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POSIM — Platform for Ocean Simulation · documentation checked 2026-10-01

Target: ROS 2 Lyrical / Gazebo Jetty. Current source. Compatibility names such as dave_* are intentional. Start with POSIM Installation and POSIM Quickstart & Backend Support.

Source documentation and inherited illustrations do not certify every runtime configuration. Published Docker candidates, development main, and experimental WGPU are distinct states.

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For Docker, use the container environment setup in POSIM Docker Guide, not the native ~/posim_ws path below. Rebuild only after editing source. Original Fuel/UI illustrations are retained.

1. Launching a packaged POSIM object

The launch file selects a packaged descriptor by namespace. This checkout includes mossy_cinder_block; to add another model, create description/<namespace>/model.sdf, rebuild and source the workspace.

Build and source the workspace:

source /opt/ros/lyrical/setup.bash
source ~/posim_ws/install/setup.bash

Launch the model using the specified launch file:

ros2 launch dave_demos dave_object.launch.py namespace:='mossy_cinder_block' paused:=false gui:=false headless:=true

Gazebo resolves the URI stored in the installed descriptor and caches the downloaded model. For reproducible experiments, vendor the asset or verify the downloaded content instead of assuming a Fuel URL suffix is an immutable version pin.

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The mossy_cinder_block Quickstart above was revalidated on Lyrical / Jetty. The custom Fuel and local-model procedure below is a general reference and was not included in the clean-room validation; replace placeholder paths with your own absolute model directory.

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How to use models from Fuel

To load models in Gazebo Sim, choose one of two methods depending on your workflow:

Download model files from Fuel and spawn from local sources using the Resource Spawner plugin:

Download the model files from app.gazebosim.org/fuel/models.
Extract the files and place them under your local model directory (e.g. ~/path_to_models/model-name). The model-name folder should contain materials, meshes as well as the model.config and the model.sdf files.
Add your model directory as a resource by running the following command in the terminal:
```
gedit ~/.bashrc
```
Then add the following line to the last line of the file:
```
export GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH="$HOME/my-local/path_to_models${GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH:+:$GZ_SIM_RESOURCE_PATH}"
```
Open the Gazebo Simulator and add the Resource Spawner Plugin, the model should now show up under your local resources.

Copying the SDF snippet and adding it to your custom world SDF file:

By Using the <> button you can directly copy a SDF which looks like:

<include>
	<uri>
		<https://fuel.gazebosim.org/1.0/hmoyen/models/teledyne_whn_uuvsim_bare_model>
	</uri>
</include>