Subscribe to a Gazebo topic and publish in a ROS node

edit

If you are working with that turtlebot3 simulation, you don't have to subscribe a gazebo topic, since the simulation is configured already with ROS.

In order to have the turtlebot3 simulation running, I've cloned these packages:

git clone https://github.com/ROBOTIS-GIT/turtlebot3_simulations.git
git clone https://github.com/ROBOTIS-GIT/turtlebot3_msgs.git
git clone https://github.com/ROBOTIS-GIT/turtlebot3.git

Modified the 2nd line of the launch file turtlebot3_simulations/turtlebot3_gazebo/launch/turtlebot3_empty_world.launch, to use the burger model:

<launch>
  <arg name="model" default="burger" doc="model type [burger, waffle]"/>
  <arg name="x_pos" default="0.0"/>
  <arg name="y_pos" default="0.0"/>
  <arg name="z_pos" default="0.0"/>

  <include file="$(find gazebo_ros)/launch/empty_world.launch">
    <arg name="world_name" value="$(find turtlebot3_gazebo)/models/empty.world"/>
    <arg name="paused" value="false"/>
    <arg name="use_sim_time" value="true"/>
    <arg name="gui" value="true"/>
    <arg name="headless" value="false"/>
    <arg name="debug" value="false"/>
  </include>

  <param name="robot_description" command="$(find xacro)/xacro.py $(find turtlebot3_description)/urdf/turtlebot3_$(arg model).urdf.xacro" />

  <node name="spawn_urdf" pkg="gazebo_ros" type="spawn_model" args="-urdf -model turtlebot3_burger -x $(arg x_pos) -y $(arg y_pos) -z $(arg z_pos) -param robot_description" />
</launch>

And launched like this:

roslaunch turtlebot_gazebo turtlebot3_empty_world.launch

To subscribe the laser scanner and publish something else in the same node, you can do the following:

Create a pkg with these dependencies

catkin_create_pkg my_pkg roscpp std_msgs sensor_msgs

Create your node (src/my_pkg_node.cpp)

#include <ros/ros.h>

#include <sensor_msgs/LaserScan.h>
#include <std_msgs/Int32.h>

ros::Publisher chatter_pub;

void clbk_laser(const sensor_msgs::LaserScan::ConstPtr& msg) {
    ROS_INFO("here we are!!!");

    std_msgs::Int32 something_msg;
    something_msg.data = 5;

    chatter_pub.publish(something_msg);

}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {

    ros::init(argc, argv, "my_node");

    ros::NodeHandle n;

    ros::Subscriber sub_laser = n.subscribe("/scan", 1, clbk_laser);

    chatter_pub = n.advertise<std_msgs::Int32>("something", 1);

    ros::spin();

}

Uncomment these lines in your CMakeLists.txt file:

add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME}_node src/my_pkg_node.cpp)

target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME}_node
  ${catkin_LIBRARIES}

I have created a video showing it step-by-step. I think it's easier to reproduce it.

Hope it can help you!