Hi all,
There are a number of ways to get the ROS GUI tools running inside Docker. And using X11 magic, we can get the tools to appear on your host system. Generally, I believe, this requires the host to be running Linux (due to the X11 magic).
To streamline Hadabot’s ROS 2 learning experience (Hadabot makes lessons and robot kits to teach ROS 2 and robotics), we created a Docker container that allows RQt / ROS 2 GUI apps to run from a Linux desktop environment inside a web browser using NoVNC. This allows you to use the GUI tools from any host operating system, so long as you have Docker set up correctly.
This capability is showcased as a ROS 2 RQt intro lesson module which is guaranteed to be too basic for the audience here.
But I wanted to share since I know others may be experimenting with this GUI-in-Docker set up - ie was recently shown by @Katherine_Scott about @tfoote rocker novnc project - in the case there is strong overlap in our efforts.
As usual, don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, comments, etc…
Cheers!
Jack “the Hadabot Maker”