Initial Dockerfile

Create Dockerfile

• See Nekton Docker
• Create Dockerfile

# lightweight
FROM ros:humble-ros-core 
 
# Install additional ROS 2 packages
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    ros-humble-demo-nodes-cpp
 
# Source the ROS install
RUN echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash >> ~/.bashrc"
 
# Set the default command (demo sample)
CMD ["bash", "-c", "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash && ros2 launch demo_nodes_cpp talker_listener.launch.py"]

• Build image

docker build -t ocr-docker:v1 .

• Check image creation

docker images

ocr-docker                       v1                                         cf75f4981718   13 months ago    423MB

• Run docker image

docker run ocr-docker:v1

[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /root/.ros/log/2025-01-25-14-52-41-409104-07813b114052-1
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [talker-1]: process started with pid [51]
[INFO] [listener-2]: process started with pid [53]
[talker-1] [INFO] [1737816762.776286059] [talker]: Publishing: 'Hello World: 1'
[listener-2] [INFO] [1737816762.776651298] [listener]: I heard: [Hello World: 1]
[talker-1] [INFO] [1737816763.736002425] [talker]: Publishing: 'Hello World: 2'
[listener-2] [INFO] [1737816763.736310890] [listener]: I heard: [Hello World: 2]
[talker-1] [INFO] [1737816764.696676655] [talker]: Publishing: 'Hello World: 3'
[listener-2] [INFO] [1737816764.696984927] [listener]: I heard: [Hello World: 3]
[talker-1] [INFO] [1737816765.657298625] [talker]: Publishing: 'Hello World: 4'
[listener-2] [INFO] [1737816765.657616888] [listener]: I heard: [Hello World: 4]

Run container

https://foxglove.dev/blog/installing-ros2-on-macos-with-docker

• Run the container with interactive terminal

docker run -it ocr-docker:v1 bash

• Run the demo talker node

ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

• Subscribe to the /chatter topipc

ros2 topic echo /chatter

data: 'Hello World: 7'
---
data: 'Hello World: 8'
---
data: 'Hello World: 9'
---
data: 'Hello World: 10'
---
data: 'Hello World: 11'
---

Visualize the data in Foxglove

• Update the Dockerfile

FROM ros:humble-ros-core
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    ros-humble-demo-nodes-cpp \
    ros-humble-foxglove-bridge \
    ros-humble-tf2-ros

• Launch the Foxglove ROS Bridge

docker run --rm -it -p 8765:8765 ocr-docker:v1 ros2 launch foxglove_bridge foxglov
e_bridge_launch.xml

• publish a transform

docker run --rm -it ocr-docker:v1 ros2 run tf2_ros static_transform_publisher --x 0 --y 1 --z 1 --roll 0 --pitch 0 --yaw 0  --frame-id base_link --child-frame-id sensor

0 --y 1 --z 1 --roll 0 --pitch 0 --yaw 0  --frame-id base_link --child-frame-id sensor
[INFO] [1737941432.540220875] [static_transform_publisher_dtFJIabvOYgEuQy8]: Spinning until stopped - publishing transform
translation: ('0.000000', '1.000000', '1.000000')
rotation: ('0.000000', '0.000000', '0.000000', '1.000000')
from 'base_link' to 'sensor'

• Use a direct URL to connect the Foxglove Desktop app to the WebSocket server running locally on port 8765

https://app.foxglove.dev/~/view?ds=foxglove-websocket&ds.url=ws%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%3A8765

Next

• See OCR Docker-v2