This plugin simulates the thrust force and the torque generated by the propeller without aero-dynamic environments. In general, it gives a approximate thrust force and torque function in following format: $$ThrustForce = ForceConstant \times \omega^2$$ $$Torque = TorqueConstant \times \omega^2$$ Where $\omega$ is the angular velocity of the propeller, the thrust force and torque were applied to the parent link of the specified joint.

Mention: This plugin does not actuates the propeller but only simulate the behavior of propeller. To drive the propeller, please use gazebo_ros2_control plugin.

This plugin uses colcon tools to build, and before you compiling the code, make sure you have following dependencies:

• ROS2 colcon tools
• Gazebo v11+
• libgazebo-dev

sudo apt install libgazebo-dev

To build this plugin, please first create a ros2 workspace,

mkdir ros2_ws
cd ros2_ws/
mkdir src
cd src

Then clone this project into the src folder,

git clone [email protected]:UoN-Hari/gz_propeller_plugins.git gz_propeller_plugins

Build this project,

cd ..
colcon build

Add the plugin to your GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH,

echo "export GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH=${GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH}:${pwd}/build/gz_propeller_plugins" >> ~/.bashrc

To use this plugin in your gazebo, add the following context in your urdf file:

<gazebo>
  <plugin name="PropellerPlugin" filename="libgz_propeller_plugins.so">
    <!-- 
        param: 
            name = "your joint name"
            direction = "cw" or "ccw"
            torque_constant = "a double value"
            force_constant = "a double value"
    -->
    <joint name="" direction="" torque_constant="" force_constant="" />
    ...
  </plugin>
</gazebo>

• Add more parameters of the propeller to get a more accurate performance with the real world.
• Remove the building depend colcon tool.