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Version: 1.5.0

How to start the simulation with a custom world

To start the simulation, we use ROS launch file

roslaunch mrs_simulation simulation.launch gui:=true

The launch simulation.launch file contains two arguments

<arg name="world_name" default="grass_plane" />
<arg name="world_file" default="$(find mrs_gazebo_common_resources)/worlds/$(arg world_name).world" />

specifying the default world to be grass_plane from the mrs_gazebo_common_resources package.

Load a custom world​

Load world from mrs_gazebo_common_resources​

Pass the world name (e.g., forest) as an argument to the launch file

roslaunch mrs_simulation simulation.launch gui:=true world_name:=forest

Load arbitrary custom world​

Pass the world file as an argument to the launch file using find to locate your package

roslaunch mrs_simulation simulation.launch gui:=true world_file:='$(find custom_gazebo_resources)/worlds/custom_world.world'

or use absolute path of the world file

roslaunch mrs_simulation simulation.launch gui:=true world_file:=/path/to/world/custom_world.world

How to create a custom world​

Create the world manually in a text editor​

Create a completely new .world file or copy & modify an existing file (e.g., forest.world). Make sure your world file contains line

    <plugin name="mrs_gazebo_static_transform_republisher_plugin" filename="libMRSGazeboStaticTransformRepublisher.so"/>

The included mrs_gazebo_static_transform_republisher plugin provides static transforms of all the spawned sensors to the <uav_name>/fcu frame.

Create the world using Gazebo​

  1. Start a Gazebo simulation
  2. Insert models to the world as you wish using the Gazebo GUI
  3. Save world to file: File -> Save as
  4. Make sure the created file contains the mrs_gazebo_static_transform_republisher plugin.

Common issues

No static transformations​

rosrun rqt_tf_tree rqt_tf_tree shows no transformations between spawned sensors and the <uav_name>/fcu frame? Make sure your world file contains the mrs_gazebo_static_transform_republisher plugin as described above. Lack of static transformations might also prevent start of some systems and hence prevent taking off.