robot-multi-floor-navigation

This repository is for Jackal UGV elevator navigation.

Goal

In this simultion, we will be using the Clearpath Jackal tranverse between 2 floors (floor 0 and floor 1) using an elevator. Few barrier were placed in the world for the UGV to navigate. The simulation world can be found here.

Fig.1 - Simulated Environment

Scenario Simulated

1. Navigate from point 1:(4.0, -5.0, 0.5) to point 2:(3.0,-0.5,0.5)
2. Enter the lift at level 0 (point 2:(3.0,-0.5,0.5) to point 3:(0.0,-0.5,0.5))
3. Send the lift from level 0 to level 1
4. Exit lift at level 1 to point 4:(3.0,-0.5,3.2)
5. Switch Map to level 1 and localize robot
6. Navigate from point 5:(3.0,-0.5,3.2) to point 6:(4.0,5.0,3.2

Installation

Dependencies Installation

For ROS Melodic:

$ sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-jackal-*

For ROS Noetic:

$ sudo apt-get install ros-noetic-jackal-*

ROS Workspace Setup (Neotic)

Change the ROS distro to Melodic if needed. The steps are the same

1. Create a ROS Workspace (for example catkin_ws)

$ source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash 
$ mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
$ cd ~/catkin_ws/
$ catkin_make$ sou

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
$ git clone [email protected]:arwinder-jaspal/robot-multi-floor-navigation.git

3. Clone Additional Reposity

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
$ git clone [email protected]:jackal/jackal_simulator.git
$ git clone [email protected]:jackal/jackal_desktop.git
$ git clone git clone https://<username>@bitbucket.org/swaroophs/jackal_elevator.git

4. Build the Workspace

$ cd ~/catkin_ws
$ catkin_make

Mapping

For Mapping, we will use the gmapping package from ROS.

1. To launch the package:

$ source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup,bash
$ roslaunch multi_floor_nav mapping.launch

This will launch RViz and Gazebo for mapping.

To begin mapping, use the Interaction Marker on RViz

Fig.1 - Rviz For Mapping With Interactive Marker

2. Once, map is generated, on a new terminal run the map_saver node from map_server package to write the map to file.

$ source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash
$ rosrun map_server map_saver -f <map_filename>.yaml

This will save 2 files (1 .pgm file and 1 .yaml) to the current directory

This will by default generate the map for floor 0. To map for floor 1, edit the z_pos param in the mapping launch file and repeat steps 1 and 2.

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src/robot-multi-floor-navigation/multi_floor_nav/launch
$ nano mapping.launch

The map files are already generated for this repo

Navigation

1. To run the simulation 2 terminals is needed

• 1 terminal to launch the nodes
• 1 terminal to start the simulation

2. Build the workspace

$ cd ~/catkin_ws
$ catkin_make

3. Source both the terminal

source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash

4. Launch the navigation nodes on the first terminal

$ roslaunch multi_floor_nav nav.launch

This will launch the few nodes:

• gazebo: for visualization
• map_server: 2 map server will be launch(one for each map file) to load laser maps
• amcl: for robot localization
• move_base: for planning
• rviz: for visualization
• change_map_node: for handle map switching operations
• multi_floor_nav_node: node with a state machine to handle map switching, sending of move_base goals and odom goals, and controlling the elevator

5. On the second terminal, we will send the signal to start the state machine on multi_floor_nav_node. To do so, run the following command ONCE:

$ rostopic pub /start std_msgs/Empty "{}"

This will start the state machine on multi_floor_nav_node. The purpose for this topic is to allow enough time on slower machines to load visualization tools such as Gazebo.