simple_launch

This package provides a Python class to help writing ROS 2 launch files.

The motivation behind this package is that the ROS 2 launch Python syntax may not be suited for many simple cases such as running basic nodes, spawning a robot_state_publisher, and grouping nodes in namespaces or components..

Thanks: this package is inspired by ros2_launch_util.

The entry point is the SimpleLauncher class, which has several capabilities.

Basic syntax

Namespace and argument parser initialization

sl = SimpleLauncher(namespace)

Node registration

sl.node(package, executable, **node_args) where

• package is the node package
• executable is the name of the executable
• node_args are any additional Node arguments given as a list

Launch file include

sl.include(package, launch_file, launch_dir = None, launch_arguments=None) where

• package is the package of the included launch file
• launch_file is the name of the launch file
• launch_dir is its directory inside the package share (None to have it found)
• launch_arguments is a list of arguments to pass to the included launch file

Robust types for parameters

In the launch API, differents types are expected for:

• node parameters: a list of dictionaries
• node remappings: a list of (key, value) pairs
• included launch arguments: a list of (key, value) pairs

The sl.include and sl.node syntax allow using any type (the simplest being a single dictionary) and will convert to the one expected by the API.

Launch arguments

The helper class allows declaring launch arguments and getting them in return:

Declare a launch argument

sl.declare_arg(name, default_value, description = None)

Retrieve a launch argument

sl.arg(name): returns the argument name

Retrieve several arguments as a dictionary

sl.arg_map(('robot', 'x', 'y')): returns {'robot': <robot arg value>, 'x': <x arg value>, 'y': <y arg value>}

Node groups

Groups are created through the sl.with() syntax and accepts both a namespace and/or an if/unless condition:

By namespace

  with sl.group(ns=sub_namespace):
    sl.node(package, executable)

From conditional arguments

  with sl.group(if_arg='use_gui'):
    sl.node(package, executable)

  with sl.group(unless_arg='dont_do'):
    sl.node(package, executable)

If if_arg / unless_arg is a string then the corresponding launch argument is used. Otherwise the raw value is passed as a condition (Boolean / Substitution).

Creating containers

This syntax adds the composition/composition::Talker as a ComposableNode

  with sl.container(name='my_container', output='screen'):
    sl.node(package='composition', plugin='Talker', name='talker')

Other shortcuts

String / substitution concatenation

The following syntax builds <robot name>.xacro:

file_name = sl.name_join(sl.arg('robot'), '.xacro')

Path concatenation

The following syntax builds <my_package_path>/urdf/<robot name>.xacro:

file_name = sl.name_join(sl.arg('robot'), '.xacro')
urdf_file = sl.path_join(get_package_share_directory(package), 'urdf', file_name)

Find a share file

path = sl.find(package, file_name, file_dir = None) where:

• package is the name of the package or None
• file_name is the name of the file to find
• file_dir is the path inside the package

If file_dir is None then the find function will actually look for the file inside the package share, assuming that package and file_name are raw strings.

Robot state publisher

sl.robot_state_publisher(package, description_file, description_dir=None, xacro_args=None, gz_plugins=False, **node_args) where

• description_file is a URDF or xacro file
• description_dir is the sub-directory of the file. If omitted, let the script search for the file assuming it is a raw string
• xacro_args are passed to xacro
• gz_plugins is an alternative to Gazebo namespaces (that also remap /tf). It allows hard-coding the frame_prefix and the robot namespace (if any) inside Gazebo-published messages
• node_args are any additional arguments for robot_state_publisher (typically remapping)

Joint state publisher

sl.joint_state_publisher(use_gui, **node_args): fires up a joint_state_publisher, with or without the gui.

Fallback to low-level syntax

If any unavailable functionality is needed, the sl.entity(entity) function adds any passed Entity at the current namespace / conditional / composition level.

Examples

Examples can be found in the corresponding folder.

Launch with arguments

Here is a file spawning a robot_state_publisher and its joint_state_publisher, where:

• prefix, x and y are launch arguments that are passed to xacro
• use_gui tells whether joint_state_publisher should run the gui

from simple_launch import SimpleLauncher

def generate_launch_description():
    '''
    Launch description for a single robot - runs the two nodes in their own namespace
    '''
    sl = SimpleLauncher()

    sl.declare_arg('prefix', default_value = '', description='name of the robot (+ tf prefix)')
    sl.declare_arg('x', default_value = 0, description='x-offset of the robot')
    sl.declare_arg('y', default_value = 0, description='y-offset of the robot')
    sl.declare_arg('use_gui', default_value = True, description='Use JSP gui')

    xacro_args = sl.arg_map(('prefix', 'x', 'y'))
    xacro_args['prefix'] = [xacro_args['prefix'], ':']                            

    with sl.group(ns=sl.arg('prefix')):
        sl.robot_state_publisher('simple_launch', 'turret.xacro', xacro_args = xacro_args)
        sl.joint_state_publisher(sources_list = ['source_joints'], use_gui = sl.arg('use_gui'))

    return sl.launch_description()

Conditional blocks and includes

The file below fires up either robot1 or robot2 (or both) and also has a boolean argument to spawn RViz2:

from simple_launch import SimpleLauncher

def generate_launch_description():

    sl = SimpleLauncher()

    # conditional args
    sl.declare_arg('robot1', default_value=False, description='use robot 1')
    sl.declare_arg('robot2', default_value=True, description='use robot 2')
    sl.declare_arg('no_robot2', default_value=False, description='cancel use of robot 2')
    sl.declare_arg('rviz', default_value=False, description='Bringup RViz2')

    # numeric args
    sl.declare_arg('robot2_x', default_value=1, description='x-offset of robot 2')
    sl.declare_arg('robot2_y', default_value=1, description='y-offset of robot 2')

    with sl.group(if_arg='robot1'):
        sl.include('simple_launch', 'included_launch.py', launch_arguments = [('prefix', 'robot1')])

    with sl.group(if_arg='robot2'):
        with sl.group(unless_arg='no_robot2'):
            args = [('prefix', 'robot2'), ('x', sl.arg('robot2_x')), ('y', sl.arg('robot2_y'))]
            sl.include('simple_launch', 'included_launch.py', launch_arguments=args)

    with sl.group(if_arg='rviz'):
        rviz_config = sl.find('simple_launch', 'turret.rviz')
        sl.node('rviz2', 'rviz2', arguments = ['-d', rviz_config])

    return sl.launch_description()

Composition

The file below is another way to write the composition launch example:

from simple_launch import SimpleLauncher

def generate_launch_description():

    sl = SimpleLauncher()

    with sl.container(name='my_container', output='screen'):
        sl.node(package='composition', plugin='Talker', name='talker')
        sl.node(package='composition', plugin='Listener', name='listener')

    return sl.launch_description()