A simple Docker setup for running ROS Noetic tutorials with a basic publisher/subscriber example using Python scripts.

.
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── README.md
└── catkin_ws/
    └── src/
        └── rospy_tutorials/
            ├── CMakeLists.txt
            ├── package.xml
            ├── scripts/
            │   ├── listener.py
            │   └── talker.py
            └── src/

• Dockerfile: Simplified ROS Noetic container setup
• docker-compose.yml: Container orchestration configuration
• rospy_tutorials package: Contains the classic ROS tutorial scripts
  • talker.py: Publisher node that sends "hello world" messages
  • listener.py: Subscriber node that receives and logs messages

• Docker installed on your system
• Docker Compose installed on your system

# Build and start the container in detached mode
docker compose up -d --build

This will:

• Build the Docker image with ROS Noetic and your catkin workspace
• Start the container named ros-tutorials
• Run in the background (detached mode)

You'll need three separate terminal windows/tabs for this demo.

# Connect to the container
docker exec -it ros-tutorials /bin/bash

# Start the ROS master node
roscore

Keep this terminal running. You should see:

... logging to /root/.ros/log/...
... started core service [/rosout]

Open a new terminal window/tab:

# Connect to the container in a new session
docker exec -it ros-tutorials /bin/bash

# Run the listener script
rosrun rospy_tutorials listener.py

The listener is now waiting for messages. You should see a blank terminal waiting for a response from the Talker Node.

Open a third terminal window/tab:

# Connect to the container in a new session
docker exec -it ros-tutorials /bin/bash

# Run the talker script
rosrun rospy_tutorials talker.py

You should now see:

• Terminal 3 (talker): Publishing "hello world" messages
• Terminal 2 (listener): Receiving and displaying those messages

Terminal 3 (Talker):

[INFO] [1634567890.123]: hello world 1634567890.12
[INFO] [1634567890.223]: hello world 1634567890.22
[INFO] [1634567890.323]: hello world 1634567890.32

Terminal 2 (Listener):

[INFO] [1634567890.124]: /listener_1634567890_123 I heard hello world 1634567890.12
[INFO] [1634567890.224]: /listener_1634567890_123 I heard hello world 1634567890.22
[INFO] [1634567890.324]: /listener_1634567890_123 I heard hello world 1634567890.32

In each terminal (in reverse order):

1. Terminal 3 (talker): Press Ctrl+C to stop the talker node
2. Terminal 2 (listener): Press Ctrl+C to stop the listener node
3. Terminal 1 (roscore): Press Ctrl+C to stop roscore

In each terminal:

# Exit the container bash session
exit

# Stop and remove the container, networks, and orphaned containers
docker compose down --remove-orphans --rmi all

If you want to modify the Python scripts without rebuilding the container, uncomment the volumes section in docker-compose.yml:

volumes:
  - ./catkin_ws:/catkin_ws

Then restart the container:

docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d

# View running containers
docker ps

# View container logs
docker-compose logs

# View real-time logs
docker-compose logs -f

Instead of interactive terminals, you can run commands directly:

# Start roscore in background
docker exec -d ros-tutorials bash -c "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash && source /catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash && roscore"

# Run listener in background
docker exec -d ros-tutorials bash -c "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash && source /catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash && rosrun rospy_tutorials listener.py"

# Run talker interactively
docker exec -it ros-tutorials bash -c "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash && source /catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash && rosrun rospy_tutorials talker.py"

# Check container status
docker-compose ps

# View detailed logs
docker-compose logs ros-tutorials

• Ensure all three terminals are connected to the same container
• Verify roscore is running in Terminal 1 before starting other nodes
• Check that the container is using network_mode: host

# If scripts aren't executable, fix permissions
docker exec -it ros-tutorials chmod +x /catkin_ws/src/rospy_tutorials/scripts/*.py

• Modify the Python scripts to experiment with different message types
• Add more ROS nodes to the package
• Try connecting to external ROS masters by modifying ROS_MASTER_URI
• Explore ROS topics with rostopic list and rostopic echo /chatter