Summit PlayGround

easynav_playground_summit is EasyNav’s outdoor reference: a Robotnik Summit XL with a 3D lidar, a depth camera, an IMU and a GPS, navigating with NavMap and Bonxai maps in two worlds:

• the URJC excavation, an outdoor 3D terrain;

• a small warehouse, an indoor logistics scenario with shelves, pallets and clutter.

See PlayGrounds to install it.

Launching EasyNav

Each easynav_<config>.launch.yaml starts Gazebo, the Summit XL, EasyNav with that configuration and RViz2:

ros2 launch easynav_playground_summit easynav_bonxai_amcl.launch.yaml

Once RViz2 is up, send a goal with the 2D Goal Pose tool.

Outdoor configurations (excavation)

All of them plan with A* over the NavMap maps/excavation_urjc.navmap.

Launch file	Controller	Localizer	Notes
easynav_bonxai_amcl.launch.yaml	Regulated Pure Pursuit	NavMap AMCL	AMCL corrects against the Bonxai 3D map (maps/excavation_urjc.pcd)
easynav_mppi.launch.yaml	MPPI	NavMap AMCL
easynav_mpc.launch.yaml	MPC	NavMap AMCL
easynav_gps.launch.yaml	Regulated Pure Pursuit	FusionLocalizer (UKF)	Fuses the GPS position, wheel odometry and IMU heading; no Bonxai map
easynav_navmap_dummy.launch.yaml	—	—	Only loads and shows maps/excavation_urjc_2.navmap

In the excavation the terrain is smooth and the Bonxai cloud is sparse, so NavMap AMCL has little to correct against: it keeps the heading from the IMU, but its position can drift 0.5–1 m from the true one. The GPS configuration is the accurate one outdoors (about 0.15 m): its map frame is the Gazebo world’s (latitude_origin/longitude_origin are the world’s spherical_coordinates).

Warehouse configuration

ros2 launch easynav_playground_summit easynav_warehouse_amcl.launch.yaml

Launch file	Controller	Localizer	Maps
easynav_warehouse_amcl.launch.yaml	Regulated Pure Pursuit	NavMap AMCL	Flat NavMap maps/warehouse_20cm.navmap; Bonxai maps/warehouse.pcd

The NavMap is flat, built from a 2D occupancy grid. Its obstacles filter keeps the static map and adds the points the sensors see within 3 m and below 1.2 m (max_range, max_height); the inflation filter (radius 2.0 m, scaling 1.5) keeps paths in the middle of the aisles. The RViz2 view (rviz/easynav_warehouse.rviz) shows the inflated layer. Localization error is about 0.15 m. See Navigating with the NavMap + Bonxai Stack for a walk through this configuration.

Launch arguments

Argument	Default	Description
params_file	Per launch file	EasyNav parameter file
rviz_config	Per launch file	RViz2 configuration file
gui	true	false runs Gazebo headless
rviz	true	false skips RViz2

Real-time cycle

The configurations run EasyNav’s real-time cycle (use_real_time: true) at 50 Hz (system_node.rt_freq; the default 200 Hz is too tight for this simulation). The recovery system watches it: if many cycles in a row start late, it holds the mission, asks for human assistance and finally cancels it. See Real-time System Setup.

Simulation only

To run Gazebo and the Summit XL without EasyNav or RViz2:

ros2 launch easynav_playground_summit_worlds gazebo_sim.launch.yaml

It loads the excavation; pass world:=<path to a .world file> for another one, e.g. worlds/small_warehouse.world. To spawn the robot in a running simulation, use summit.launch.yaml with a spawn pose (x, y, z).

The simulated Summit XL publishes:

Topic	Type
/front_laser/points	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 (Robosense Helios 16P)
/front_camera/depth/color/points	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 (ZED2)
/imu/data	sensor_msgs/Imu
/gps/fix	sensor_msgs/NavSatFix
/robotnik_base_control/odom	nav_msgs/Odometry
/ground_truth	nav_msgs/Odometry

It also publishes TF, and listens on /cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist).

Launch files

The launch files (in launch/, in YAML) build on each other:

easynav_<config>.launch.yaml            # sets params_file, rviz_config (and world)
└── easynav_gazebo_sim.launch.yaml      # + EasyNav + RViz2
    └── gazebo_sim.launch.yaml          # Gazebo + the Summit XL
        ├── world.launch.yaml
        └── summit.launch.yaml

What each one starts:

world.launch.yaml

The Gazebo server with world (gz sim -r -s; the excavation by default) and the Gazebo GUI client (if gui). Gazebo is started without a shell, so Ctrl+C stops it and no server or GUI is left behind.

summit.launch.yaml

The Summit XL: robot_state_publisher with the robot model, the spawner (ros_gz_sim create), the ROS–Gazebo bridge (/clock, TF, sensors and ground truth), the ros2_control spawner for joint_state_broadcaster and the robotnik_base_control diff drive controller, and twist_stamper, which forwards /cmd_vel (Twist) to the controller as TwistStamped.

gazebo_sim.launch.yaml

world.launch.yaml and summit.launch.yaml: the simulation, without EasyNav.

easynav_gazebo_sim.launch.yaml

gazebo_sim.launch.yaml, then, after 5 s, EasyNav (easynav_system system_main) with params_file, and RViz2 with rviz_config (if rviz). If EasyNav exits, the whole launch ends.

easynav_<config>.launch.yaml

easynav_gazebo_sim.launch.yaml with the parameter file, RViz2 configuration and world of that configuration:

Launch file	Parameter file (params/)	RViz2 configuration (rviz/)	World (worlds/)
easynav_bonxai_amcl	bonxai.amcl.params.yaml	easynav_bonxai_amcl.rviz	urjc_excavation.world
easynav_mppi	mppi.params.yaml	easynav_bonxai_amcl.rviz	urjc_excavation.world
easynav_mpc	mpc.params.yaml	easynav_bonxai_amcl.rviz	urjc_excavation.world
easynav_gps	gps.params.yaml	easynav_navmap.rviz	urjc_excavation.world
easynav_navmap_dummy	navmap.dummy.params.yaml	easynav_navmap.rviz	urjc_excavation.world
easynav_warehouse_amcl	warehouse.amcl.params.yaml	easynav_warehouse.rviz	small_warehouse.world

Building maps of a world

The warehouse maps were generated from the simulation with NavMap’s navmap_tools:

1. navmap_map_builder builds the 3D cloud (warehouse.pcd, for Bonxai). It teleports the robot through the free space and puts its sensors’ clouds together at the ground-truth poses.

2. navmap_map2d_from_pcd builds the 2D occupancy grid (warehouse.pgm/.yaml, for the flat NavMap) from that cloud: points between 0.1 and 1.2 m high are obstacles.

ros2 launch easynav_playground_summit_worlds gazebo_sim.launch.yaml gui:=false \
  world:=$(ros2 pkg prefix easynav_playground_summit_worlds)/share/easynav_playground_summit_worlds/worlds/small_warehouse.world
ros2 run navmap_tools navmap_map_builder /tmp/warehouse --world warehouse --model summit_xl \
  --cloud-topic /front_laser/points --ground-truth-topic /ground_truth
ros2 run navmap_tools navmap_map2d_from_pcd /tmp/warehouse.pcd /tmp/warehouse

Run each tool with --help for its options. The README of easynav_playground_summit_worlds explains the whole process.

Package layout

Package and directory	Contents
easynav_playground_summit: launch/, params/, rviz/	EasyNav launch files, parameters (one file per configuration) and RViz2 configurations
easynav_playground_summit_worlds: launch/, config/bridge/	Gazebo launchers (gazebo_sim, world, summit) and ROS–Gazebo bridge topics
easynav_playground_summit_worlds: maps/	NavMap (.navmap), Bonxai (.pcd) and 2D occupancy grid (warehouse.pgm/.yaml) maps
easynav_playground_summit_worlds: worlds/, models/	URJC excavation and small warehouse worlds
easynav_playground_summit_description: urdf/, meshes/, config/	Summit XL model and its ros2_control controllers