Unitree ROS Melodic Docker

A Docker container for ROS Melodic based Unitree robots.

Build

Unitrees ROS package repositories are included as Git submodules. All further dependencies are included in the dockerfile. To download the submodules either clone using git clone --recurse-submodules or after git clone use git submodule init and git submodule update.

Execute the build script:

./build_unitree_ros_melodic_container.sh

Run

Connect to xhost:

xhost +local:root

Execute the run script:

./run_unitree_ros_melodic_container.sh <optional name>

It is possible to set a custom name for the container. If no name is given, the name "unitree-ros-melodic" is used.

First Start and Setup Catkin Workspace

When you start the container for the first time, you must first set up the Catkin workspace. The following commands have to be called:

cd ~/catkin_ws/
catkin_make

Then the workspace is set up and the packages or the projects are built in catkin_ws/src. After the first start, or after the execution of catkin_make the following command must be executed:

source /root/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash

Custom ROS Packages

Custom projects should be placed in catkin_ws/src/ outside the Docker container. The Docker container is only used to build and run software.

If additional ROS packages or other tools or libraries from apt are needed, they should be specified in the dockerfile.

View Robot and Launch Gazebo

The following information is taken from the readme of the project unitree_ros

The description of robots:

Namely the description of Go1, A1, Aliengo and Laikago. Each package includes mesh, urdf and xacro files of robot. Take Laikago for example, you can check the model in Rviz by:

roslaunch laikago_description laikago_rviz.launch

unitree_gazebo & unitree_controller:

You can launch the Gazebo simulation with the following command:

roslaunch unitree_gazebo normal.launch rname:=a1 wname:=stairs

Where the rname means robot name, which can be laikago, aliengo, a1 or go1. The wname means world name, which can be earth, space or stairs. And the default value of rname is laikago, while the default value of wname is earth. In Gazebo, the robot should be lying on the ground with joints not activated.

1. Stand controller

After launching the gazebo simulation, you can start to control the robot:

rosrun unitree_controller unitree_servo

And you can add external disturbances, like a push or a kick:

rosrun unitree_controller unitree_external_force

2. Position and pose publisher

Here we demonstrated how to control the position and pose of robot without a controller, which should be useful in SLAM or visual development.

Then run the position and pose publisher in another terminal:

rosrun unitree_controller unitree_move_kinetic

The robot will turn around the origin, which is the movement under the world coordinate frame. And inside of the source file move_publisher.cpp, we also provide the method to move using the robot coordinate frame. You can change the value of def_frame to coord::ROBOT and run the catkin_make again, then the unitree_move_publisher will move robot under its own coordinate frame.

z1_controller

You can launch the z1 Gazebo simulation with the following command:

roslaunch unitree_gazebo z1.launch

After launching the gazebo simulation, you can start to control the z1 robot by z1_sdk.
see z1_documentation
You can also send ros commands directly to z1 robot:

rosrun z1_controller unitree_move_z1