Enabling Codesharing in Rescue Simulation with USARSim/ROS

Abstract

Abstract. The Robot Operating System (ROS) has been steadily gaining popularity among robotics researchers as an open source framework for robot control. The Unied System for Automation and Robot Simulation (USARSim) has been used for many years by robotics researchers and developers as a validated framework for simulation. This paper presents a new ROS node that is designed to seamlessly interface between ROS and USARSim. It provides for automatic conguration of ROS transforms and topics to allow for full utilization of the simulated hardware. The design of the new node as well as examples of its use for mobile robot inside the RoboCup Rescue Simulation League are presented.

16 Years of RoboCup Rescue

“…As a result of the workshop the challenge of the Virtual Robot Competition is refined, which is reflected in a new rules document [57]. In this new rules document a clear transition is made from the current Unreal/ROS based environment [58] towards a ROS/Gazebo based environment [59].…”

Simulation for the RoboCup Logistics League with Real-World Environment Agency and Multi-level Abstraction

“…These allow a graphically and physically realistic environment. The simulator can be interfaced with ROS what allows having the same interface as on a real robot [9,10]. We preferred Gazebo instead of USARSim because of the plethora of available models and because USARSim relies on non-free components like the Unreal engine.…”

A Realistic RoboCup Rescue Simulation Based on Gazebo

“…Note that there exists an interface between ROS and USARSim [12], but this interface works precisely the other way around, making it possible for ROSnodes to connect to simulation of USARSim. USARSim has many benefits (for instance, the realism of the lighting from the Unreal Engine), but is difficult to maintain with the current small developers community.…”