ROV-Ricketts-ros2

Unofficial MBARI's ROV Simulation and Control Project
Underwater World Simulation | ROV | ROS2 Jazzy | Gazebo Harmonic |

I started this project because of my interest in underwater robotics and fascination with the MBARI Oceanographic Institute.

During this project, I want to learn how to set up an underwater world simulation with ROS2 and Gazebo.
Gazebo Classic has reached its end of life, and it is time to learn how to use Gazebo sim.
Due to some limitations of Gazebo, soon, I want to explore other robotics simulators, like NVIDIA Omniverse IsaacSim.

Final (long-term) Objective

Thanks to the huge amount of available models of ROV, Environments, and Creatures gifted by MBARI on sketchfab, I want to:

• Create a URDF Model of MBARI's ROV Doc Ricketts
  • Model each thruster as an independent joint
  • Model and Integrate the actuated ROV's Manipulator (with all joints)
    (Even If currently Ricketts has 2 arms for advanced manipulation tasks, I will consider this only in the future)
• Define an approximated fluid dynamic model of the ROV, for simulation
• Learn to correctly set up Gazebo sim plugins to simulate thrusters, buoyancy, and Fluidodinamic force
• Create a custom sdf world file, with deep-sea environments from MBARI's 3D sea floor reconstruction
• Add deep sea creatures as Gazebo Actors, to make this world even more alive.
  This is possible thanks to Photogrammetry Techniques used by MBARI.
• Implement high and low-level ROS nodes to control and teleoperate the ROV motion (exploiting the 7 thrusters)
• Implement high and low-level ROS nodes to control and teleoperate the ROV Arm (including Gripper operations)
• Add light sources, cameras, and other exteroceptive/proprioceptive sensors to the Robot Model.
• Implement control on Pan-Tilt Camera motion
• Set up needed TFs, sensors, topics, and odometry to Enable Mapping with SLAM
• Set up Autonomous Navigation Features
• Implement high-level algorithms for Visual Tracking of deep water animals
  (Due to Gazebo's Limitations in rendering camera images, this may require moving to IsaacSim)
• Implement high-level algorithms for Visual Servo Control of the ROV Robotic Arm.
• ...

Tip

The following steps can be useful for anyone who wants to create a Robotic Simulation from the robot mesh!
Here world and robot plugins will be underwater specific, but the high-level concepts remain the same even for a ground vehicle.
This is why I'll try to describe the implementation step as clearly as possible.
Later on I will provide a concise command sheet to run the simulation and use its functionalities.

... This is a lot just for a single person, 🖐️ a big high five to anyone opening an issue for suggestions, ideas, or reviews.
Feel free to Pull Requests to contribute to this project.

This emoji " 👉 " Indicate the current step in development.

Step 0. Install and Set up ROS2 + Used ROS Packages

... WIP ...

👉 Step 1. Set up The Simulation

1.1. Create ROV Ricketts URDF from Sketchfab Model

1.2. Set up empty underwater World Gazebo Harmonic Simulation

1.3. Tune Thrusters, Buoyancy, and other fluid dynamic Plugins for the ROV Model

1.4. Spwan and Move ROV Ricketts in the empty world

1.5. Include

Step 2. Create Gazebo Deep Sea World from Sketchfab Models

2.1. Import and Position desired environmental deep-sea elements

2.2. Import deep-sea creatures meshes

2.3. Define "Actor" Behaviours for animals

Step 3. Set Up Robot Teleoperation

3.1. Map Desired motion in free space to thruster commands

3.2. Implement Teleoperation Node

3.3. Map Joystick or CLI commands to correct thrusters command

Step 4. Set Up Arm Teleoperation

4.1. Rely on the Teleoperation Node to include new arm-related commands

4.2. Use Movit2 or ros2_control for Joint Control of the Arm

Step 5 and so on ...