launching multiple robots in gazebo

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Hi all,

I had a bit of problem launching two robots in gazebo; as the answers on the internet usually did not provide their final launch files to help other people, I am just posting the answer with my files here to help other people. ( So this is not a question :) ) The point for having multiple robots in Gazebo is in using namespaces properly. We also use tf_prefix to make the transforms work properly. This is my launch file that I could launch two same robots with it on Gazebo (I believe it should be okay for different robots as well, although I have not tried it).

<launch>
<!-- args-->
<arg name="rvizconfig" default="$(find mobile_manipulator_description)/rviz/urdf_final.rviz"/>
<arg name="model" default="$(find mobile_manipulator_description)/urdf/mm_mico_final.urdf.xacro"/>
<arg name="gui" default="true"/>
<arg name="paused" default="true"/>
<arg name="use_sim_time" default="true"/>
<arg name="debug" default="false"/>
<arg name="headless" default="false"/>
<arg name="manipulator" default="m1n6s300"/>    
<arg name="manipulator_control_type" default="effort"/> <!-- position, velocity or effort-->
<arg name="world_file" default="$(find avatar_gazebo)/worlds/avatar.world"/>
<!-- Include files-->    
<!-- gazebo-->
<include file="$(find gazebo_ros)/launch/empty_world.launch">
        <arg name="debug" value="$(arg debug)"/>
        <arg name="gui" value="$(arg gui)"/>
        <arg name="paused" value="$(arg paused)"/>
        <arg name="use_sim_time" value="$(arg use_sim_time)"/>
        <arg name="headless" value="$(arg headless)"/>
        <arg name="world_name" value="$(arg world_file)"/>          
</include>
<!-- nodes for running the system-->
<node name="camera_tf" pkg="tf2_ros" type="static_transform_publisher" args="0.025 0 0.95 -1.5705 0 -1.905 odom camera_link"/>
<node name="mico_odom_tf" pkg="tf2_ros" type="static_transform_publisher" args="0 0 0 0 0 0 odom mico/odom"/>
<node name="mico2_odom_tf" pkg="tf2_ros" type="static_transform_publisher" args="0 0 0 0 0 0 odom mico2/odom"/>
<node name="rviz"         pkg="rviz"       type="rviz"        args="-d $(arg rvizconfig)" required="true"/>


<!-- mobile manipulator groups -->  
<group ns="mico">

    <param name="robot_description" command="$(find xacro)/xacro $(arg model)"/>
    <param name="tf_prefix" value="mico"/>  
    <rosparam command="load" file="$(find mobile_manipulator_description)/config/kinova_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_control_mico_final.yaml" />
<!-- nodes-->


    <node name="$(arg manipulator)_joints_controller" pkg="controller_manager" type="spawner" respawn="false"
    output="screen"
        args="--namespace=/mico
            joint_1_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller joint_2_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller joint_3_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller  
            joint_4_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller joint_5_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller joint_6_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_controller
            finger_2_position_controller finger_1_position_controller  finger_3_position_controller 
            finger_tip_1_position_controller finger_tip_2_position_controller finger_tip_3_position_controller
            joint_state_controller_manipulator"/> 

    <node name="robot_state_publisher_mobilerobot" pkg="robot_state_publisher" type="robot_state_publisher"
            respawn="false" output="screen">     
                <remap from="/joint_states" to="/mico/joint_states"/>
            </node>

<!-- Spawning the model-->
    <node name="robot1_urdf_spawner" pkg="gazebo_ros" type="spawn_model" args="-z 0.5 -x 1 -y 1 -unpause -urdf -model robot1 -param robot_description" respawn="false" output="screen"/> 
</group>

<group ns="mico2">

    <param name="robot_description" command="$(find xacro)/xacro $(arg model)"/>    
    <param name="tf_prefix" value="mico2"/> 
    <rosparam command="load" file="$(find mobile_manipulator_description)/config/kinova_$(arg manipulator_control_type)_control_mico_final.yaml" />
    <!-- nodes-->
    <node name ...