PeraSwarm — obstacle botros2 development

This workspace contains a ROS 2 package and assets for a custom obstacle robot used in a simulation and visualization environment.

Summary

• Workspace folder: obstacle_bot_ros2_development/obstacle_bots_ws
• Key package: obstacle_bots_ws/src/obstacle_bot_cpp — contains URDF, meshes, RViz config and a launch file to publish the robot description and open RViz.

Quick assumptions

• This README assumes you use a ROS 2 desktop distribution such as humble or later and have colcon installed. If you use a different distro, replace the distro name in the source commands below.
• Simulator: instructions include both Gazebo Classic (gazebo_ros) and the newer ros_gz bridge (ros_gz) patterns where appropriate — adapt to your simulator of choice.

Repository layout (relevant parts)

obstacle_bot_ros2_development/
├── obstacle_bots_ws/                 # ROS 2 workspace
│   ├── src/
│   │   └── obstacle_bot_cpp/         # package with URDF, meshes, launch, rviz config
│   │       ├── launch/display.launch.py
│   │       ├── urdf/obstacle_bot.urdf
│   │       ├── meshes/*.STL
│   │       └── config/display.rviz
├── 3DModel/                           # CAD and exported assets
├── simulator/                         # python simulator tools and helpers
└── ...

Build the ROS workspace

1. Open a terminal and go to the workspace root:

cd ...../obstacle_bot_ros2_development/obstacle_bots_ws

2. Source your ROS 2 distro and build:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash   # replace 'humble' with your ROS 2 distro
colcon build --symlink-install

3. Source the overlay after building:

source install/setup.bash

Visualize the robot (RViz)

After sourcing the overlay, launch the provided RViz + robot_state_publisher combination:

ros2 launch obstacle_bot_cpp display.launch.py

This will:

• Start robot_state_publisher and publish robot_description.
• Open joint_state_publisher_gui so you can manipulate the continuous joints (wheels).
• Launch rviz2 with the provided config/display.rviz (if present).

Spawn into Gazebo (optional)

If you want to spawn the robot in a simulator you must first start a simulator world. Examples:

• Gazebo Classic (gazebo_ros):

# in one terminal: start a gazebo world (example)
ros2 launch gazebo_ros gazebo.launch.py

# in another terminal (after sourcing):
ros2 run gazebo_ros spawn_entity.py -topic /robot_description -entity obstacle_bot -x 0 -y 0 -z 0

• Ignition / Gazebo (ros_gz bridge): the exact spawn utility may differ. For ros_gz, consult ros_gz documentation or use a small node that reads /robot_description and calls the appropriate spawn service.

Notes & troubleshooting

• If RViz shows nothing, confirm you sourced install/setup.bash and that robot_state_publisher is running.
• RViz Fixed Frame in the provided config is world. If you change the URDF base frame, update RViz or the URDF accordingly.
• If meshes do not render, ensure the URDF uses package://obstacle_bot_cpp/meshes/... paths and the package is installed (colcon build + source).

Development

• If you add runtime dependencies, update package.xml and CMakeLists.txt.