Running ROS in pure simulation

Question

Hi,

I would assume ROS can run in pure simulation? I'm trying to build a SLAM map of simulated environment while navigating through it (with path planning and obstacle avoidance) using the simulated TurtleBot. However most of the TurtleBot tutorials assume you have the TurtleBot hardware.

FYI, I've already got the TurtleBot simulator working via:

roslaunch turtlebot_gazebo turtlebot_empty_world.launch

However I'm unsure how to:

1. calibrate the simulated TurtleBot
2. see the output of a simulated Kinect
3. see the output of SLAM (and ideally the particles in the particle filter)
4. see the output of the path planning
5. drive the robot around (or set way points)

FYI, I would of thought I could do (5) via

roslaunch turtlebot_teleop keyboard_teleop.launch

But it doesn't move the TurtleBot in the simulator - I assume its for the real hardware only?

Any ideas?

---

Originally posted by c01e on ROS Answers with karma: 21 on 2012-04-12

Post score: 0

Answer 1

If the simulation is working properly the answers to your questions should be:

1. You probably don't need this.

2-5. Exactly as in the real robot tutorials!

The commands you have posted for 5. work fine for me. Did you use the correct buttons in the focused terminal to control?

---

Originally posted by dornhege with karma: 31395 on 2012-04-13

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 2

Answer 2

You don't need to calibrate the simulation (nor can you, in fact).

To view the output of the simulation, you can use rviz. I recommend:

rosrun rviz rviz -d `rospack find turtlebot_navigation`/nav_rviz.vcg

(taken from here)

Regarding driving the simulation - can you echo /cmd_vel when you're running keyboard_teleop and verify that it's publishing the right data?

---

Originally posted by Ryan with karma: 3248 on 2012-04-13

This answer was NOT ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 1