Robot Operating System Cookbook

Getting ready

Gazebo plugins enable us to develop several robot models, sensors, and world properties using the Gazebo framework. Similar to pluginlib and nodelet, Gazebo plugins are share libraries, which can be dynamically loaded or unloaded from the Gazebo simulator.

However, Gazebo is independent of the ROS framework, and so using plugins, we can access and extend all the components of Gazebo. As usual, we can organize the Gazebo plugins into six types:

• World
• Model
• Sensor
• System
• Visual
• GUI

Each of these plugin types is associated with different components of Gazebo.

For example, a Model plugin is attached to and controls a specific model in Gazebo such as a holonomic or non-holonomic robot model. Similarly, a World plugin is attached ...