Project4

Project #4 - Map My World!

Overview

In this project you will create a 2D occupancy grid and 3D octomap from a simulated environment using your own robot with the RTAB-Map package.

RTAB-Map (Real-Time Appearance-Based Mapping) is a popular solution for SLAM to develop robots that can map environments in 3D. RTAB-Map has good speed and memory management, and it provides custom developed tools for information analysis. Most importantly, the quality of the documentation on ROS Wiki (http://wiki.ros.org/rtabmap_ros) is very high. Being able to leverage RTAB-Map with your own robots will lead to a solid foundation for mapping and localization well beyond this Nanodegree program.

For this project we will be using the rtabmap_ros package, which is a ROS wrapper (API) for interacting with RTAB-Map. Keep this in mind when looking at the relative documentation.

Project Instructions

The project flow will be as follows:

1. You will develop your own package to interface with the rtabmap_ros package.
2. You will build upon your localization project to make the necessary changes to interface the robot with RTAB-Map. An example of this is the addition of an RGB-D camera.
3. You will ensure that all files are in the appropriate places, all links are properly connected, naming is properly setup and topics are correctly mapped. Furthermore you will need to generate the appropriate launch files to launch the robot and map its surrounding environment.
4. When your robot is launched you will teleop around the room to generate a proper map of the environment.

Directory Structure

.Project4
├── ball_chaser
│         ├── CMakeLists.txt
│         ├── launch
│         │         └── ball_chaser.launch
│         ├── package.xml
│         ├── src
│         │         ├── drive_bot.cpp
│         │         └── process_image.cpp
│         └── srv
│             └── DriveToTarget.srv
├── my_robot
│         ├── CMakeLists.txt
│         ├── config
│         │         ├── base_local_planner_params.yaml
│         │         ├── costmap_common_params.yaml
│         │         ├── global_costmap_params.yaml
│         │         ├── local_costmap_params.yaml
│         │         └── __MACOSX
│         ├── launch
│         │         ├── amcl.launch
│         │         ├── mapping.launch
│         │         ├── robot_description.launch
│         │         ├── teleop.launch
│         │         └── world.launch
│         ├── maps
│         │         ├── map.pgm
│         │         ├── map.yaml
│         │         └── rtabmap.db
│         ├── meshes
│         │         └── hokuyo.dae
│         ├── package.xml
│         ├── RVIZLaunchConfig.rviz
│         ├── urdf
│         │         ├── my_robot.gazebo
│         │         └── my_robot.xacro
│         └── worlds
│             ├── empty.world
│             ├── minimap.world
│             └── UdacityOffice.world
├── pgm_map_creator
│         ├── CMakeLists.txt
│         ├── launch
│         │         └── request_publisher.launch
│         ├── LICENSE
│         ├── maps
│         │         └── map.pgm
│         ├── msgs
│         │         ├── CMakeLists.txt
│         │         └── collision_map_request.proto
│         ├── package.xml
│         ├── README.md
│         ├── src
│         │         ├── collision_map_creator.cc
│         │         └── request_publisher.cc
│         └── world
│             └── udacity_mtv
├── README.md
└── teleop_twist_keyboard
    ├── CHANGELOG.rst
    ├── CMakeLists.txt
    ├── package.xml
    ├── README.md
    └── teleop_twist_keyboard.py

Build Instructions

1. Open Terminal/CLI by using Ctrl + Alt + T shortcut.
2. Create and initialize a catkin_ws

mkdir -p /<your_dir>/catkin_ws/src
cd /<your_dir>/catkin_ws/src
catkin_init_workspace

3. Clone this repo inside /<your_dir>/catkin_ws/src. Pull all submodules by running

git submodule update --init --recursive

4. Ensure ros-kinetic-rtabmap-ros package is installed. If not, install by running the following:

sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-rtabmap-ros

5. Switch to catkin_ws

cd /<your_dir>/catkin_ws

6. Build the code and ensure there are no build errors reported

catkin_make

7. Launch RViz and Gazebo. This may take a while upon initial loading.

source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch my_robot world.launch

8. Open another Terminal/CLI by using Ctrl + Alt + T shortcut. Switch to catkin_ws

cd /<your_dir>/catkin_ws

9. Run teleop node, which can be done by executing teleop.launch

source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch my_robot teleop.launch

10. Open another Terminal/CLI by using Ctrl + Alt + T shortcut. Switch to catkin_ws

cd /<your_dir>/catkin_ws

11. Run mapping node, which can be done by executing mapping.launch

source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch my_robot mapping.launch

12. Navigate your robot in the simulation to create map for the environment! When you are all set, terminate the node and you could find your map db file in the place specified in the mapping.launch file. It will be named rtabmap.db and located in the /my_robot/maps/ folder. Note: if rtabmap.db exists, it will override it when the nodes are launched.
13. To open the mapping database, execute the following in a terminal:

rtabmap-databaseViewer /<your_dir>/catkin_ws/src/my_robot/maps/rtabmap.db

14. Once opened:

• Say yes to using the database parameters
• View -> Constraint View
• View -> Graph View