Bridge communication between ROS and Ignition Transport

This package provides a network bridge which enables the exchange of messages between ROS and Ignition Transport.

The bridge is currently implemented in C++. At this point there’s no support for service calls. Its support is limited to only the following message types:

Run ros2 run ros_ign_bridge parameter_bridge -h for instructions.

Example 1a: Ignition Transport talker and ROS 2 listener

Start the parameter bridge which will watch the specified topics.

# Shell A:
. ~/bridge_ws/install/setup.bash
ros2 run ros_ign_bridge parameter_bridge /chatter@std_msgs/msg/String@ignition.msgs.StringMsg

Now we start the ROS listener.

# Shell B:
. /opt/ros/galactic/setup.bash
ros2 topic echo /chatter

Now we start the Ignition Transport talker.

# Shell C:
ign topic pub -t /chatter -m ignition.msgs.StringMsg -p 'data:"Hello"'

Example 1b: ROS 2 talker and Ignition Transport listener

Start the parameter bridge which will watch the specified topics.

# Shell A:
. ~/bridge_ws/install/setup.bash
ros2 run ros_ign_bridge parameter_bridge /chatter@std_msgs/msg/String@ignition.msgs.StringMsg

Now we start the Ignition Transport listener.

# Shell B:
ign topic -e -t /chatter

Now we start the ROS talker.

# Shell C:
. /opt/ros/galactic/setup.bash
ros2 topic pub /chatter std_msgs/msg/String "data: 'Hi'" --once

Example 2: Run the bridge and exchange images

In this example, we’re going to generate Ignition Transport images using Ignition Gazebo, that will be converted into ROS images, and visualized with rqt_image_viewer.

First we start Ignition Gazebo.

# Shell A:
ign gazebo sensors_demo.sdf

Let’s see the topic where camera images are published.

# Shell B:
ign topic -l | grep image
/rgbd_camera/depth_image
/rgbd_camera/image

Then we start the parameter bridge with the previous topic.

# Shell B:
. ~/bridge_ws/install/setup.bash
ros2 run ros_ign_bridge parameter_bridge /rgbd_camera/image@sensor_msgs/msg/Image@ignition.msgs.Image

Now we start the ROS GUI:

# Shell C:
. /opt/ros/galactic/setup.bash
ros2 run rqt_image_view rqt_image_view /rgbd_camera/image

You should see the current images in rqt_image_view which are coming from Gazebo (published as Ignition Msgs over Ignition Transport).

The screenshot shows all the shell windows and their expected content (it was taken using ROS 2 Galactic and Ignition Fortress):

Example 3: Static bridge

In this example, we’re going to run an executable that starts a bidirectional bridge for a specific topic and message type. We’ll use the static_bridge executable that is installed with the bridge.

The example’s code can be found under ros_ign_bridge/src/static_bridge.cpp. In the code, it’s possible to see how the bridge is hardcoded to bridge string messages published on the /chatter topic.

Let’s give it a try, starting with Ignition -> ROS 2.

On terminal A, start the bridge:

ros2 run ros_ign_bridge static_bridge

On terminal B, we start a ROS 2 listener:

ros2 topic echo /chatter std_msgs/msg/String

And terminal C, publish an Ignition message:

ign topic pub -t /chatter -m ignition.msgs.StringMsg -p 'data:"Hello"'

At this point, you should see the ROS 2 listener echoing the message.

Now let’s try the other way around, ROS 2 -> Ignition.

On terminal D, start an Igntion listener:

ign topic -e -t /chatter

And on terminal E, publish a ROS 2 message:

ros2 topic pub /chatter std_msgs/msg/String 'data: "Hello"' -1

You should see the Ignition listener echoing the message.

Example 4: Configuring the Bridge via YAML

When configuring many topics, it is easier to use a file-based configuration in a markup language. In this case, the ros_ign bridge supports using a YAML file to configure the various parameters.

The configuration file must be a YAML array of maps. An example configuration for 5 bridges is below, showing the various ways that a bridge may be specified:

 # Set just topic name, applies to both
- topic_name: "chatter"
  ros_type_name: "std_msgs/msg/String"
  ign_type_name: "ignition.msgs.StringMsg"

# Set just ROS topic name, applies to both
- ros_topic_name: "chatter_ros"
  ros_type_name: "std_msgs/msg/String"
  ign_type_name: "ignition.msgs.StringMsg"

# Set just IGN topic name, applies to both
- ign_topic_name: "chatter_ign"
  ros_type_name: "std_msgs/msg/String"
  ign_type_name: "ignition.msgs.StringMsg"

# Set each topic name explicitly
- ros_topic_name: "chatter_both_ros"
  ign_topic_name: "chatter_both_ign"
  ros_type_name: "std_msgs/msg/String"
  ign_type_name: "ignition.msgs.StringMsg"

# Full set of configurations
- ros_topic_name: "ros_chatter"
  ign_topic_name: "ign_chatter"
  ros_type_name: "std_msgs/msg/String"
  ign_type_name: "ignition.msgs.StringMsg"
  subscriber_queue: 5       # Default 10
  publisher_queue: 6        # Default 10
  lazy: true                # Default "false"
  direction: BIDIRECTIONAL  # Default "BIDIRECTIONAL" - Bridge both directions
                            # "IGN_TO_ROS" - Bridge Ignition topic to ROS
                            # "ROS_TO_IGN" - Bridge ROS topic to Ignition

To run the bridge node with the above configuration:

ros2 run ros_ign_bridge bridge_node --ros-args -p config_file:=$WORKSPACE/ros_ign/ros_ign_bridge/test/config/full.yaml

API

ROS 2 Parameters:

• subscription_heartbeat - Period at which the node checks for new subscribers for lazy bridges.
• config_file - YAML file to be loaded as the bridge configuration

Changelog for package ros_ign_bridge

0.233.4 (2022-02-07)

• [galactic] backport test memory usage improvements (#215)
  • Improve modularity of ign/ros publisher tests (#194)
  • Break apart ros_subscriber test translation unit (#212)

  - Fix deprecated parameter declaration Co-authored-by: Louise Poubel <<louise@openrobotics.org>>

• Contributors: Michael Carroll

0.233.3 (2021-12-30)

• Separate galactic branch from ros2 branch (#201)
• [ros2] 🏁 Dome EOL (#199)
• New Light Message, also bridge Color (#187) Co-authored-by: ahcorde <<ahcorde@gmail.com>>
• Statically link each translation unit (#193)
• Break apart convert and factories translation unit (#192) Co-authored-by: Louise Poubel <<louise@openrobotics.org>>
• Fixed ROS subscriber test in ros_ign_bridge (#189)
• Enable QoS overrides (#181)
• Fixed ros ign bridge documentation (#178)
• Expose Contacts through ROS bridge (#175)
• Contributors: Alejandro Hernández Cordero, Louise Poubel, Michael Carroll, Vatan Aksoy Tezer, William Lew

0.233.2 (2021-07-20)

• [ros2] Update version docs, add Galactic and Fortress (#164)
• Contributors: Louise Poubel

0.233.1 (2021-04-16)

• Default to Edifice for Rolling (#150)
• Ignore local publications for ROS 2 subscriber (#146)
  • Note: Does not work with all rmw implementations (e.g.: FastRTPS)
• Update documentation for installation instructions and bridge examples (#142)
• Edifice support (#140)
• Add JointTrajectory message conversion (#121) Conversion between
  • ignition::msgs::JointTrajectory
  • trajectory_msgs::msg::JointTrajectory
• Add TFMessage / Pose_V and Float64 / Double conversions (#117) Addresses issue #116
• Updated prereq & branch name (#113)
• Update releases (#108)
• Updated README.md (#104)
• Add support for Dome (#103)
• Contributors: Alejandro Hernández Cordero, Andrej Orsula, Florent Audonnet, Jenn, Louise Poubel, Luca Della Vedova

0.221.1 (2020-08-19)

• Add pkg-config as a buildtool dependency (#102)
• Port ros_ign_bridge tests to ROS 2 (#98)
• Rename test_utils.hpp (#98)
• Contributors: Louise Poubel, ahcorde

0.221.0 (2020-07-23)

• Install only what's necessary, rename builtin_interfaces (#95)
• Move headers to src, rename builtin_interfaces (#95)
• Integer support (#91) Adds Int32 to the bridge.
• [ros2] Fixed CI - Added Foxy (#89) Co-authored-by: Louise Poubel <<louise@openrobotics.org>>
• Ignore ros-args in parameter bridge (#65)
• Update Dashing docs (#62)
• Update dependencies to Citadel (#57)
• [WIP] Port ign_ros_gazebo_demos to ROS2 (#58) Port ros_ign_image to ROS2 Port ros_ign_gazebo_demos to ROS2
• Add support for std_msgs/Empty (#53)
• Add support for std_msgs/Bool (#50)
• [ros2] Port ros_ign_bridge to ROS2 (#45)
• Enable ROS2 CI for Dashing branch (#43)
• Make all API and comments ROS-version agnostic
• Rename packages and fix compilation + tests
• Move files ros1 -> ros
• Contributors: Addisu Taddese, Alejandro Hernández Cordero, Jose Luis Rivero, Louise Poubel, Luca Della Vedova, Michael Carroll, Mohamed Ahmed, Shivesh Khaitan, chapulina

0.7.0 (2019-08-15)

• Merge pull request #38 from osrf/unidirectional Support unidirectional bridge topics
• More examples
• Merge pull request #37 from osrf/debug Adding debug and error statements
• Switch to characters supported by ros
• Merge branch 'debug' into unidirectional
• More output, and rosconsole depend
• Support specification of bridge direction
• Adding debug and error statements
• Contributors: Nate Koenig

0.6.3 (2019-08-04)

0.6.2 (2019-08-04)

0.6.1 (2019-08-04)

• Update README.md
• Contributors: Carlos Agüero

0.6.0 (2019-08-02)

• Merge pull request #33 from osrf/issue_31 Fix issue #31
• Image bridge using image_transport (#34)
  • Image bridge using image_transport
  • tests for image
  • correct metapackage

  * tests with catkin Signed-off-by: Louise Poubel <<louise@openrobotics.org>> * Revert changes from #32 Signed-off-by: Louise Poubel <<louise@openrobotics.org>>

• Use intra-process field from messageInfo.
• Contributors: Carlos Aguero, Nate Koenig, chapulina
• 0.5.0
• Battery state (#30)
• Packed demo (#29)
  • adding demo for point cloud packed bridge
  • correct rviz file
  • RGBD bridged cloud demo
• Merge pull request #28 from osrf/pointcloudpacked Bridge point cloud packed
• Contributors: Nate Koenig, chapulina
• Battery state (#30)
• Packed demo (#29)
  • adding demo for point cloud packed bridge
  • correct rviz file
  • RGBD bridged cloud demo
• Merge pull request #28 from osrf/pointcloudpacked Bridge point cloud packed
• Contributors: Nate Koenig, chapulina

0.4.0 (2019-07-16)

• tests and reverse bridge for pointcloud
• Bridge point cloud packed
• Contributors: Nate Koenig

0.3.1 (2019-07-01)

0.3.0 (2019-06-28)

• 0.2.0
• Conversion between nav_msgs/Odometry and ignition::msgs::Odometry (#22)
  • Conversion between nav_msgs/Odometry and ignition::msgs::Odometry.
  • Update documentation.
  • More time to run tests
  • Cleaning test_utils.
  • Remove explicit ROS dependencies for Travis.
  • diff drive demo with cmd_vel and odom
  • process child frame id
• Fluid pressure (#20)
  • screenshots
  • missing IMU
  • Fluid pressure
  • Fix tests.
• Demos package (#19)
  • Start of demos package: camera
  • IMU
  • depth camera
  • magnetometer
  • lidar, base launch
  • READMEs, RGBD camera
  • screenshots
  • missing IMU
  • set plugin path env
  • It's best to always set it
• Point clouds for RGBD cameras (#17)
  • Beginning of point cloud package
  • Populating image data, but result is not correct. Must find out where's the source of the problem.
  • RGB -> BGR: why?
  • Cleanup code and example
  • pointcloud -> point_cloud
  • add keys - how was this working before?
  • install wget
  • well, we need ign-gz2 :sweat_smile:
  • README update
  • PR feedback
  • .travis/build: rosdep skip ignition keys (#18)
  • .travis/build: rosdep skip ignition keys
  • Update build
• Move package to subfolder, add metapackage (#16)
• Contributors: Carlos Agüero, Nate Koenig, chapulina

0.2.2 (2019-05-20)

0.2.1 (2019-05-11)

0.2.0 (2019-05-09)

0.1.0 (2019-03-20)