udrone_boat

Gazebo vehicles and controller code for synchronized uDrone and Roboato (Robo-boat-o) mapping, part of the CoRAL project at ASU DREAMS Lab.

Contents

Legacy (Gazebo Classic / ROS 1)

The original models, controllers, and world for synchronized uDrone-boat operations in Gazebo Classic:

• models/heron/ — Clearpath Heron catamaran ASV (SDF + STL meshes)
• models/udrone/ — uDrone AUV (SDF/URDF + meshes)
• src/ — Python PID controllers for uDrone attitude and trajectory
• worlds/tempe.world — Tempe Town Lake Gazebo world
• launch/udrone_boat.launch — ROS 1 launch file

PX4 Gazebo Harmonic (new)

PX4 airframe definitions and Gazebo Harmonic models for the Roboato ASV:

• px4_airframes/55000_asv_roboato — Hardware airframe (Pixhawk)
• px4_airframes/55000_gz_xroboato — Gazebo SITL airframe
• models/xroboato/ — Gazebo Harmonic SDF model (catamaran + hydrodynamics)

Roboato ASV Specifications

Property	Value
Hull	Catamaran, 1.35 m long, 0.98 m wide, 0.32 m tall
Mass	28 kg
Thrusters	2 × water jet (differential drive)
Draft	0.15 m
Max speed	~1.7 m/s (3.3 knots)
PX4 Airframe ID	55000
MAV_TYPE	11 (Surface Boat)

Based on the Clearpath Heron catamaran design with Fossen 6-DOF hydrodynamics.

PX4 SITL Installation

Overlay onto a PX4-Autopilot checkout:

cd PX4-Autopilot

# Copy airframes
cp /path/to/udrone_boat/px4_airframes/55000_asv_roboato \
   ROMFS/px4fmu_common/init.d/airframes/
cp /path/to/udrone_boat/px4_airframes/55000_gz_xroboato \
   ROMFS/px4fmu_common/init.d-posix/airframes/

# Copy Gazebo model
cp -r /path/to/udrone_boat/models/xroboato \
   Tools/simulation/gz/models/

Register in PX4 CMakeLists and ensure rc.boat_defaults is in the CONFIG_MODULES_ROVER_DIFFERENTIAL block of init.d/CMakeLists.txt.

rm -rf build/px4_sitl_default/tmp/rootfs/eeprom/parameters*
make px4_sitl gz_xroboato

Related

• auv_udrone — uDrone AUV + Roboato PX4 airframes
• udrone_boat_localization — EKF/UKF state estimators
• CoRAL — Collaborative Robotic Aquatic Laboratory

License

See repository for license details.