Isaac ROS Container

Quick Start

# Start container (from committed image, NOT isaac-ros-cli)
docker run -d --name isaac_ros_dev_container \
  --runtime nvidia --network host --ipc host --privileged \
  -e NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all \
  -e NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=all \
  -v ~/workspaces/isaac_ros-dev:/workspaces/isaac_ros-dev \
  --entrypoint /usr/local/bin/scripts/workspace-entrypoint.sh \
  -e HOST_USER_UID=$(id -u) -e HOST_USER_GID=$(id -g) -e USERNAME=admin \
  isaac-ros-apriltag:latest \
  bash -c "sleep infinity"

# Attach a shell
docker exec -it -u admin isaac_ros_dev_container bash

# Stop
docker stop isaac_ros_dev_container && docker rm isaac_ros_dev_container

Do not use `isaac-ros activate`

Safe for attaching to an already running container (docker exec bash), but never use it to start one.

Image


Current image	`isaac-ros-apriltag:latest` (~19.8 GB, hand-built via `docker commit`)
New base (pulled)	`nvcr.io/nvidia/isaac/ros:noble-ros2_jazzy_d3e84470d576702a380478a513fb3fc6-amd64`

Migration Plan

Switching to a reproducible Dockerfile. See Dockerfile Plan.

New base: full NVIDIA image (noble + ros2_jazzy layers) with ROS 2 Jazzy, TensorRT, PyTorch, nav2, rviz2, foxglove-bridge, slam_toolbox, OpenCV, and CUDA dev tools.

Custom additions on top (Dockerfile):

Package	Purpose
`ros-jazzy-isaac-ros-apriltag`	GPU AprilTag
`ros-jazzy-isaac-ros-visual-slam`	cuVSLAM
`ros-jazzy-isaac-ros-nvblox`	GPU 3D reconstruction
`ros-jazzy-foxglove-compressed-video-transport`	H.264 NVENC for Foxglove
`ros-jazzy-ffmpeg-encoder-decoder` + `ffmpeg`	NVENC encoding
FastDDS no-SHM XML	`/etc/fastdds_no_shm.xml`
Entrypoint scripts	foxglove-bridge + H.264 republisher auto-start

Not needed in container:

Unitree SDK/packages — runs on G1’s Jetson Orin, not workstation
System ROS 2 on host — conflicts with Isaac Sim’s Python 3.11

Installed Packages (on top of base)

ros-jazzy-isaac-ros-apriltag                   # GPU AprilTag detection
ros-jazzy-foxglove-bridge                      # WebSocket bridge (port 8765)
ros-jazzy-foxglove-compressed-video-transport   # H.264 NVENC video for Foxglove
ros-jazzy-ffmpeg-encoder-decoder               # ffmpeg with NVENC
ffmpeg                                         # CLI tool

Custom Configs Baked Into Image

1. FastDDS UDP-only transport XML

Path: /tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml (Dockerfile moves to /etc/fastdds_no_shm.xml)

Fixes SHM transport breakage between Isaac Sim (host) and container. Without it, topics are discoverable but data doesn’t flow.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dds xmlns="http://www.eprosima.com/XMLSchemas/fastRTPS_Profiles">
    <profiles>
        <transport_descriptors>
            <transport_descriptor>
                <transport_id>udp_transport</transport_id>
                <type>UDPv4</type>
            </transport_descriptor>
        </transport_descriptors>
        <participant profile_name="default_participant" is_default_profile="true">
            <rtps>
                <userTransports>
                    <transport_id>udp_transport</transport_id>
                </userTransports>
                <useBuiltinTransports>false</useBuiltinTransports>
            </rtps>
        </participant>
    </profiles>
</dds>

2. `FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE` env var

Set in /etc/profile.d/fastdds-fix.sh — login shells pick it up automatically.

3. Foxglove-bridge auto-start

Path: /usr/local/bin/scripts/entrypoint_additions/50-foxglove-bridge.sh

Auto-starts foxglove-bridge on port 8765 at container launch.

#!/bin/bash
export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml
source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 launch foxglove_bridge foxglove_bridge_launch.xml port:=8765 &

Running Services

Foxglove Bridge


Port	8765 (WebSocket)
Connect from Mac	`ws://100.101.214.44:8765` (Tailscale) or `ws://workstation:8765`
Auto-starts	Via entrypoint addition when container uses workspace-entrypoint

H.264 NVENC Republisher

Start manually after container is up:

docker exec -d isaac_ros_dev_container bash -c \
  "export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml && \
   source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash && \
   ros2 run image_transport republish raw foxglove --ros-args \
     -r in:=/front_stereo_camera/left/image_rect_color \
     -r out/foxglove:=/front_stereo_camera/left/compressed_video \
     -p out.foxglove.encoder:=h264_nvenc \
     -p out.foxglove.gop_size:=10 \
     -p out.foxglove.bit_rate:=5000000 \
     -p out.foxglove.qmax:=10 \
     -p 'out.foxglove.encoder_av_options:=forced-idr:1,preset:p1,tune:ll'"

Subscribes to raw /front_stereo_camera/left/image_rect_color
Publishes H.264 NVENC encoded to /front_stereo_camera/left/compressed_video
H.265 does NOT work with Foxglove browser (can’t decode keyframes)
NVENC requires gop_size > 1

Host Wrappers

`~/bin/ros2`

Runs ros2 inside the container with FastDDS fix:

docker exec isaac_ros_dev_container bash -c \
  "export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml && \
   source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash && \
   ros2 $*"

Troubleshooting

Topics visible but no data flowing

FastDDS XML file or env var is missing. Recreate:

docker exec isaac_ros_dev_container bash -c 'cat > /tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml << "XML"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dds xmlns="http://www.eprosima.com/XMLSchemas/fastRTPS_Profiles">
    <profiles>
        <transport_descriptors>
            <transport_descriptor>
                <transport_id>udp_transport</transport_id>
                <type>UDPv4</type>
            </transport_descriptor>
        </transport_descriptors>
        <participant profile_name="default_participant" is_default_profile="true">
            <rtps>
                <userTransports>
                    <transport_id>udp_transport</transport_id>
                </userTransports>
                <useBuiltinTransports>false</useBuiltinTransports>
            </rtps>
        </participant>
    </profiles>
</dds>
XML'

Foxglove says “Check that WebSocket server is reachable”

foxglove-bridge isn’t running. Start it:

docker exec -d isaac_ros_dev_container bash -c \
  "export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml && \
   source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash && \
   ros2 launch foxglove_bridge foxglove_bridge_launch.xml port:=8765"

Foxglove connects but no data

foxglove-bridge started without FastDDS fix. Kill and restart:

docker exec isaac_ros_dev_container bash -c \
  "pkill -f foxglove_bridge; sleep 1; \
   export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/tmp/fastdds_no_shm.xml && \
   source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash && \
   ros2 launch foxglove_bridge foxglove_bridge_launch.xml port:=8765 &"

Container missing packages after restart

isaac-ros activate recreated from base image. Use docker run from isaac-ros-apriltag:latest instead.