[DEPRECATED] F1tenth Simulator

The f1tenth simulator from f1tenth_gym_ros is containerised to avoid dependency issues and to shortcut setup.

System

Ubuntu 20.04

Setup

1. Clone repository and submodules

git clone --recursive https://github.com/NTU-Autonomous-Racing-Team/f1tenth_simulator.git

2. Build Dockerfile

Builds an image from the f1tenth_gym_ros.Dockerfile and tag it as f1tenth:gym_ros_foxy

sudo docker build -f f1tenth_gym_ros.Dockerfile -t f1tenth:gym_ros_foxy .

3. Install dependencies (WIP i.e. SKIP THIS STEP)

sudo apt install -y python3-pip ros-foxy-ackermann-msgs
git clone https://github.com/f1tenth/f1tenth_gym
cd f1tenth_gym && pip3 install -e .
sudo apt install ros-foxy-navigation2
sudo apt install ros-foxy-nav2-bringup
sudo apt install ros-foxy-xacro
sudo apt install ros-foxy-joint-state-publisher
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update
rosdep install -i --from-path src --rosdistro foxy -y

4. Start the container to colcon build (only run once when repo is first cloned)

./run_gym_ros.sh

5. Start container to start the Rviz simulator

./run_gym_ros.sh

Change maps

f1tenth_racetracks

1. Open the ./simulator/sim_ws/src/config/sim.yaml file in a text editor e.g. vim, nano, vscode, ...
2. Change the map_path under map_parameters to the path of the desired map.

custom ractracks

1. Copy the map.png and map.yaml into ./simulator/sim_ws/src/maps
2. Change the directory in ./simulator/sim_ws/src/config/sim.yaml

# map parameters
map_path: '/sim_ws/src/f1tenth_gym_ros/maps/<new_map>'

Troubleshoot

1. Test if topic are publishing
   1. Test: ros2 topic list
   2. Expected:

      root@f1tenth_gym_ros:/# ros2 topic list
      /clicked_point
      /clock
      /cmd_vel
      /drive
      /ego_racecar/odom
      /ego_robot_description
      /goal_pose
      /initialpose
      /joint_states
      /map
      /map_server/transition_event
      /map_updates
      /parameter_events
      /rosout
      /scan
      /tf
      /tf_static
      

2. If you face a cmake cache issue, remove the generated files in the f1tenth_ws

   1. rm -rf build install log
      

   2. colcon build --packages-select <package name>
      

Resources

• f1tenth_gym_ros
• f1tenth_racetracks
• ROS Tutorial/Using GUIs with Docker