MAPS FROM STAGE SIMULATIONS IN ROS : PART DEUX

SLAM USING TELEOPERATION IN STAGEROS

In my previous article, I discussed realising SLAM using stage's wander controller. Now, I discuss about an alternative method where the robot can be driven around by human participation and thus realising SLAM.

Such can be done in ROS using stage/stageros and teleoperation.

#.1 - Start an instance of the master in a terminal window

roscore

 

#.2 - Start the stage/stageros simulation in a new terminal window 

rosrun stage stageros /path/to/.world file

This world file must not employ the wander controller. The idea is to drive the robot around not let it wander.

#.3 - Start keyboard based teleoperation

rosrun teleop_base teleop_base_keyboard base_controller/command:=cmd_vel 

#.4 - Start gmapping in a new terminal window 

rosrun gmapping slam_gmapping scan:=base_scan

#.5 - Start map server in a new terminal window 

rosrun map_server map_saver

The map will get saved in the directory from where the command for map_server is issued as a pgm file.

Drive the robot around using u,i,k,l etc and check the map as it starts to develop. Drive it around a few times across the whole environment that should give a sufficiently good map. 

The rxgraph for this simulation is as shown;

The pros and cons with the previous method can be seen in contrast;

NOTE : Simulations done in ROS 1.4.10 diamondback