1. Simulators

1.1. Rviz

To run rviz

rosrun rviz rviz

1.2. Gazebo

Gazebo is a Robot simulator with physics engine. Fro more information about it check the website.

Gazebo can be interfaced with ROS. The follwing package should be installed:

sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-gazebo-ros-pkgs ros-kinetic-gazebo-msgs ros-kinetic-gazebo-plugins ros-kinetic-gazebo-ros-control

To run Gazebo:

roscore
rosrun gazebo_ros gazebo

1.2.1. Gazebo launch

Try gazebo_ros package:

roslaunch gazebo_ros empty_world.launch
roslaunch gazebo_ros empty_world.launch paused:=true use_sim_time:=false gui:=true throttled:=false recording:=false debug:=true verbose:=true
roslaunch gazebo_ros willowgarage_world.launch
roslaunch gazebo_ros mud_world.launch
roslaunch gazebo_ros shapes_world.launch
roslaunch gazebo_ros rubble_world.launch