Installation

• I'm using ros2 jazzy. So, the recommended Gazebo version is Harmoni .

Launch Gazebo

• gz sim shapes.sdf
• gz sim -v 4 shapes.sdf
• env -u WAYLAND_DISPLAY gz sim -v 4 shapes.sdf
• QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb gz sim -v 4 shapes.sdf

ROS2 Integration

• Composition

  • use_composition
    True means both Gazebo and bridge are loaded into same ROS container (may or may be be created by ros_gz)

  • create_own_container
    False means Gazebo are loaded into container created by other launch files.

Launch from ROS2

• Leverage ros_gz_sim package

  • gz_server.launch.py
    Start Gazebo server only. e.g. ros2 launch ros_gz_sim gz_server.launch.py world_sdf_file:=empty.sdf
  • gz_sim.launch.py
    Start Gazebo (both server and UI). e.g. ros2 launch ros_gz_sim gz_sim.launch.py gz_args:=empty.sdf

• Python launch file

  • Easy approach via gzserver

from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch.actions import DeclareLaunchArgument
from launch.substitutions import LaunchConfiguration
from ros_gz_sim.actions import GzServer


def generate_launch_description():

    declare_world_sdf_file_cmd = DeclareLaunchArgument(
        'world_sdf_file', default_value='',
        description='Path to the SDF world file')

    # Create the launch description and populate
    ld = LaunchDescription([
        GzServer(
            world_sdf_file=LaunchConfiguration('world_sdf_file')
        ),
    ])

    # Declare the launch options
    ld.add_action(declare_world_sdf_file_cmd)

    return ld

• Launching with ros_gz_bridge
  • ros2 launch ros_gz_sim ros_gz_sim.launch.py world_sdf_file:=empty.sdf bridge_name:=ros_gz_bridge config_file:=<path_to_your_YAML_file> use_composition:=True create_own_container:=True

Q&A

• Q: libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
  A: This warning is printed by Ogre 2, the underlying rendering engine used by Gazebo, during its initialization phase. It might suggest a fallback to using the Mesa driver with llvmpipe, which indicates that hardware acceleration might not be fully utilized. It's usually just a harmless message from the underlying rendering engine Ogre 2 and doesn't affect Gazebo's functionality.