Comprehensive Guide to Dokerised implementation of IsaacSim with ROS 2 for drone development

This dockerised implementation is made with aspirations from following open-source repositories. Credits should go to the respective creators.

• hijimasa/isaac-ros2-control-sample
• PegasusSimulator/PegasusSimulator
• simulately.wiki

Installation

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04/22.04 Operating System
• NVIDIA GPU (RTX 2070 or higher)
• NVIDIA GPU Driver (recommended version 525.85)

Nucleus Server

Download and install Omniverse Launcher and install Nucleus Server

Installing docker

Follow the latest instructions at the official docker page

Installing Portainer CE

Portainer CE is an open-source GUI for creating and managing docker containers. Install it following these instructions

Installing Nvidia Docker

Install the Nvidia Container toolkit with These Instructions

If GPUs fail to load after deploying Isaac sim docker please follow these instructions. TODO

General Installation

1. Clone the repo to your ros2 workspace

   git clone https://github.com/SasaKuruppuarachchi/isaacsim_ros2_drone.git
   

1. Get git submodules

   cd isaacsim_ros2_drone
   git submodule update --init --recursive
   cd px4
   git clone -b v1.14.0-rc2 https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive
   

1. Build a docker image with shell script.

   cd docker
   chmod +x build_docker_image.sh
   ./build_docker_image.sh
   

1. Launch a docker container

   ./launch_docker.sh
   

1. Launch Isaac Sim

   At this point, you are expected to have NVIDIA Isaac Sim fully installed and working. To make sure you have everything setup correctly, open a new terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T), and test the following commands:

   Check that the simulator app can be launched

   • Run the simulator with the –help argument to see all available options

   ISAACSIM --help
   

• Run the simulator. A new window should open

   ISAACSIM
   

Check that you can launch the simulator from a python script (standalone mode)

• Run the bundled python interpreter and see if it prints on the terminal “Hello World.”

   ISAACSIM_PYTHON -c "print('Hello World.')"
   

• Run the python interpreter and check if we can run a script that starts the simulator and adds cubes to the world

   ISAACSIM_PYTHON ${ISAACSIM_PATH}/standalone_examples/api/omni.isaac.core/add_cubes.py
   

If you were unable to run the commands above successfuly, then something is incorrectly configured. Please do not proceed with this installation until you have everything setup correctly.

[!NOTE] Secondary screens could freeze due to a bug in Nvidia driver. Disconnect and reconnect the HDMI If Isaac sim failed to launch please post the log in issues section

1. Attach to docker in new terminal to build and launch Px4_Auopilot

   docker exec -it isaac-sim-ros2 bash
   cd /root
   cd PX4-Autopilot
   make px4_sitl_default none
   

if PX4 lauched properly you can exit out of it.

[!NOTE] For the first time, launching Isaac Sim takes a very long time. Isaac Sim must be fully launched to spawn the robot.

Enabling Pegasus Simulator in Isaacsim (First Operation)

1. Launch ISAACSIM application.

2. Open the Window->extensions on the top menubar inside Isaac Sim.

3. On the Extensions manager menu, we can enable or disable extensions. By pressing the settings button, we can add a path to the Pegasus-Simulator repository.

   

4. The path inserted should be the path to the repository followed by /extensions.

   

5. After adding the path to the extension, we can enable the Pegasus Simulator extension on the third-party tab.

   

When enabling the extension for the first time, the python requirements should be install automatically for the build in ISAACSIM_PYTHON , and after a few seconds, the Pegasus widget GUI should pop-up.

1. The Pegasus Simulator window should appear docked to the bottom-right section of the screen.

   

Getting Started

1. Open a new terminal to launch QGC

   docker exec -it isaac-sim-ros2 bash
   su ubuntu
   cd
   ./QGroundControl.AppImage
   

1. If Isaacsim is not running alunch in a new terminal

   docker exec -it isaac-sim-ros2 bash
   ISAACSIM
   

1. Make sure the Pegasus Simulator Extension is enabled.

   

2. On the Pegasus Simulator tab in the bottom-right corner, click on the Load Scene button.

   

3. Again, on the Pegasus Simulator tab, click on the Load Vehicle button.

   

4. Press the play button on the simulator’s control bar on the left corner.

   

5. On QGroundControl, an arrow representing the vehicle should pop-up. You can now perform a take-off, but pressing the take-off button on top-left corner of QGroundControl.

   

6. On QGroundControl, left-click on a place on the map, press Go to location and slide at the bottom of the screen to confirm the target waypoint for the drone to follow.