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DRC Simulator installation

Overview

This page explains how to install the DRC Simulator.

Pre-compiled binaries

Ubuntu Linux

Note: as of drcsim 2.2.0, binary packages are available for 64-bit systems only. A 32-bit version is still available as source, but 64-bit is required to run the BDI walking controller.

First time setup

If this is your first time installing the simulator, there's some system configuration that you need to do.

  1. Configure your Ubuntu repositories to allow "restricted," "universe," and "multiverse." You can follow the Ubuntu guide for instructions on doing this.

  2. Setup your computer to accept software from packages.osrfoundation.org and packages.ros.org (the DRC Simulator uses some parts of ROS).

    Ubuntu 12.04 (precise)

    sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo/ubuntu-stable precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/drc-latest.list'

    Ubuntu 14.04 (trusty) (since drcsim-4.0)

    sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu trusty main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo/ubuntu-stable trusty main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/drc-latest.list'

  3. Retrieve and install the keys for the ROS and DRC repositories.

    wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
wget https://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -

  4. Update apt-get and install the DRC Simulator.

    sudo apt-get update

  5. Install drcsim package:

    sudo apt-get install drcsim

Upgrading

If you have a previous version of the simulator installed, upgrading is easy:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install gazebo drcsim

Note that we explicitly mention gazebo in the install line to ensure that we'll get the newest version of it, too.

Running

Now that everything is installed, here's how to run it:

  1. Configure your environment. You need to do this in every shell where you run drcsim software (you might want to add it to your ~/.bashrc or equivalent).

    source /opt/ros/[Your ROS Distro Name]/setup.bash   # this is necessary for drcsim 3.1.0 and later
source /usr/share/drcsim/setup.sh

    If you get "Warning: failed to find Gazebo's setup.sh. You will need to source it manually.", do as described here

  2. To run the DRC Simulator, try the default launch file:

    roslaunch drcsim_gazebo atlas.launch

    For drcsim < 3.1.0: The package and launch file had a different name:

    roslaunch atlas_utils atlas.launch

Note that the robot launches with an extremely simple controller running only on the ankle joints, and thus will appear to "wobble" back and forth, and may eventually fall down. If this happens, click "Edit->Reset Model Poses" to set the robot back on its feet. This simplistic "standing" controller is just a placeholder; it is meant to be replaced by your own control software.

Also, at the time of writing, the simulation will start with the robot "pinned" to the world for 10 (simulated seconds) before the controllers will engage.

Other platforms (TODO)

Please help us by contributing patches and configuration to build packages on your favorite platform!

Compiling from source

-

Prerequisite: Install Gazebo

There are several ways of getting a working gazebo installation to use with drcsim from source installation:

  1. Install using apt-get from the OSRF repository
  2. Install gazebo from source

Both are very well documented in the Gazebo Installation page.

Ubuntu and ROS Hydro

Here we'll explain how to build drcsim from source. You will need a working installation of gazebo, explained in the previous section.

  1. Configure your system to install packages from ROS hydro. E.g., on precise:

    sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -

  2. Install compile-time prerequisites:

    sudo apt-get update

# Install osrf-common's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y cmake               \
                        debhelper           \
                        ros-hydro-ros      \
                        ros-hydro-ros-comm

# Install sandia-hand's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y ros-hydro-xacro        \
                        ros-hydro-ros          \
                        ros-hydro-image-common \
                        ros-hydro-ros-comm     \
                        ros-hydro-common-msgs  \
                        libboost-dev            \
                        avr-libc                \
                        gcc-avr                 \
                        libqt4-dev

# Install gazebo-ros-pkgs
sudo apt-get install -y libtinyxml-dev                 \
                        ros-hydro-opencv2             \
                        ros-hydro-angles              \
                        ros-hydro-cv-bridge           \
                        ros-hydro-driver-base         \
                        ros-hydro-dynamic-reconfigure \
                        ros-hydro-geometry-msgs       \
                        ros-hydro-image-transport     \
                        ros-hydro-message-generation  \
                        ros-hydro-nav-msgs            \
                        ros-hydro-nodelet             \
                        ros-hydro-pcl-conversions     \
                        ros-hydro-pcl-ros             \
                        ros-hydro-polled-camera       \
                        ros-hydro-rosconsole          \
                        ros-hydro-rosgraph-msgs       \
                        ros-hydro-sensor-msgs         \
                        ros-hydro-trajectory-msgs     \
                        ros-hydro-urdf                \
                        ros-hydro-dynamic-reconfigure \
                        ros-hydro-rosgraph-msgs       \
                        ros-hydro-tf                  \
                        ros-hydro-cmake-modules

# Install drcsim's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y cmake debhelper                         \
                     ros-hydro-std-msgs ros-hydro-common-msgs   \
                     ros-hydro-image-common ros-hydro-geometry  \
                     ros-hydro-pr2-controllers                  \
                     ros-hydro-geometry-experimental            \
                     ros-hydro-robot-state-publisher            \
                     ros-hydro-image-pipeline                   \
                     ros-hydro-image-transport-plugins          \
                     ros-hydro-compressed-depth-image-transport \
                     ros-hydro-compressed-image-transport       \
                     ros-hydro-theora-image-transport           \
                     ros-hydro-ros-controllers                  \
                     ros-hydro-moveit-msgs                      \
                     ros-hydro-joint-limits-interface           \
                     ros-hydro-transmission-interface           \
                     ros-hydro-laser-assembler

  3. Create the catkin workspace Default branches of ros gazebo plugins, osrf-common, sandia-hand and drcsim will be included into the workspace.

     # Setup the workspace
 mkdir -p /tmp/ws/src
 cd /tmp/ws/src

 # Download needed software
 git clone https://github.com/ros-simulation/gazebo_ros_pkgs.git
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/osrf-common
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/sandia-hand
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/drcsim

 # Source ros distro's setup.bash
 source /opt/ros/hydro/setup.bash

 # Build and install into workspace
 cd /tmp/ws
 catkin_make install

  4. Run from the catkin workspace

     # Source the setup from workspace
 source /tmp/ws/install/setup.bash

 # Source drcsim setup file
 source /tmp/ws/install/share/drcsim/setup.sh

 # Test installation
 roslaunch drcsim_gazebo atlas.launch

Ubuntu and ROS Indigo

Here we'll explain how to build drcsim from source. You will need a working installation of gazebo, explained in the previous section.

  1. Configure your system to install packages from ROS Indigo. E.g., on trusty:

    sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu trusty main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -

  2. Install compile-time prerequisites:

    sudo apt-get update

# Install osrf-common's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y cmake               \
                        debhelper           \
                        ros-indigo-ros      \
                        ros-indigo-ros-comm

# Install sandia-hand's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y ros-indigo-xacro        \
                        ros-indigo-ros          \
                        ros-indigo-image-common \
                        ros-indigo-ros-comm     \
                        ros-indigo-common-msgs  \
                        libboost-dev            \
                        avr-libc                \
                        gcc-avr                 \
                        libqt4-dev

# Install gazebo-ros-pkgs
sudo apt-get install -y libtinyxml-dev                 \
                        ros-indigo-vision-opencv       \
                        ros-indigo-angles              \
                        ros-indigo-cv-bridge           \
                        ros-indigo-driver-base         \
                        ros-indigo-dynamic-reconfigure \
                        ros-indigo-geometry-msgs       \
                        ros-indigo-image-transport     \
                        ros-indigo-message-generation  \
                        ros-indigo-nav-msgs            \
                        ros-indigo-nodelet             \
                        ros-indigo-pcl-conversions     \
                        ros-indigo-pcl-ros             \
                        ros-indigo-polled-camera       \
                        ros-indigo-rosconsole          \
                        ros-indigo-rosgraph-msgs       \
                        ros-indigo-sensor-msgs         \
                        ros-indigo-trajectory-msgs     \
                        ros-indigo-urdf                \
                        ros-indigo-dynamic-reconfigure \
                        ros-indigo-rosgraph-msgs       \
                        ros-indigo-tf                  \
                        ros-indigo-cmake-modules

# Install drcsim's dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y cmake debhelper                          \
                     ros-indigo-std-msgs ros-indigo-common-msgs  \
                     ros-indigo-image-common ros-indigo-geometry \
                     ros-indigo-ros-control                      \
                     ros-indigo-geometry-experimental            \
                     ros-indigo-robot-state-publisher            \
                     ros-indigo-image-pipeline                   \
                     ros-indigo-image-transport-plugins          \
                     ros-indigo-compressed-depth-image-transport \
                     ros-indigo-compressed-image-transport       \
                     ros-indigo-theora-image-transport           \
                     ros-indigo-laser-assembler

  3. Create the catkin workspace Default branches of ros gazebo plugins, osrf-common, sandia-hand and drcsim will be included into the workspace.

     # Setup the workspace
 mkdir -p /tmp/ws/src
 cd /tmp/ws/src

 # Download needed software
 git clone https://github.com/ros-simulation/gazebo_ros_pkgs.git
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/osrf-common
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/sandia-hand
 hg clone https://bitbucket.org/osrf/drcsim

 # Change to the *indigo* branch in gazebo_ros_pkgs
 cd gazebo_ros_pkgs
 git checkout indigo-devel
 cd ..

 # Source ros distro's setup.bash
 source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash

 # Build and install into workspace
 cd /tmp/ws
 catkin_make install

  4. Run from the catkin workspace

     # Source the setup from workspace
 source /tmp/ws/install/setup.bash

 # Source drcsim setup file
 source /tmp/ws/install/share/drcsim/setup.sh

 # Test installation
 roslaunch drcsim_gazebo atlas.launch

Other platforms (TODO)

Please help us by contributing patches and configuration to build from source on your favorite platform!

Atlas Simulation Interface 3.0.2

This section is for DRC competitors who have received the Atlas Simulation Interfaces library version 3.0.2 from BDI.

DRCSim version 4.2 or greater is required.

Follow this following steps:

  1. Install DRCSim >= 4.2

  2. Copy BDI's libAtlasSimInterface.so.3.0.2 file into the DRCSim install space, replacing the library provided by DRCSim. BDI provides the libAtlasSimInterface.so.3.0.2 to DRC competitors. If you are a DRC competitor with an Atlas robot, please contact BDI to acquire libAtlasSimInterface.so.3.0.2.

    a. Source your ROS setup file. For example, if you are using ROS Indigo:

    source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.sh

    b. If you installed DRCSim from debian:

    sudo cp libAtlasSimInterface.so.3.0.2 /opt/ros/$ROS_DISTRO/lib/libAtlasSimInterface3.so.3.0.2

    c. If you installed DRCSim in a catkin workspace:

    cp libAtlasSimInterface.so.3.0.2 <catkin_ws_path>/install/lib/libAtlasSimInterface3.so.3.0.2

  3. The new interface needs ulimit set stack and core to unlimited:

    ulimit -s unlimited
ulimit -c unlimited

  4. Launch drcsim as usual

    roslaunch drcsim_gazebo atlas.launch model_args:="_v5"

    Optionally add --verbose flag to get more console outputs:

    roslaunch drcsim_gazebo atlas.launch model_args:="_v5" extra_gazebo_args:="--verbose"

    Note that some of the launch files, e.g. vrc_final_*.launch, launch gzserver only without the graphical client. To launch gazebo with both the server and the client, you can explicitly specify to use the gazebo command:

    roslaunch drcsim_gazebo vrc_final_task1.launch model_args:="_v5" gzname:="gazebo"