Mapping, Navigation, and Simulation with Nvidia Isaac Sim, RTAB-Map, Navigation2 and RViz2

Integration of NVIDIA Isaac Sim, RTAB-Map, Navigation2, and RViz2 for autonomous navigation 🤖

Demo Video

Key Components

1. Isaac Sim

• NVIDIA's Isaac Sim provides simulation environments to test and refine robotic applications in realistic virtual scenarios.
• Supports physics-based simulation, synthetic data generation, and ROS2 integration for end-to-end testing of navigation and perception systems.

2. RTAB-Map

• Real-Time Appearance-Based Mapping (RTAB-Map) is used for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). It supports 2D and 3D mapping using RGB-D sensors, LiDAR, or stereo cameras.
• Features include loop closure detection, memory management, and real-time map updates, making it ideal for dynamic environments.

3. Navigation2

• The Navigation2 (Nav2) stack enables autonomous navigation for mobile robots in complex environments.
• Includes robust path planning, obstacle avoidance, recovery behaviors, and real-time localization using techniques like AMCL and SLAM integration.

4. RViz2

• RViz2 is a powerful visualization tool in the ROS2 ecosystem, offering real-time rendering of robot states, -sensor data, maps, and navigation goals. Facilitates debugging and system diagnostics with an intuitive GUI.

Dependencies and Setup

• Install Isaac Sim - Read here
• Install ROS 2 Humble - Read here
• Create Workspace - Read here
• RTAB-Map Read here

sudo apt install ros-<distro-name>-rtabmap-ros

• Nav2 READ here

sudo apt install ros-<distro-name>-navigation2 sudo apt install ros-<distro-name>-nav2-bringup

Building the Package

After cloning this repository into your workspace’s src directory:

cd <your_ros2_ws>
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

Usage

1. Isaac Simulation: Open the ros2-turtlebot.usd file located in the isaac-sim folder. Or run this command:

ISAACSIM_PYTHON script/run-sim.py

2. Rviz2 for Visualization:

ros2 launch isaac-sim-mobile-robot-rtab-map rviz.launch.py

3. RTAB-Map:

ros2 launch isaac-sim-mobile-robot-rtab-map rtab-map-scan.launch.py

4. Navigation2:

ros2 launch isaac-sim-mobile-robot-rtab-map navigation2.launch.py

Launch commands individually

1. Run the Teleop Twist Keyboard:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

2. RTAB-Map:

ros2 launch rtabmap_demos turtlebot3_scan.launch.py

3. Initializing the Navigation Stack:

ros2 launch nav2_bringup navigation_launch.py use_sim_time:=True

4. Opening RViz with Navigation Visualization:

ros2 launch nav2_bringup rviz_launch.py

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue or submit a pull request.

Resources

• Nvidia Isaac Sim robotics developer simulation platform and reference application is designed to help developers design, simulate, test, and train AI-based robots and autonomous machines in a physically based virtual environment.
• Robot Operating System (ROS 2 Humble)
• ROS 2 tf2
• ROS 2 Navigation Framework and System
• RTAB-Map (Real-Time Appearance-Based Mapping) is a RGB-D, Stereo and Lidar Graph-Based SLAM approach based on an incremental appearance-based loop closure detector