Ackermann Steering Vehicle Simulation in ROS2 with Gazebo Sim Harmonic

This project features the simulation of a custom vehicle with Ackermann steering capabilities, developed using ROS2 and the Gazebo Sim Harmonic environment. The model integrates a variety of sensors and navigation tools for autonomous operation, making it one of the first implementations of an Ackermann steering vehicle in this simulation framework.

| 3D LiDAR Point Cloud Visualization | Warehouse Environment Model | | ----- | ----- | | | |

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Table of Contents

• Ackermann Steering Vehicle Simulation in ROS2 with Gazebo Sim Harmonic
• Features
• 1 Ackermann Steering
• 2 ROS2 Communication
• 3 Sensors
• 4 Navigation
• 5 Manual Control with external joystick
• 6 Visualization
• Requirements
• Local Installation
• Docker Installation
• Usage
• 1 Basic Simulation and Manual Control
• 2 SLAM Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
• 3 Navigation with Nav2
• Future Work
• Gallery
• TF Tree
• Star History

Features

1. Ackermann Steering

• A custom vehicle model built with realistic Ackermann steering dynamics for accurate maneuverability.

2. ROS2 Communication

• All sensor data and control signals are fully integrated into the ROS2 ecosystem for seamless interoperability.

3. Sensors

• IMU: Provides orientation and angular velocity.
• Odometry: Ensures accurate vehicle state feedback.
• LiDAR: Mounted for obstacle detection and environmental scanning. Supports 3D point cloud generation for advanced perception tasks.
• Cameras:
• Front-facing
• Rear-facing
• Left-side
• Right-side

> Note: By default, only the front camera is bridged to ROS 2.If you want to use all cameras (left, right, rear) in ROS 2,remove the # at the beginning of the relevant camera sections in saye_bringup/config/ros_gz_bridge.yaml to activate them (e.g., /camera/left_raw, /camera/right_raw, /camera/rear_raw).

4. Navigation

• Integrated with the Nav2 stack for autonomous navigation.
• AMCL (Adaptive Monte Carlo Localization) for improved positional accuracy.
• SLAM techniques implemented for real-time mapping and understanding of the environment.
• Fine-tuned parameters for optimized navigation performance.

5. Manual Control (with external joystick)

• Added support for joystick-based manual control in the simulation environment, enabling users to test vehicle movement interactively.

6. Visualization

• Full model and sensor data visualization in RViz2, providing insights into robot states and environmental feedback.

Requirements

• ROS2 (Humble)
• Gazebo Sim Harmonic
• RViz2
• Nav2

Local Installation

• Your need to sure that installation of Gazebo Harmonic and ROS (ros_gz):
  

sudo apt-get install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-ros-gz
sudo apt-get install ros-humble-ros-gzharmonic (Only Humble version)
More details about installation Gazebo and ROS: Link

• Clone the repository:
  

mkdir -p ackermann_sim/src && cd ackermann_sim/src
git clone https://github.com/alitekes1/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2
cd ..

• Build the project:

colcon build && source install/setup.bash

• Set environment variables:

``bash # Set environment variables for current session export GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH=$GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH:/your/path/ackermann_sim/src/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2/ export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH:/your/path/ackermann_sim/src/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2/ `

For Permanent Setup: To make these environment variables permanent, add them to your .bashrc file: `bash # Add environment variables to .bashrc echo 'export GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH=$GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH:/your/path/ackermann_sim/src/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2/' >> ~/.bashrc echo 'export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH:/your/path/ackermann_sim/src/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2/' >> ~/.bashrc # Apply changes source ~/.bashrc `

> Note: Replace /your/path/ with your actual installation path.

Docker Installation

You can also run the simulation using Docker, which ensures a consistent environment across different systems.

Prerequisites

• Docker
• NVIDIA Container Toolkit (for GPU support)

Steps to Run with Docker

• Clone the repository:

`bash mkdir -p ackermann_sim/src && cd ackermann_sim/src git clone https://github.com/alitekes1/ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2 cd ackermann-vehicle-gzsim-ros2 `

• Build and run the Docker container:

`bash docker run -it \ --name ackermann_sim \ --hostname ackermann_sim \ --env="DISPLAY=$DISPLAY" \ --env="QT_X11_NO_MITSHM=1" \ --volume="/tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:rw" \ --privileged alitekes1/ackermann_sim:latest `

• If you want an additional terminal for the same container

`bash docker exec -it ackermann_sim bash `

Note: Inside the container, you can run the simulation commands as normal.

Usage

1. Basic Simulation and Manual Control

• Launch the simulation:

`bash ros2 launch saye_bringup saye_spawn.launch.py `

• Control car:

`bash ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard `

2. SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping)

• To run SLAM Toolbox for mapping, launch the following after starting the simulation:

`bash ros2 launch saye_bringup slam.launch.py `

3. Navigation with Nav2

• To run the simulation with the Nav2 stack for autonomous navigation, launch the following after starting the simulation:

`bash ros2 launch saye_bringup navigation_bringup.launch.py ``

Note: The YouTube videos above are played at 4x speed. You can reach the videos by click on the images.

Future Work

• 3D SLAM Support:
• Train the vehicle to handle complex scenarios autonomously using advanced DRL algorithms.
• Enhanced Features:
• Explore additional sensor configurations and navigation strategies.
• Nav2 integration with 3D Localization
• Instead of AMCL(2D), more accurate and robust algorithms implementation.

Gallery

3D LiDAR Point Cloud & Environment

| 3D LiDAR Point Cloud Visualization | Warehouse Environment Model | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |

Vehicle & Navigation

| Gazebo Sim Harmonic | RViz2 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | |

TF Tree

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Star History

--- Tranlated By Open Ai Tx | Last indexed: 2026-05-13 ---