Overview
The Clearpath simulator uses Gazebo Fortress to simulate robots in a physics-based environment. The simulation supports the Clearpath Config, as well as simulating multiple robots simultaneously. Gazebo data is bridged to ROS 2, and follows the Clearpath API. The Clearpath simulator can be used to iterate on robot configurations, test controls, develop navigation software, and much more.
Bridging Gazebo to ROS 2
Gazebo uses its own transport layer consisting of nodes and messages similar to ROS 2. A ROS 2 bridge node is required to bridge Gazebo data to ROS 2, and vice versa. By leveraging the generators, we can generate the required bridges when the simulator is launched. As a result, the simulator can support all of the same configurations that a physical robot supports.