ROS 2 Docker Setup

Minimal Docker setup for running ROS 2 on Apple Silicon devices with visualization and multiple machines discovery support.

Features

• ROS2 discovery across multiple machines
• Visualization support with Foxglove

Building

1. Clone this repository:

   $ git clone https://github.com/mlsdpk/ros2-docker-setup.git
   $ cd ros2-docker-setup

2. Update the .env file with your configuration:

   ROS_DISTRO=jazzy
   ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0
   RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
   HOST_IP=0.0.0.0
   UDP_PORT_RANGE=7400-7500
   USER_PROVIDED_DIR=/path/to/your/directory
   CYCLONEDDS_URI_FILE=cyclonedds.xml
   FOXGLOVE_PORT=8765

   Note on multiple machines setup:

   • HOST_IP must be your actual local network IP address (e.g., 192.168.x.xxx) for inter-machine communication. On macOS, network=host mode is not supported, so here we will explicitly map ROS 2 UDP ports. The default port range (7400-7500) supports typical setups with ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0. But, if you need to use more domain IDs or participants, extend this range accordingly. See more details on this here.

3. Build the Docker container:

   docker compose build

Running the container

Start the container in the background:

docker compose up -d

To connect to the running container:

docker exec -it <container-name> /bin/bash

You can find the container name by running:

docker ps

Visualization using Foxglove

This setup supports visualization via Foxglove Studio using a WebSocket connection. By default, the WebSocket server runs on TCP port 8765.

You can customize the port by modifying the FOXGLOVE_PORT variable in your .env file.

Inside the container, start the foxglove_bridge with:

ros2 launch foxglove_bridge foxglove_bridge_launch.xml

You can now open Foxglove Studio and connect to the WebSocket to visualize our ROS2 data. For more information, see here.