A simulation system based on ROS and Gazebo for RoboCup Middle Size League

Originated from Robot World Cup Middle Size League (RoboCup MSL), this paper discusses the design and implementation of a robot soccer simulation system based on ROS and Gazebo. Its aim is to test multi-robot collaboration algorithms. After building the Gazebo models, a model plugin is written to realize the robot´s basic motions including omnidirectional locomotion, ball-dribbling and ball-kicking. To integrate the model plugin with the real robot code, ROS nodes related to low-level controllers are replaced with the model plugin. In addition, nodes related to behavior control and global information processing are modified to corresponding model plugins as well. Finally, multiple robot models are spawned into a simulation world and collaborate with others. We have already used the simulation system to successfully test and debug the multi-robot collaboration algorithms for MSL. Furthermore, after minor modifications, it can also be applied to the research of other multi-robot systems. Therefore, the simulation system is sufficient in simulating multi-robot collaboration.