BlueROV2: updated control (attitude and position), model

[Pedro-Roque]

Solved Problem

Adds support for BlueROV2 Heavy and cleans the control stack for UUVs.

Solution

• Refactor UUV_ modules
• Refactor BlueROV2 model

Changelog Entry

For release notes:

Feature: bluerov2 support

Alternatives

None I can think of?

Test coverage

SITL testing. Will provide logs once I clean this.

Screencast.from.2025-06-02.19-56-04.mp4

[hamishwillee]

@Pedro-Roque I'm not sure what users need to know about this, but if there is anything it would probably go here https://docs.px4.io/main/en/frames_sub/bluerov2.html

[Pedro-Roque]

@Pedro-Roque I'm not sure what users need to know about this, but if there is anything it would probably go here https://docs.px4.io/main/en/frames_sub/bluerov2.html

I think it's mostly correct there,

[timzarhansen]

Two Points:

• The current implementation has no way of controlling roll/pitch in stabilization mode, with the controller. It is set to 0, when in stabilization mode. Which is, when using the BlueROV2, not always desired. Maybe we can add a system, so that xy and ab(on a classical Logitech controller) can control roll/pitch in some way, so that a constant Roll/pitch is set. Are there reasons not to do that?(can be added later)

• The Buoyancy system currently counterweights each link. This behavior is very often not the case on an underwater vehicle. There is mostly some kind of payload on the robot. Therefore, when adding a small weight under the base_link to simulate that, the behavior of the BlueROV doesn't change.
  I coded a small change to the two files, which would apply the force only on the first link. Then everyone can use a weight link, to have the behavior the way they want. Additionally, I would disable the buoyancy force, when the main link is at z>0. This can be a parameter that is set. I can add that later.

But in my opinion, we could also just use the standard buoyancy plugin, and make a circular collision based on the weight of the BlueROV2, around the basic_link, and once compute the radius for that sphere. This would be the same behavior as using this plugin, except for the random factor. I don't fully see the benefit, and for me the gazebo plugin worked.

[Pedro-Roque]

Some hardware testing:

compressed.mp4

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-dev-call-june-25-2025-team-sync-and-community-q-a/46161/3

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-dev-call-june-25-2025-team-sync-and-community-q-a/46161/1

[timzarhansen]

BlueROVConstructorUniversity.mp4

Some additional testing on BlueROV.
We needed to change a few parameters gains in the controller to make it work smoothly, since our Robot is heavier and the center of mass is lower due to the extension on the bottom.
Manual and stabilization are working properly, position I couldn't test yet. Will do that soon.

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-dev-call-july-2-2025-team-sync-and-community-q-a/46266/3

Comments were fixed.

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-dev-call-july-16-2025-team-sync-and-community-q-a/46513/3