HowTo: ROS Workspaces

The currently used Isaac Sim version (5.1.X) uses Python 3.11, while the ROS Jazzy installation uses the default Python version of Ubuntu 24.04, which is Python 3.12.

To ensure that custom ROS packages can also be used within Isaac Sim, proceed as follows:

1. Include any custom package you want to use inside Isaac Sim in your src folder in the Isaac Sim ROS workspace ¹ (-> /workspace/IsaacSim-ros_workspaces/jazzy_ws).

2. Build the workspace using the provided Dockerfile:

   /workspace/IsaacSim-ros_workspaces/build_ros.sh -d jazzy -v 24.04
   

3. Source the ROS2 Python 3.11 workspace:

   source /workspace/IsaacSim-ros_workspaces/jazzy_ws/install/local_setup.bash
   

4. Run Isaac Sim from the same terminal:

   /isaac_sim/isaac_sim.sh $STREAMING_ARGS
   

5. Include your custom package(s) in a different ROS2 workspace (e.g. clone them there again), build it with the default ROS2 Jazzy installation (e.g. use colcon as usual), source it, and you should then be ready to use your custom package(s) outside of Isaac Sim.

See also the offical Documentation ²³ for more information.

IMPORTANT: Never source the default ROS2 installation (-> source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash) before starting Isaac Sim. Since the Python versions are not compatible, things will not work as intended.

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1. Offical GitHub Project ↩

2. Offical Documentation, How to setup custom ROS interfaces / packages ↩

3. Offical Documentation, How to handle ROS with Python 3.11 ↩