implement this simulation

[yeknafar]

Hello Nishanth. Can we implement this simulation in Real robot that uses pixhawk flight controller ?

thanks.

[NishanthARao]

Hello yeknafar. I m very sorry for the delayed response. Well, this ongoing simulation is customized for the PlutoX drone (physical parameters of simulation, of course will be changed). I m not very sure if this simulation can be directly implemented onto a Pixhawk flight controller as I have no prior experience with it.

It would be great if you try, and please let me know, if it's possible.

Thank you for your interest

[ThomasCarstens]

Hello! I would be interested in this too, specifically with the PX4 ROS capabilities :) Has there been any work on this? I need a Gazebo drone simulator that uses ros_control and where I can customize any drone model (since I want to build my own PX4 drones from scratch). So I have a few questions for your simulator:

1. How can I customize my drone? Custom URDFs would be great!
2. Do you use yaml files in conjunction with ros_control? If so have you documented the process?
3. Can I find tutorials for how to go further? Would love to use your simulator!

[NishanthARao]

@ThomasCarstens , Hello.

This simulation was developed as a precursor to implement ROS functionalities on the PlutoX drone. Unfortunately, we haven't worked yet with PX 4, and I am not very sure, how this project could be implemented on board the PX4. I am truly sorry for this, and if possible in the near future, I will try to add PX4 implementation as well. In this unforseen lockdown situation, I cannot work on the hardware as of date. I am truly sorry for this. To answer you questions,

1. You can add custom-built meshes in your .urdf files. I have a repository, where the plutoX drone was built from scratch, and mathematically modelled as a part of our undergraduate project. The drone is simulated on Gazebo, you can find the repositories here: https://github.com/NishanthARao/PlutoX-ROS-Joystick-Control https://github.com/NishanthARao/Automatic-Landing-Drone-LQR If you need to learn how to build your own drone (any robot model for that matter), I would suggest you to read the book "ROS Robotics by Example" by Carol Fairchild. It is a great book, that helped me too, when I wanted to make my own robot simulations from scratch.

2. Yes. For the rotors to turn at a specific velocity, I have used the ros_control plugin. Unfortunately, i haven't documented the process, but you can find great tutorials on the previously mentioned book. Please do check out the book! It is really great, and it assumes that the reader has no prior knowledge of ROS/Gazebo. If you need to understand the ros_control plugin that was specifically used to simulate the drone, do check out the question that I had asked long back on ROS Q&A forums. Unfortunately, this is all I have currently for the "documentation" of how I created the yaml files: https://answers.ros.org/question/327373/launching-the-jointgroupvelocitycontroller/

3. There are great tutorials on ROS and Gazebo websites. Further, the book mentioned previously has helped me gain a lot of knowledge to call myself a "beginner" to ROS and Gazebo. But trust me, a lot of things can be learnt from the Q&A forums present on both ROS and Gazebo websites. They really help you understand some concepts better.

I thank you very much for taking the time to go through my project. I would be happy to answer if you have any other questions.

Happy Learning!

[ThomasCarstens]

Thanks for the tips!! This is exciting. Your drone flying video (the position control at the end) is very promising. I'll let you know what I can do!