gz_rolling_friction

A gazebo sim plugin that solves the rolling friction problem in Gazebo Harmonic.

rollingFriction.cc is adapted from this Robotics Stack Exchange post.

Build Instructions

1. clone this repository
2. cd into the plugin directory
3. colcon build

Using the plugin in a SDF

Here is an example of the plugin being used with a sphere model:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<sdf version="1.6">
  <model name="sphere-that-does-not-roll-forever">

    <static>false</static>

    <link name="link">

      <pose>0 0 0 0 0 0</pose>
    
      <visual name="visual">
          <geometry>
              <sphere>
                  <radius>0.041</radius> 
              </sphere>
          </geometry>
          <material>
              <ambient>0.8 0.0 0.0 1.0</ambient>
              <diffuse>0.8 0.0 0.0 1.0</diffuse>
              <specular>0.1 0.1 0.1 1.0</specular>
              <emissive>0 0 0 1</emissive>
          </material>
      </visual>

      <collision name="collision">
		    <geometry>
                <sphere>
                    <radius>0.041</radius> 
                </sphere>
            </geometry>
            <surface>
                <friction>
                    <ode>
                        <mu>0.2</mu>
                        <mu2>0.2</mu2>
                    </ode>
                </friction>
            </surface>
      </collision>

      <inertial>
        <mass>0.04</mass> 
        <inertia>
          <ixx>0.0002</ixx>
          <iyy>0.0002</iyy>
          <izz>0.0002</izz>
        </inertia>
      </inertial>
    </link>

    <plugin filename="librollingFriction.so" name="rolling_friction::RollingFrictionPlugin">
      <link_name>link</link_name>
      <coefficient>0.01</coefficient>
    </plugin> 

  </model>
</sdf>

Appending to the GZ_SYSTEM_SIM_PLUGIN_PATH

The gazebo plugin path has to be updated in order to use this plugin as it needs to know where the file librollingFriction.so is.

After opening your bashrc file using nano ~/.bashrc add the following lines and remember to replace path_to_plugin_folder with the actual path to your plugin folder:

# ~/.bashrc

export GZ_SYSTEM_SIM_PLUGIN_PATH='/opt/ros/jazzy/lib' # my usual plugin path
export GZ_SIM_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_PATH=$GZ_SIM_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_PATH:path_to_plugin_folder/gz_rolling_friction/install/gz_rolling_friction/lib/ # previous path + rolling friction plugin