ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

Create a "ros-humble-ros1-bridge" package that can be used directly within Ubuntu 22.02 ROS2 Humble.

It takes approximately 10 minutes on my PC, equipped with a 6-core CPU (12 logical cores) and 24GB of memory.

Note, it takes about 1 GB of memory per logical CPU core to compile the ROS1 bridge. So, if your system has only 4 GB of memory but 100 logical CPU cores, it will still use only 4 logical cores for the compilation. Now, why does it take so much memory to compile? Well, you can blame the overuse of C++ templates...

NOTE: the ros noetic docker container mentioned below can be replaced by a completely separate machine running ros1 noetic e.g. Raspberry PI 4B

How to create this builder docker images:

  git clone https://github.com/TommyChangUMD/ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder.git
  cd ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

  # By default, ros-tutorals support will be built: (bridging the ros-humble-example-interfaces package)
  docker build . -t ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

  # Build arm64 compatible ros noetic base with rospy_tutorials
  docker build -t noetic-ros-base -f ./noetic-docker/Dockerfile .

*Note: Since building the docker image just needs docker, you could do this step on any system that has docker installed -- it doesn't have to on a Ubuntu 22.04 and it doesn't need ROS2 neither.

Alternative builds:

  # **[OPTIONAL]** If you don't want to build ros-tutorals support:
  docker build . --build-arg ADD_ros_tutorials=0 -t ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

  # **[OPTIONAL]** If you want to build grid-map support:  (bridging the ros-humble-grid-map package)
  docker build . --build-arg ADD_grid_map=1 -t ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

  # **[OPTIONAL]** If you want to build an example custom message:
  docker build . --build-arg ADD_custom_msgs=1 -t ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

Note: Don't forget to install the necessary ros-humble-grid-map packages on your ROS2 Humble if you choose to build the bridge with the grid-map support added.
Note2: For the custom message example, there is no pre-build package for ROS2 Humble so you will need to compile it from the source. See "Check example custom message" in the Troubleshoot section.

How to create ros-humble-ros1-bridge package:

0.) Start from the latest Ubuntu 22.04 ROS 2 Humble Desktop system, create the "ros-humble-ros1-bridge/" ROS2 package:

    cd ~/
    apt update; apt upgrade
    apt -y install ros-humble-desktop
    docker run --rm ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder | tar xvzf -

Note1, it's important that you have ros-humble-desktop installed on your ROS2 Humble system because we want to match it with the builder image as closely as possible. So, if you haven't done so already, do:

    apt -y install ros-humble-desktop

Otherwise you may get an error about missing ibexample_interfaces__rosidl_typesupport_cpp.so. See issue https://github.com/TommyChangUMD/ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder/issues/10

Note1: There is no compilation at this point, the docker run command simply spits out a pre-compiled tarball. The assumption is that this tarball contains configurations and libraries matching your ROS2 Humble system very closely, although not identical.

Note2: We don't need the builder image anymore, to delete it, do:

    docker rmi ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

How to use ros-humble-ros1-bridge:

1.) First start a ROS1 Noetic docker and bring up a GUI terminal, something like:

If using amd64 architecture:

  rocker --x11 --user --privileged \
         --volume /dev/shm /dev/shm --network=host -- osrf/ros:noetic-desktop \
         'bash -c "sudo apt update; sudo apt install -y tilix; tilix"'

or using arm64 architecture, e.g. Nvidia Jetson Orin:

  rocker --x11 --user --privileged \
         --volume /dev/shm /dev/shm --network=host -- noetic-ros-base \
         'bash -c "sudo apt update; sudo apt install -y tilix; tilix"'

You may need to install rocker first:

  sudo apt install python3-rocker

Note1: It's important to share the host's network and the /dev/shm/ directory with the container.
Note2: You can add the --home rocker option if you want your home directory to be shared with the docker container. Be careful though, as the host's ~/.bashrc will be executed inside the container.

2.) Then, start "roscore" inside the ROS1 Noetic docker container

  source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
  roscore

3.) Now, from the Ubuntu 22.04 ROS2 Humble system, start the ros1 bridge node.

  source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
  source ~/ros-humble-ros1-bridge/install/local_setup.bash
  ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge
  # or try:
  ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --bridge-all-topics

*Note: We need to source local_setup.bash and NOT setup.bash because the bridge was compiled in a docker container that may have different underlay locations. Besides, we don't need to source these underlays in the host system again.

3.) Back to the ROS1 Noetic docker container, run in another terminal tab:

  source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
  rosrun rospy_tutorials talker

4.) Finally, from the Ubuntu 22.04 ROS2 Humble system:

  source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
  ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp listener

How to add custom message from ROS1 and ROS2 source code

See an step 6.3 and 7 in the Dockerfile for an example.

Note1: Make sure the package name ends with "_msgs".
Note2: Use the same package name for both ROS1 and ROS2.

See https://github.com/ros2/ros1_bridge/blob/master/doc/index.rst

Troubleshoot

Check tf2 message / service

$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --print-pairs | grep -i tf2
  - 'tf2_msgs/msg/TF2Error' (ROS 2) <=> 'tf2_msgs/TF2Error' (ROS 1)
  - 'tf2_msgs/msg/TFMessage' (ROS 2) <=> 'tf2_msgs/TFMessage' (ROS 1)
  - 'tf2_msgs/msg/TFMessage' (ROS 2) <=> 'tf/tfMessage' (ROS 1)
  - 'tf2_msgs/srv/FrameGraph' (ROS 2) <=> 'tf2_msgs/FrameGraph' (ROS 1)

Check AddTwoInts message / service

By default, --build-arg ADD_ros_tutorials=1 is implicitly added to the docker build ... command.

Note: In addition, the ROS2 Humble system must have the ros-humble-example-interfaces package installed.

$ sudo apt -y install ros-humble-example-interfaces
$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --print-pairs | grep -i addtwoints
  - 'example_interfaces/srv/AddTwoInts' (ROS 2) <=> 'roscpp_tutorials/TwoInts' (ROS 1)
  - 'example_interfaces/srv/AddTwoInts' (ROS 2) <=> 'rospy_tutorials/AddTwoInts' (ROS 1)

Check grid-map message / service

Must have --build-arg ADD_grid_map=1 added to the docker build ... command.

Note: In addition, the ROS2 Humble system must have the ros-humble-grid-map package installed.

$ sudo apt -y install ros-humble-grid-map
$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --print-pairs | grep -i grid_map
  - 'grid_map_msgs/msg/GridMap' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/GridMap' (ROS 1)
  - 'grid_map_msgs/msg/GridMapInfo' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/GridMapInfo' (ROS 1)
  - 'grid_map_msgs/srv/GetGridMap' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/GetGridMap' (ROS 1)
  - 'grid_map_msgs/srv/GetGridMapInfo' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/GetGridMapInfo' (ROS 1)
  - 'grid_map_msgs/srv/ProcessFile' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/ProcessFile' (ROS 1)
  - 'grid_map_msgs/srv/SetGridMap' (ROS 2) <=> 'grid_map_msgs/SetGridMap' (ROS 1)

Check example custom message

Thanks to Codaero for the custom message source code.

Must have --build-arg ADD_custom_msgs=1 added to the docker build ... command.

# First, install the ROS2 pacakge from the source
$ git clone https://github.com/TommyChangUMD/custom_msgs.git 
$ cd custom_msgs/custom_msgs_ros2 
$ source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
$ colcon build 
$ source install/setup.bash

# Now, run the bridge
$ source ~/ros-humble-ros1-bridge/install/local_setup.bash
$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --print-pairs | grep -i PseudoGridMap
  - 'custom_msgs/msg/PseudoGridMap' (ROS 2) <=> 'custom_msgs/PseudoGridMap' (ROS 1)

Error: gibgrid_map_msgs__rosidl_typesupport_cpp.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

$ sudo apt -y install ros-humble-grid-map

TommyChangUMD / ros-humble-ros1-bridge-builder

readme