ROS2Unity3D; High-Performance Plugin to Interface ROS with Unity3d engine

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel highperformance method to interface ROS (Robot Operating System) from the Unity3d engine. In this regard, we introduce a message passing middleware to perform decentralized and efficient data transfer. We utilize the ZeroMQ; Google Protobuf and GStreamer libraries to achieve these aims. For evaluation, we compare our approach with state of the art Siemens ROS# U nity3D plugin. On the other hand, we simulate various essential robotic sensors such as LIDAR, RGBD, and Monocular cameras in Unity3D to experiment our solution in complex enough robotic scenarios. As Unity3D support a variety of devices and VR (Virtual Reality) capabilities, this solution may help researchers to perform better human-computer interaction using ROS and Unity3d engine. Besides, for developers who are not familiar with URDF and programming side of ROS Gazebo Sim, this will be a more natural way to exporting their 3D meshes to the Unity3D engine and simulate robotic experiments with ROS.