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🐳 Docker

For this project, we are making use of Docker Compose to ease the build and start of containers. The docker-compose.yml file is/will be composed of services, where each service is targeted for each robot platform.

This project uses Docker Compose to simplify building and running containers for different robot platforms.

The main configuration file is docker-compose.yml, which defines a separate service for each supported robot platform.

Note

Currently, only the Tello robot platform is supported.

🚀 Getting Started

Important

If you want to use GUI applications inside Docker (e.g., visual tools like RViz), run the following command once before starting any containers:

xhost +local:docker

Info

Note that you will need to have docker-compose installed on your system. You can check if it is installed by running docker-compose -v. On ubuntu, you can install it using sudo apt install docker-compose

Make sure you have docker-compose installed. You can check with:

docker-compose -v

On Ubuntu, install it using:

sudo apt install docker-compose

Steps:

  1. Open a terminal and navigate to the root directory of the project.

  2. Run the following command (replace with the desired platform): docker compose up _suite

Available Platforms

  • tello: 
    docker compose up tello_suite

Manual Docker Usage (Advanced)

If you prefer not to use Docker Compose, you can build and run the containers manually.

Each robot platform has its own Dockerfile located at: docker/<robot_platform>/Dockerfile

Tip

Replace with one of the supported platforms:

  • tello

Steps:

  • Go to the root of the project.

  • Build the Docker image:

docker build -t <robot_platform>_suite -f docker/<robot_platform>/Dockerfile .
  • Run the container and launch the robot system (recommended):
docker run --rm -it \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
    -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
    --net=host \
    <robot_platform>_suite \
    ros2 launch <robot_package> system_launch.py
  • Or start the container with a terminal session:
docker run --rm -it \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
    -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
    --net=host \
    <robot_platform>_suite \

Example for Tello Platform

# Step 1: Build the Docker image
docker build -t tello_suite -f docker/tello/Dockerfile .

# Step 2: Enable GUI support
xhost +local:docker

# Step 3: Launch the system inside the container
docker run --rm -it \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
    -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
    --net=host \
    tello_suite \
    ros2 launch tello_bringup system_launch.py