Step-by-step Instructions

Here we describe the instructions to build dependencies and packages one-by-one.

Build tools

ROS is not required (except for ROS-specific components, see below) but we do use build tools from ROS which you can install even without ROS:

• colcon to coordinate the installation from source of different packages [and vcstool to simplify managing source code]

  $ pip install -U colcon-common-extensions
  

• ament_cmake to manage resources and integrate better with ROS. If you installed ROS, you already have it, else you can build it from source (see below) or, only on Linux, possibly from binary

  $ sudo apt install -y ament-cmake
  

• ament_package is needed by ament_cmake. On Linux, you may install it from binary

  $ sudo apt install -y python3-ament-package
  

  else you can build it from source (see below).

• ament_index_cpp is a c++ library to share resources, like plugins. It is also distributed with ROS 2, else you need to build it from source (see below).

If you need to build the ament packages, clone them and build them with colcon.

git clone https://github.com/ament/ament_cmake.git src/ament_cmake
git clone https://github.com/ament/ament_package src/ament_package
git clone https://github.com/ament/ament_index src/ament_index
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF --packages-up-to ament_cmake ament_index_cpp ament_package

Note

The ROS build tools are not required to build or run navground. Have a look at How to build without the ROS build tools to learn what they do and how to install navground without them.

Navground Core (C++)

Dependencies

The core library depends on eigen, yaml-cpp, and argparse

Eigen 3

Installation from source

git clone https://gitlab.com/libeigen/eigen src/eigen
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select Eigen3

Binary installation

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install eigen

Yaml-cpp

Installation from source

git clone https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp.git src/yaml-cpp
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DYAML_CPP_INSTALL=ON --packages-select YAML_CPP

Binary installation

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install yaml-cpp

Argparse

Installation from source

git clone  https://github.com/p-ranav/argparse.git src/argparse
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select argparse

Binary installation

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install argparse

Package

Once all dependencies are installed, compile the package using colcon.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_core

Note

By default, navground uses float for floating point numbers. You can switch to double by specifying the option NAVGROUND_USES_DOUBLE. You do this by adding

--cmake-args -DNAVGROUND_USES_DOUBLE=ON

to the command above.

Navground Core (Python)

Dependencies

Depends on Core C++ library.

NumPy

$ pip install -U numpy

PyYAML

$ pip install -U PyYAML

pybind11

Installation from source

git clone https://github.com/pybind/pybind11.git src/pybind11
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DPYBIND11_TEST=OFF  --packages-select pybind11

Binary installation

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install pybind11

pybind11_mkdoc [optional]

Install pybind11_mkdoc to import docstrings from C++. It is not necessary but will make the API friendlier to use.

$ pip install git+https://github.com/jeguzzi/pybind11_mkdoc@rst

Package

Once all dependencies are installed, compile the package using colcon.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_core_py

Navground Simulation (C++)

Dependencies

Depends on Core C++.

GEOS

Installation from source

git clone https://github.com/libgeos/geos.git src/geos
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGEOS_BUILD_DEVELOPER=OFF --packages-select GEOS

Binary installation

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install geos

HighFive

You need to first install Hdf5 from source

git clone https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5.git src/hdf5
cd src/hdf5
git checkout tags/hdf5-1_14_0
cd ../..
colcon build --merge-install --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select HDF5

or from binary

macOSLinuxWindows

$ brew install hdf5

Then, install HighFive.

git clone https://github.com/BlueBrain/HighFive.git src/HighFive
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DHIGHFIVE_UNIT_TESTS=OFF -DHIGHFIVE_USE_BOOST=OFF -DHIGHFIVE_BUILD_DOCS=OFF --packages-select HighFive

Package

Once all dependencies are installed, compile the package using colcon.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_sim

Navground Simulation (Python)

Dependencies

Depends on Simulation C++ and Core Python.

h5py

To be able to reload a simulation from a saved experiment, install h5py

$ pip install h5py

multiprocess [optional]

We support multiprocess as an optional alternative of the multiprocessing package contained in the Python standard library

$ pip install multiprocess

websockets [optional]

To visualize a simulation in real-time from a browser, install websockets

$ pip install websockets

jinjia [optional]

To render a world to svg images, install Jinja2

$ pip install Jinja2

cairosvg [optional]

To render a world to png, pdf or raw images, install cairosvg

$ pip install cairosvg

moviepy [optional]

To record a video from a simulation, install moviepy

$ pip install moviepy

Package

Once all dependencies are installed, compile the package using colcon.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_sim_py

Navground Examples and demos

Depend on Core C++, Core Python, Simulation C++, Simulation Python.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_examples navground_examples_py navground_examples_yaml navground_demos

Navground + ROS

Depends on Core C++. You also need to have ROS installed and to source its setup script.

$ colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_msgs navground_ros

Navground + CoppeliaSim

Depends on Simulation C++. You also need to install coppeliaSim (versions 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 [latest]).

export COPPELIASIM_ROOT_DIR=<path to the folder containing the programming subfolder>
colcon build --merge-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --packages-select navground_coppeliasim