I am enjoying this course, and creating my own mecanum wheel robot as I learn from this course. In section 3.6 Plugins there is a Differential Drive plugin. Do you have any knowledge of where I can find a plugin for mecanum wheel drive? Thank you
Hi @ROxX ,
You can make use of the Gazebo Mecanum Drive Controller.
Please refer to the following link to understand how to implement it in your project: (Gazebo Garden and above)
[MecanumDrive Class Reference v8.x] (Gazebo Sim: MecanumDrive Class Reference)
Here is an older version that uses ignition messages: (Ignition Fortress and below)
MecanumDrive Class Reference v6.x
Ignition got re-branded to Gazebo after the Fortress version. So everything before including Fortress uses ignition messages. All verions after Garden, including Garden, uses gz messages instead of ignition messages.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Girish
Thank you for the reference, but I don’t understand how to use it, Note in the Class section 3,6 the plugin is defined as ready to use. But, when I look at the diff drive reference https://gazebosim.org/api/sim/8/classgz_1_1sim_1_1systems_1_1DiffDrive.html I do not understand how the reference becomes the file in the example. If I understand how the diff drive reference becomes the file in 3.6, then I can apply that logic to the mecanum wheel file. I assume there is another file that uses the .h files that has to be created and installed. Just have not idea where / how to do that.
When i look at the3,6 plugin for diff drive, I see then then the code for the diff drive. If i want to use the mecanum code that you referenced, it as simple as putting mecanum code in a format like the diff drive and no other file changes>
Is it as simple as this? Just put the code in a new file- if so that is fantastic. So many options.
<front_left_joint>:<front_right_joint>:<back_left_joint>:of_model}/odometry.
Hi @ROxX ,
If I understand correctly, it is quite simple.
Just provide the joint names for each of the 4 omni wheels on your robot and other necessary parameters for the plugin to work and everything should work!
I have not personally used the Mecanum Controller Plugin with Gazebo Sim yet.
So you have to try it out yourself. But noting the fact that it has been implemented into Gazebo Sim since quite a few versions (from v6.x), the plugin should be more mature now to use it.
Let us know if it worked well for you!
Regards,
Girish
Thank you for your reply. I have to solve a different problem, before I try to use the plugin This file displays everything properly in rvix when the wheel to motor joint is type=fixed. But, when I change to type=continuous, I get an error message -No transformfrom [lt_rear_wheel}to{base_link] I have limited the file to just one wheel to try and debug it lt_rear_wheel
I have to resolve this before I get to my goal of having the mecanum wheel robot work. The code is simple , but I cannot see any issues that prevent it from working. I copied the wheel info from the class for the lt_rear_wheel just to see if that would work, Thanks for your help.
<?xml version="1.0"?>I seem to have resolved the problem of continuous not working. Thanks for your help on all issues.
Tom