QRB ROS Simulation - Qualcomm Dragonwing Documentation

qrb_ros_simulation is a Gazebo-based simulation environment for the AMRs and manipulators that the qrb_ros_samples catalog targets. Its purpose is simple: let you evaluate QRB ROS code paths without buying hardware.

Honest framing — this is a convenience layer on top of Gazebo, not a unique simulation engine. The value is the pre-built URDFs, meshes, controllers, and launch files for QRB AMRs and arms, so the same Nav2 / MoveIt2 / control code that runs on a real robot also runs in sim.

What it ships

Two ROS 2 packages, working together:

Package	Role
`qrb_ros_sim_description`	URDFs, meshes, and description assets for QRB AMRs, manipulators, and sensors.
`qrb_ros_sim_gazebo`	Gazebo integration + launch files. Wires up controllers and exposes standard ROS topics via the `ros-gz` stack.

Standard topics published by the simulation include /clock, /tf, /tf_static, /robot_description, /joint_states, and /camera/color/camera_info — so any node that consumes sensor_msgs or follows the standard ROS 2 conventions sees a real-looking robot.

When to use it

Pre-purchase evaluation — verify your stack runs end-to-end against a QRB AMR or arm before committing to hardware.
CI / regression testing — run navigation and manipulation stacks in headless Gazebo on every commit.
Algorithm prototyping — iterate on Nav2, MoveIt2, or control logic without owning a robot.

Quick start

Install Gazebo and ROS 2 Jazzy

Follow the standard Gazebo Harmonic install and Install ROS Jazzy for your platform. No Qualcomm hardware required.

Build from source

mkdir -p qrb_sim_ws/src && cd qrb_sim_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/qualcomm-qrb-ros/qrb_ros_simulation.git
cd ..
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

Launch a sim world

See the upstream Usage section for the current launch commands. The simulation samples in qrb_ros_samples (e.g., simulation_sample_amr_simple_motion, simulation_sample_pick_and_place) are designed to run against this environment.

Why this helps

Alternative	Short take
Stock Gazebo + your own URDFs	Maximum flexibility; you author the AMR / arm / sensor models yourself. Real bring-up effort.
NVIDIA Isaac Sim	Photorealistic + RL pipelines, but needs an RTX-class GPU and is ecosystem-locked to Isaac ROS.
PyBullet / MuJoCo / Webots / CoppeliaSim	Different sim ecosystems; not ROS-graph-native out of the box.

It’s a convenience layer, not a new sim engine — but it’s the fastest way to run QRB ROS samples and exercise the same code paths that target real Qualcomm-powered robots, with no hardware in the loop.

qrb-ros-samples.mdx — sample pipelines whose simulation_* entries run against this environment.
Upstream: qualcomm-qrb-ros/qrb_ros_simulation.

​What it ships

​When to use it

​Quick start

​Why this helps

​Related

What it ships

When to use it

Quick start

Why this helps

Related