Adding a GazeboRosForce gazebo ros plugin to a simulated object

GazeboRosForce Example

Create a Simple Box URDF using the GazeboRosForce plugin

Create an URDF for an object and save it as object.urdf:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<robot name="single_joint">
  <gazebo reference="base">
    <material>Gazebo/GrassFloor</material>
  </gazebo>
  <link name="world"/>
  <joint name="link_joint" type="continuous">
    <axis xyz="0 0 1"/>
    <parent link="world"/>
    <origin rpy="0 0 0" xyz="0 0 1"/>
    <child link="link"/>
    <limit effort="100" velocity="100" k_velocity="0" />
    <joint_properties damping="0.1" friction="1.0" />
  </joint>
  <link name="link">
    <inertial>
      <mass value="10"/>
      <origin xyz="0 0 0"/>
      <inertia ixx="1.0" ixy="0.0" ixz="0.0" iyy="0.1" iyz="0.0" izz="0.1"/>
    </inertial>
    <visual>
      <origin rpy="0 0 1" xyz="0 0 0"/>
      <geometry>
        <box size="0.2 1.0 0.2"/>
      </geometry>
    </visual>
    <collision>
      <origin rpy="0 0 1" xyz="0 0 0"/>
      <geometry>
        <box size="0.2 1.0 0.2"/>
      </geometry>
    </collision>
  </link>
  <gazebo reference="link">
    <material>Gazebo/GrassFloor</material>
    <turnGravityOff>true</turnGravityOff>
  </gazebo>
  
   <gazebo>
    <controller:gazebo_ros_force name="gazebo_ros_force" plugin="libgazebo_ros_force.so">
      <alwaysOn>true</alwaysOn>
      <update>100</update>
      <updateRate>100.0</updateRate>
      <bodyName>link</bodyName>
      <topicName>force</topicName>
    </controller:gazebo_ros_force>
  </gazebo>
</robot>

Spawn Model in Simulation

Start an empty world simulation

rosmake gazebo_worlds
roslaunch gazebo_worlds empty_world.launch

To spawn above URDF

rosrun gazebo spawn_model -file object.urdf -urdf -z 1 -model my_object

You will see the /force topic listed with

rostopic list

You can applaiy a torque

rostopic pub /force geometry_msgs/Wrench  '{force:  {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}, torque: {x: 0.0,y: 0.0,z: 0.6}}'

You should see the box rotating