robotnik_webots

This package provides integration and launch files for simulating Robotnik robots in the Webots simulator (lastly tested webotsR2025a version for ROS2 Jazzy).

Structure

• launch/: ROS 2 launch files for spawning robots and worlds in Webots.
• protos/: Custom Webots PROTO files for robot models.
• resource/: Robot resources, including URDF, configuration files, and meshes.
• robotnik_webots/: Python package directory (can be used for ROS 2 nodes or utilities).
• worlds/: Webots world files.

Requirements

• ROS 2 Jazzy or Humble
• Webots simulator version: R2023b
• Tested with Python 3.12.3

Usage

Install required packages to run this package:

python3 -m pip install --user catkin_pkg

sudo apt install -y ros-$ROS_DISTRO-geometry-msgs ros-$ROS_DISTRO-webots-ros2 ros-$ROS_DISTRO-webots-ros2-driver ros-$ROS_DISTRO-webots-ros2* ros-$ROS_DISTRO-controller-manager ros-$ROS_DISTRO-control-msgs ros-$ROS_DISTRO-control-toolbox ros-$ROS_DISTRO-controller-interface ros-$ROS_DISTRO-joint-state-broadcaster ros-$ROS_DISTRO-joint-trajectory-controller ros-$ROS_DISTRO-teleop-twist-keyboard ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rqt-joint-trajectory-controller

You also should clone install robotnik_common package next to this package. To build this package with ROS 2 and colcon execute:

cd /path/to/your/workspace/src
git clone https://github.com/RobotnikAutomation/robotnik_webots.git
git clone https://github.com/RobotnikAutomation/robotnik_common.git
cd ..
sudo rosdep init && rosdep update && rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --symlink-install

Launch files and arguments

1. Launch the Webots world

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_world.launch.py

Arguments for spawn_world.launch.py

• world: Name of the world file (without extension). Default: default_world
• world_path: Full path to the world file. Default: <package_share>/worlds/<world>.wbt
• gui: Launch Webots with GUI (true/false). Default: true

Examples:

Launch a specific world:

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_world.launch.py world:=my_custom_world

Launch headless (no GUI):

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_world.launch.py gui:=false

2. Spawn a robot in Webots

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_robot.launch.py

Arguments for spawn_robot.launch.py

• robot_id: Robot personal name. Default: robot
• robot: Robot model (e.g., rbwatcher, rbvogui, rbkairos, rbtheron, rbsummit). Default: rbwatcher
• robot_model: Robot type variation. Default: value of robot
• x, y, z: Initial position in the world. Default: 0.0
• run_rviz: Launch RViz2 (true/false). Default: false

Examples:

Spawn a robot at a specific position:

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_robot.launch.py x:=2.0 y:=1.0 z:=0.0

Spawn a robot with a custom name and model:

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_robot.launch.py robot:=rbkairos robot_id:=rbkairos1

Spawn a robot and launch RViz2:

ros2 launch robotnik_webots spawn_robot.launch.py run_rviz:=true

Example of cmd_vel command to interact with robot:

ros2 topic pub /rbkairos1/diffdrive_controller/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/TwistStamped "{twist:{linear: {x: 2.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}, angular: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 2.0}}}" -r 500

Known issues

• Webots simulator in versions R2025 seem to have issues with compatibility with current versions of proto files. Therefore we recommend using older version R2023b.

License

See the LICENSE file for details.