DAVE

See the original project at http://dave-ros2.notion.site

Installation

Ubuntu 22.04

Follow the instructions at software-auv-4.

Ubuntu 24.04

Run dave_sim_install.sh. Then run gz_packages_install.sh.

Core Components

1. Entry Point (bb_entrypoint)

• Main Launch File: bb_robot.launch.py - Primary entry point for launching the simulation
• Coordinates the startup of Gazebo simulation and robot models
• Configurable parameters for world selection, robot positioning, and simulation settings

2. Robot Models (bb_robot_models)

• Main Launch File: upload_robot.launch.py - Handles robot model instantiation in Gazebo and launches the ROS-Gazebo bridge and republishers
• Bridge Configuration: robot_config.py - Configures ROS-Gazebo message bridge for communication between ROS2 and Gazebo. Bridges thruster topics, TFs, and more.
• Data Republishers:
  • bb_odom_republisher.py - Converts odometry from FLU to NED
  • bb_thrust_republisher.py - Maps thruster commands sent to thruster topic via allocator to Gazebo force input topics
• Transform Publishers: Static transforms for world ↔ world_ned and base_link ↔ base_link_ned
• Image Processing: Republishes camera feeds with compression

Issues

Poor RTF in simulation

If you are on a system with both an integrated GPU and a discrete GPU, offloading rendering of the simulation to the discrete GPU can help greatly. Launch the main simulation launch file prepended with __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia ros2 launch bb_entrypoint bb_robot.launch.py x:=-3.0 y:=-0.6 z:=-1.35 yaw:=1.57 namespace:=auv4 world_name:=robosub_2025_pool paused:=false

WSLg

When running Gazebo on WSL, some graphics are not well supported.

Quicklinks:

• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/d3d12-gpu-video-acceleration-in-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-now-available/
• microsoft/WSL#11838
• https://askubuntu.com/questions/1514352/ubuntu-24-04-with-nvidia-driver-libegl-warning-egl-failed-to-create-dri2-scre

A fix would be to update the apt repository to use the latest mesa drivers. But do note that these versions may not be stable:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers -y

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  mesa-utils \
  vainfo \
  mesa-va-drivers

If ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers is not stable / does not work, try ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa.

A few other configs can be set as well (not tested):

MESA_D3D12_DEFAULT_ADAPTER_NAME: NVIDIA
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR: /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir
LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /usr/lib/wsl/lib
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME: d3d12
# The env var DISPLAY in WSL Docker Desktop is wrong.
DISPLAY: :0
---
- /usr/lib/wsl:/usr/lib/wsl
- /mnt/wslg:/mnt/wslg
- /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix
---
privileged: true
group_add:
      - video