BlueROV2 in Gazebo Harmonic

Status: proof-of-concept, updated for Gazebo Harmonic binaries

This is a model of the BlueROV2, including support for both the base and heavy configurations, that runs in Gazebo Harmonic. It uses the BuoyancyPlugin, HydrodynamicsPlugin and ThrusterPlugin.

Please ensure that the following requirements have been met prior to installing the project:

• Gazebo Harmonic
• ardupilot_gazebo for Harmonic
• ArduSub and MAVProxy

See the Dockerfile for full installation details.

Gazebo can be launched using the following commands:

export GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH=~/colcon_ws/src/bluerov2_gz/models:~/colcon_ws/src/bluerov2_gz/worlds
export GZ_SIM_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_PATH=~/ardupilot_gazebo/build
gz sim -v 3 -r <gazebo-world-file>

where <gazebo-world-file> should be replaced with:

• bluerov2_underwater.world for the BlueROV2 base configuration
• bluerov2_heavy_underwater.world for the BlueROV2 Heavy configuration
• bluerov2_ping.world for a BlueROV2 base with a Ping sonar

Once Gazebo has been launched, you can directly send thrust commands to the BlueROV2 model in Gazebo:

cd ~/colcon_ws/src/bluerov2_gz
scripts/cw.sh <model_name>
scripts/stop.sh <model_name>

where <model_name> is replaced with the corresponding model defined in the world:

• bluerov2 for the bluerov2_underwater.world
• bluerov2_heavy for the bluerov2_heavy_underwater.world
• bluerov2_ping for the bluerov2_ping.world

Now launch ArduSub and ardupilot_gazebo:

cd ~/ardupilot
Tools/autotest/sim_vehicle.py -L RATBeach -v ArduSub -f <frame> --model=JSON --out=udp:0.0.0.0:14550 --console

where <frame> is replaced with either vectored for the BlueROV2 base configuration or vectored_6dof for the BlueROV2 Heavy configuration.

Note: if you run into problems switching between the vectored and vectored_6dof frame add the -w option to delete all ArduSub parameters.

Use MAVProxy to send commands to ArduSub:

arm throttle
rc 3 1450     
rc 3 1500
mode alt_hold
rc 5 1550
disarm

Additional information regarding the usage of each model may be found in a model's respective directory.

ROS2 users should add ardupilot_gazebo -b ros2 and bluerov2_gz to the colcon workspace and use colcon to build and manage the environment.

• 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