

Credits & References

Robot Model: This project uses a URDF model adapted from the TortoiseBot example in the OSRF ROS Book. The original model has been modified for ROS 2 Humble and Gazebo Ignition integration.

Original Authors: Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF)