Skip to content

Gimbal Extension

Overview

The Gimbal Extension provides an easy way to integrate a controllable gimbal into an existing drone model within the scene. This extension is designed to facilitate the attachment and operation of a camera-equipped gimbal, allowing for real-time adjustments to pitch and yaw angles via ROS 2 messages.

Installation and Activation

To enable the Gimbal Extension, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Extensions window by navigating to:
    Window → Extensions
  2. Under the THIRD PARTIES section, go to the User tab.
  3. Locate the Gimbal Extension and turn it on.
  4. Once enabled, a new Gimbal Extension window should appear.

Adding a Gimbal to a Drone

To attach a gimbal to an existing UAV model:

  1. Copy the prim path of the UAV to which you want to add the gimbal.
  2. In the Gimbal Extension window, paste the copied path into the Robot Prim Path text box.
  3. Set the Robot Index based on the DOMAIN_ID of the drone.
  4. The DOMAIN_ID should match the identifier used for the robot to ensure proper communication.

For a step-by-step demonstration, refer to the video tutorial below:

Gimbal Camera Image Topic

Once the gimbal is successfully added, the camera image feed from the gimbal will be published on the following ROS 2 topic: /robot_<ID>/gimbal/rgb.

Controlling the Gimbal

The gimbal pitch and yaw angles can be controled by the ros2 messages /robot_<ID>/gimbal/desired_gimbal_pitch and /robot_<ID>/gimbal/desired_gimbal_yaw of type std_msgs/msg/Float64, respectively.