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foreword
The Gazebo simulation platform is an open source software widely used in robotics research and development, testing and education. It can simulate the robot's movement, perception and control behaviors, and provides a wealth of functions such as physical engine, sensor simulation and ROS integration, so that users can efficiently simulate and develop robots. This article will introduce the basic concept and installation method of the Gazebo simulation platform.
1. Introduction to Gazebo
The history and development of Gazebo can be traced back to 2002, when Professor Andrew Howard and Dr. Nate Koenig of the University of Southern California created an OpenGL-based 3D simulation engine for simulating the movement and control of indoor robots. Later, they released it as open source, and gradually formed a mature robot simulation platform. With the rapid development and wide application of robot technology, the Gazebo platform has gradually been more widely used and developed, and has become an important part of the field of robot simulation.
Compared with other robot simulation software, the Gazebo platform has the following advantages:
- Highly customizable. The Gazebo platform provides a wealth of plug-ins and APIs, which can easily expand and customize simulation models, controllers, sensors and other components. This allows users to quickly customize and modify simulation scenarios according to their needs.
- High flexibility. The Gazebo platform supports multiple physics engines and sensor simulations, which can adapt to different robot platforms and scene requirements. This allows users to choose the appropriate physics engine and sensor simulation according to different robot types and application scenarios, so as to more accurately simulate the robot's behavior.
- Highly visible. The Gazebo platform provides a powerful 3D visualization function, which can intuitively display the simulation scene and the movement and behavior of the robot. This allows users to understand and analyze the simulation results more deeply, so as to better optimize the design and control of the robot.
2. Basic concept of Gazebo simulation platform
Physics Engine : The Gazebo simulation platform uses a physics engine to simulate the movement and interaction of robots. It can calculate the physical characteristics of the robot in the simulation environment, such as motion, collision, friction, elasticity, etc., so as to achieve a real simulation effect.
Simulation Model : The Gazebo simulation platform uses a simulation model to describe the physical characteristics and structure of the robot. The simulation model includes the geometry, mass, inertia, kinematics, dynamics and other attributes of the robot, which can be described and created through simple text formats (such as URDF, SDF, etc.).
Sensor Simulation : Gazebo simulation platform provides a variety of sensor simulations, including lidar, camera, IMU, etc., which can simulate the perception ability of robots. Users can customize the parameters, position and direction of sensors, and transmit sensor data to other systems through communication frameworks such as ROS.
Controller : The Gazebo simulation platform provides a variety of controllers, including joint controllers, force controllers, trajectory controllers, etc., which can control the movement of the robot. Users can implement custom control algorithms by writing controller plug-ins.
3. Installation method of Gazebo simulation platform
The Gazebo simulation platform supports multiple operating systems, including Ubuntu, Windows, and Mac OS. The following are the steps to install the Gazebo simulation platform in the Ubuntu system:
Install ROS: The Gazebo simulation platform usually needs to be used with ROS, so ROS needs to be installed first. You can refer to the instructions on the ROS official website ( http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Installation ) for installation.
Install Gazebo: After installing ROS, you can install the Gazebo simulation platform with the following command:
sudo apt-get install gazebo9
This command will install the latest version of the Gazebo simulation platform (currently 9.0).
Install the ROS controller package: In order to use the controller in the Gazebo simulation platform, you need to install the ROS controller package. It can be installed with the following command:
sudo apt-get install ros-<distro>-ros-control ros-<distro>-ros-controllers
Among them, is the release version of ROS, such as kinetic or melodic.
Test installation: After the installation is complete, you can start the Gazebo simulation platform with the following command:
gazebo
If the following simulation interface appears, the installation is successful.
Four. Summary
This article introduces the basic concept and installation method of the Gazebo simulation platform. The Gazebo simulation platform has powerful robot simulation and development functions, and is one of the indispensable tools in the field of robotics. The following tutorials will use Gazebo as a simulation to explain.