Deploying EasyNav on a Real iCreate3 Robot

This HowTo explains how to deploy the Costmap Stack of EasyNavigation (EasyNav) on a real iRobot iCreate3 robot, using a Raspberry Pi 4 as on-board computer and ROS 2 Kilted. It is based on the same workflow as the Simple Stack tutorials but adapted for real hardware with a graded Costmap2D environment representation.

Setup

Before starting, ensure that:

1. You have completed the EasyNav installation steps in Build & Install.

2. You have a workspace on the Raspberry Pi (for example ~/easynav_ws) and it is sourced correctly.

3. The following repositories are cloned inside your src/ folder:

   • EasyNavigation

   • easynav_plugins

   • easynav_indoor_testcase (for maps and configuration examples)

   • easynav_costmap_stack (for the costmap-based stack)

   • sllidar_ros2 (LIDAR driver)

4. Your robot and laptop can communicate over the same Wi-Fi network.

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Hardware Setup

Note

The overall workflow mirrors the one in the Simple Stack tutorials, but here you will run on real hardware. The navigation stack represents the environment as a graded Costmap2D.

• Base: iRobot iCreate3 Follow the vendor instructions to connect to Wi-Fi and update firmware. We used the latest ROS 2 Iron firmware with FastDDS: https://edu.irobot.com/create3-latest-fw

• Laser: RPLidar S2 mounted on top of the base.

• On-board computer: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B powered from the base via USB-C. Ethernet-over-USB-C was not available, so communication occurs over Wi-Fi. The LIDAR connects via USB. The Raspberry Pi runs Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop and ROS 2 Kilted.

• Operator laptop: Runs rviz2 and connects to the Raspberry Pi via SSH to launch processes.

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ROS 2 Setup on the Raspberry Pi

Follow the official ROS 2 Kilted installation steps: https://docs.ros.org/en/kilted/Installation/Ubuntu-Install-Debs.html

Quick summary:

1. Enable the universe repository:

   sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
   sudo add-apt-repository -y universe
   

2. Configure ROS 2 APT repositories:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl
   export ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/ros-infrastructure/ros-apt-source/releases/latest | grep -F "tag_name" | awk -F\" '{print $4}')
   curl -L -o /tmp/ros2-apt-source.deb "https://github.com/ros-infrastructure/ros-apt-source/releases/download/${ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION}/ros2-apt-source_${ROS_APT_SOURCE_VERSION}.$(. /etc/os-release && echo $VERSION_CODENAME)_all.deb"
   sudo dpkg -i /tmp/ros2-apt-source.deb
   

3. Install development tools and ROS 2 Desktop:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y ros-dev-tools
   sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install -y ros-kilted-desktop
   

4. Install additional packages:

   sudo apt install -y openssh-server \
       ros-kilted-rplidar-ros \
       ros-kilted-depthai ros-kilted-depthai-ros ros-kilted-depthai-ros-driver ros-kilted-depthai-bridge \
       ros-kilted-slam-toolbox \
       ros-kilted-rmw-zenoh-cpp ros-kilted-zenoh-cpp-vendor \
       ros-kilted-tf2-ros ros-kilted-tf2-py ros-kilted-tf2-tools \
       ros-kilted-irobot-create-msgs
   

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EasyNav Setup on the Raspberry Pi

1. Create the workspace:

   mkdir -p ~/easynav_ws/src
   cd ~/easynav_ws/src
   

2. Clone the required repositories:

   git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_plugins.git
   git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_costmap_stack.git
   git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_indoor_testcase.git
   git clone --recursive https://github.com/EasyNavigation/EasyNavigation.git
   git clone https://github.com/Slamtec/sllidar_ros2.git
   

3. Install dependencies:

   cd ~/easynav_ws
   rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
   

4. Build the workspace:

   colcon build --symlink-install
   

5. Source automatically in ``~/.bashrc``:

   echo 'source /opt/ros/kilted/setup.bash' >> ~/.bashrc
   echo 'source ~/easynav_ws/install/setup.bash' >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc
   

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Mapping

1. Verify that both the laptop and the Raspberry Pi can see the iCreate3 topics:

   ros2 topic list
   

   You should see topics such as /odom, /tf, /tf_static, /battery_state and others published by the base.

2. Publish a static transform from the base to the laser:

   ros2 run tf2_ros static_transform_publisher \
     --x 0.02 --z 0.22 --yaw 3.14 \
     --frame-id base_link --child-frame-id laser
   

   Keep this process running during mapping and navigation.

3. Start the laser driver:

   ros2 launch sllidar_ros2 sllidar_s2_launch.py
   

4. Place the robot at the desired origin (0, 0) and start SLAM Toolbox:

   ros2 launch slam_toolbox online_async_launch.py
   

5. On the laptop, open RViz2:

   rviz2
   

6. Start teleoperation to drive the robot while mapping:

   ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard
   

7. When the map is complete, save it:

   ros2 service call /slam_toolbox/save_map slam_toolbox/srv/SaveMap
   

8. Store the generated .yaml and image file (.pgm/.png) under ~/easynav_ws/src/easynav_indoor_testcase/maps. If you rename the map, ensure the YAML’s image field matches.

Tip

To reset the odom → base_footprint transform on iCreate3, call:

ros2 service call /reset_pose irobot_create_msgs/srv/ResetPose

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Navigation

Repeat steps (2) and (3) from Mapping if the transform publisher or laser driver were closed.

Verify the parameter file at: ~/easynav_ws/src/easynav_indoor_testcase/robots_params/costmap.serest.params.yaml

Ensure that: - map_path_file points to your saved map (e.g., maps/casa.yaml) - The filter plugin names are correct (see Notes below)

Start EasyNav on the Raspberry Pi:

ros2 run easynav_system system_main \
  --ros-args --params-file ~/easynav_ws/src/easynav_indoor_testcase/robots_params/costmap.serest.params.yaml

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Notes

• In the maps manager, filter plugin types must match the full class names: easynav_costmap_maps_manager/ObstacleFilter and easynav_costmap_maps_manager/InflationFilter.

• The Costmap Planner supports parameters such as cost_factor, cost_axial, cost_diagonal, inflation_penalty and continuous_replan. Adjust these values to fine-tune planning behavior for your environment.