Created Gazebo Simulation for Scout Mini (with Nav2 capabilities) by InfinityJuice · Pull Request #3 · RobotiXX/ScoutMini

InfinityJuice · 2026-07-08T18:32:34Z

PR Summary

This PR adds a full Scout Mini Gazebo + Nav2 simulation workflow and updates the robot model, navigation configs, maps, and task runners needed to exercise autonomous navigation in simulation.

Major Changes

Adds a Gazebo launch path for Scout Mini with scoutmini_description/launch/gazebo_mini.launch.py.
Adds selectable simulation worlds: default_warehouse, warehouse, empty, and tb3_sandbox.
Vendors new world/map assets, including warehouse and TurtleBot-style sandbox maps.
Updates the Scout Mini URDF/Xacro with local mesh assets, corrected base_footprint relationship, wheel orientation/axis updates, Gazebo ros2_control integration, and simulated IMU, lidar, ZED-style RGB camera, and Insta360-style RGB camera outputs.
Adds Gazebo bridge, diff drive, and SLAM config files.
Adds nav2_sim.yaml for simulation-specific Nav2 behavior using /scan, /ground_truth/odom, AMCL, Navfn, DWB, costmaps, velocity smoothing, and waypoint following.
Expands simulation_2d.launch.py into a full bringup that launches Gazebo, spawns the robot, starts Nav2, and optionally sends route or single-pose goals.
Updates navigation.launch.py to support simulation use cases, optional hardware odometry launch, map YAML rewriting, RViz launch, and optional route loop execution.
Adds nav_to_pose_runner.py for sending a single NavigateToPose goal from launch parameters.
Improves route_loop_runner.py with initial map_name parameter support, retry/timeout handling for waypoint resolution, waypoint JSON fallback when the waypoint service is unavailable, and cleaner shutdown behavior.
Adds scoutmini_nav2/README.md with build, launch, RViz, and Nav2 health-check instructions.

How To Run

cd /ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select scoutmini_description scoutmini_nav2 scoutmini_tasks map_tools
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch scoutmini_nav2 simulation_2d.launch.py

Optional single goal:

ros2 launch scoutmini_nav2 simulation_2d.launch.py use_goal:=true goal_x:=2.0 goal_y:=0.0 goal_yaw:=0.0

Notes

The default simulation uses the vendored warehouse world and map_tools/maps/warehouse/warehouse.yaml.
Gazebo may need internet access the first time it loads Fuel-hosted warehouse assets.
All commits on this PR branch are signed.

InfinityJuice · 2026-07-08T18:56:35Z

Had to sign all my commits because merging rule. That's why all the commits date to today at the same time and force pushed.

nhat-m-le

First round of review with some questions/comments/suggestions. Take a look at all of them first before deciding what to do next and address the questions.

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T13:48:52Z

+    <!-- <gazebo>
+        <plugin name="skid_steer_drive_controller" filename="libgazebo_ros_skid_steer_drive.so">
+            <updateRate>100.0</updateRate>
+            <robotNamespace></robotNamespace>
+            <leftFrontJoint>front_left_wheel</leftFrontJoint>
+            <rightFrontJoint>front_right_wheel</rightFrontJoint>
+            <leftRearJoint>rear_left_wheel</leftRearJoint>
+            <rightRearJoint>rear_right_wheel</rightRearJoint>
+            <wheelSeparation>4</wheelSeparation>
+            <wheelDiameter>0.32918</wheelDiameter>
+            <robotBaseFrame>base_link</robotBaseFrame>
+            <torque>1000</torque>
+            <commandTopic>cmd_vel</commandTopic>
+            <broadcastTF>true</broadcastTF>
+            <odometryTopic>odom</odometryTopic>
+            <odometryFrame>odom</odometryFrame>
+            <covariance_x>0.000100</covariance_x>
+            <covariance_y>0.000100</covariance_y>
+            <covariance_yaw>0.010000</covariance_yaw>
+        </plugin>
+    </gazebo> -->
+
+    <!-- <gazebo>
+        <plugin name="object_controller" filename="libgazebo_ros_planar_move.so">
+            <commandTopic>cmd_vel</commandTopic>
+            <odometryTopic>odom</odometryTopic>
+            <odometryFrame>odom</odometryFrame>
+            <odometryRate>20.0</odometryRate>
+            <robotBaseFrame>base_footprint</robotBaseFrame>
+        </plugin>
+    </gazebo> -->


Briefly explain why we are not using these 2 plugins.

These plugins are for gazebo classic not for modern. There are updated versions made for modern gazebo, but I decided to go for ros2_control's diff_drive_controller because it's more standard.

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T13:58:51Z

A SLAM config file should not be in a description package. This seems like a duplicate of this file. If there is a good reason to keep this a separate file, move it to scoutmini_nav2/config and put some comment at the top of the file

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T14:16:30Z

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" ?>


add a brief summary about the purpose of this file at the top

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T14:19:54Z

-      plugin: "nav2_smac_planner/SmacPlanner2D"
+      plugin: "nav2_smac_planner::SmacPlanner2D"


revert this change as ROS Humble has not fully switched to :: syntax

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T14:20:24Z

-    path_handler_plugins: ["PathHandler"]
-    path_handler:
-      plugin: "nav2_controller::FeasiblePathHandler"


Why are we removing this?

The changes in nav2.yaml were done by codex, and I overlooked them. nav2.yaml shouldn't change, and I'll revert it back to what it was. Sorry

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T15:01:33Z

refer to comment in scout_mini.xacro about this file

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T15:10:27Z

-    <xacro:arg name="camera_model"  default="zed2" />
-
-    <!-- ZED -->
-    <xacro:include filename="$(find zed_wrapper)/urdf/zed_macro.urdf.xacro" />
-    <xacro:zed_camera name="$(arg camera_name)" model="$(arg camera_model)" custom_baseline="0.0" enable_gnss="false">
-        <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 0 0"/>
-    </xacro:zed_camera>


This will break the tf tree on the robot. For real usage we still want to know the transform (even static) from robot to the ZED camera, which has multiple frames for optical and depth.

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T15:10:38Z

-          <mesh filename="file://$(find scoutmini_description)/meshes/sensors.dae" scale="1 1 1"/>
+          <box size="0.32 0.18 0.12"/>


I can revert it. It was just for slight performance boost at first

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T15:12:22Z

-    <!-- Add a joint to connect the ZED Camera to the robot -->
+    <!-- Simulated ZED replacement: a normal forward-facing RGB camera. -->
+    <link name="$(arg camera_name)_camera_link">
+      <visual>
+        <geometry>
+          <box size="0.09 0.16 0.05"/>
+        </geometry>
+        <material name="sim_zed_camera_material">
+          <color rgba="0.05 0.05 0.05 1.0"/>
+        </material>
+      </visual>
+      <collision>
+        <geometry>
+          <box size="0.09 0.16 0.05"/>
+        </geometry>
+      </collision>
+      <inertial>
+        <mass value="0.15"/>
+        <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 0 0"/>
+        <inertia ixx="0.0001" ixy="0" ixz="0" iyy="0.0001" iyz="0" izz="0.0001"/>
+      </inertial>
+    </link>
+


don't remember exactly how xacro and urdf stuff work but could you pass a sim arg to this file and scout_mini.xacro to handle sim stuff separately from robot stuff

nhat-m-le · 2026-07-10T15:22:17Z

I know that I initially put this file here but it might be better in a scoutmini_sim package together with the worlds folders from scoutmini_description.

InfinityJuice requested a review from nhat-m-le as a code owner July 8, 2026 18:32

InfinityJuice self-assigned this Jul 8, 2026

InfinityJuice added 9 commits July 8, 2026 14:53

complete urdf/xacro for scout mini

97d5767

gazebo linear movement

f52cf3a

changed zed-ros2-wrapper back to original

459a4b8

gazebo with sensors: zed and insta360 replaced with rgb cameras

f95a941

Initial nav2 (map stuck on fuse3rd)

13bd71c

jazzy nav2 sim done - will update readme soon

78cea88

humble working

b33febe

better robot rotational motion

3e9a5f6

better nav2 params, added sim instructions readme in scoutmini_nav2

00acd28

InfinityJuice force-pushed the sim-dev branch from 3c7d6b7 to 00acd28 Compare July 8, 2026 18:53

added fuse_3rd world sdf; important nav2 changes

39afa84

nhat-m-le requested changes Jul 10, 2026

View reviewed changes

nhat-m-le self-assigned this Jul 10, 2026

		plugin: "nav2_smac_planner/SmacPlanner2D"
		plugin: "nav2_smac_planner::SmacPlanner2D"

		<mesh filename="file://$(find scoutmini_description)/meshes/sensors.dae" scale="1 1 1"/>
		<box size="0.32 0.18 0.12"/>

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InfinityJuice commented Jul 8, 2026 •

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