MIT Racecar Workspace

Environment

Dockerfiles folder includes dockerfiles for building the workspace environment which contains ROS, ROS-Gazebo and other dependencies.

Navigate to one of the ros-distros kinetic or melodic in the Dockerfiles folder and build the image:

docker build -t racecar/platform .

Run the image with volume mounted of this repository and connect to VNC with your browser https://localhost:6080/

docker run -v "`pwd`/racecar_ws:/home/ubuntu/racecar_ws/src/" -it --rm -p 6080:80 racecar/platform

After the image is mounted ssh into the container and build the catkin worspaces

cd /home/ubuntu/racecar_ws
catkin_make

Folder structure:

• /home/ubuntu/racecar_ws/src/
  • CMakeLists.txt
  • racecar_simulator/
  • racecar_gazebo/
  • racecar_controller/
  • package n

Using the Image in the browser

To use the image in the browser, navigate to http://localhost:6080/. Hit the "Connect" button and you're in!

Running ROS

Launch ROS by running:

cd /home/ubuntu/racecar_ws
source devel/setup.bash
roscore

Running the Racecar Simulator

You can launch it by running:

roslaunch racecar_simulator simulate.launch

To see the simulated car, you will need to open rviz by typing

rviz

You should see a car in a map (walls are black, empty space is grey) and points on that map representing the points hit by the car's lidar.

Running the Gazebo Simulator

Launch Gazebo simulator by running:

cd /home/ubuntu/racecar_ws
source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch racecar_gazebo racecar_tunnel.launch