ros2_docker_template/README.md

my_ros2_docker_image

This template repository should give a good overview on how to build your own ROS2 development instance and produce a new hosted docker image out of it. For now the steps below are only suited for a existing Ubuntu installation. Windows is for now not supported in this repository.

Install dependencies needed for working with docker images and tools to make your life easier

Using the official Docker convenience installer script, we will install docker and docker compose:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

Then add yourself to the docker group so you must not always use sudo when tinkering with docker commands:

sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Update the group changes:

newgrp docker

Source: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-using-the-convenience-script

Only needed for multiplatform images - You may safely ignore this

Following this guide you will also be able to do multiplatform builds with docker buildx. To build multiplatform images need binfmt dependencies for arm64 architecture as requirement (The resulting image works on PCs as well as Jetson Nano, Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon Devices). The sections for multiplatform builds are commented out in the configuration files so you also need to uncomment these lines.

Install requirements

docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install all

Uninstall

docker run --privileged --rm myuser/binfmt

Simple build

First things first: Let's begin with a short and simple build. This is a short hello, world! example.

Clone this repository to your local machine

git clone https://github.com/bjoernellens1/ros2_docker_template

Build the hello, world! image

docker buildx bake hello-world --load # to load into local container registry

or

docker buildx bake hello-world --push # to push into specified remote container registry

Run the hello, world! image

docker compose run hello-world

Advanced build: Custom ROS2 image that includes the Unitree GO1 package.

docker buildx bake my_example --load # to load into local container registry

or

docker buildx bake my_example --push # to push into specified remote container registry

To run my_example:

Run my_example just once to see if everything's working:

This will launch the Unitree udp high-level control node.

docker compose run my_example

Run my_example in background

docker compose up -d my_example

Run my_example in foreground

docker compose up my_example

Execute shell inside my_example

If container is stopped

docker compose run my_example bash

If container is already running

docker compose exec my_example bash

Execute example_program inside my_example

docker compose run my_example example_program

Next steps

Fork this repository and make it your own

What you will want to change in your repository:

my.repos and my_extended.repos:

These are yaml files containing the repositories you may want to include into your final ros2 workspace. For a multi-stage build for instance, I define my base image repositories in "my.repos" and the extended image repositories in "my_extended.repos"

Additional Resources

For further references please visit my WIP repositories for mobile robotic platforms:

• https://github.com/bjoernellens1/ros2_rmp
• https://github.com/bjoernellens1/cps_bot_mini_ws