Navigating with SimpleStack and EasyNav

Setup from scratch

1. Create your workspace and move to the src directory:

mkdir -p easynav_ws/src
cd easynav_ws/src

2. Clone the required repositories for this tutorial:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/EasyNavigation/EasyNavigation.git
git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_simple_stack.git
git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_playground_kobuki.git
git clone https://github.com/EasyNavigation/easynav_indoor_testcase.git

Retrieve all third-party dependencies for simulating kobuki:

vcs import . < easynav_playground_kobuki/thirdparty.repos

3. Install dependencies and build the workspace:

cd ..  # go back to easynav_ws
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
reset && colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

4. Do the mapping tutorial to have a map, if you haven’t done yet.

Navigating

Once the environment has been mapped, save the .map file in the directory of any package in your workspace. This will be required because we will later reference it using the package name and relative path. (Optionally, you can provide the absolute path through the parameter map_path_file).

Next, create a parameter file for navigation. In this example we will use the SeReST controller, AMCL for robot localization, and specify that the maps_manager is an instance of easynav_simple_maps_manager/SimpleMapsManager. In the corresponding section we define where the map is located and configure the laser as the sensor to be used:

controller_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    controller_types: [serest]
    serest:
      rt_freq: 30.0
      plugin: easynav_serest_controller/SerestController
      allow_reverse: true
      max_linear_speed: 0.8
      max_angular_speed: 1.2
      v_progress_min: 0.08
      k_s_share_max: 0.5
      k_theta: 2.5
      k_y: 1.5
      goal_pos_tol: 0.1
      goal_yaw_tol_deg: 6.0
      slow_radius: 0.80
      slow_min_speed: 0.02
      final_align_k: 2.5
      final_align_wmax: 0.8
      corner_guard_enable: true
      corner_gain_ey: 1.8
      corner_gain_eth: 0.7
      corner_gain_kappa: 0.4
      corner_min_alpha: 0.35
      corner_boost_omega: 1.0
      a_lat_soft: 0.9
      apex_ey_des: 0.05

localizer_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    localizer_types: [simple]
    simple:
      rt_freq: 50.0
      freq: 5.0
      reseed_freq: 1.0
      plugin: easynav_simple_localizer/AMCLLocalizer
      num_particles: 100
      noise_translation: 0.05
      noise_rotation: 0.1
      noise_translation_to_rotation: 0.1
      initial_pose:
        x: 0.0
        y: 0.0
        yaw: 0.0
        std_dev_xy: 0.1
        std_dev_yaw: 0.01

maps_manager_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    map_types: [simple]
    simple:
      freq: 10.0
      plugin: easynav_simple_maps_manager/SimpleMapsManager
      package: easynav_indoor_testcase
      map_path_file: maps/home.map

planner_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    planner_types: [simple]
    simple:
      freq: 0.5
      plugin: easynav_simple_planner/SimplePlanner
      robot_radius: 0.25

sensors_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    forget_time: 0.5
    sensors: [laser1]
    perception_default_frame: odom
    laser1:
      topic: scan_raw
      type: sensor_msgs/msg/LaserScan
      group: points

system_node:
  ros__parameters:
    use_sim_time: true
    position_tolerance: 0.3
    angle_tolerance: 0.15

In one terminal, launch the simulator. You can disable the GUI to save resources if needed:

ros2 launch easynav_playground_kobuki playground_kobuki.launch.py gui:=false

In a second terminal, launch rviz:

rviz2

Finally, in a third terminal, start EasyNav and specify the parameter file. (Optionally, you can also create a launcher for convenience):

ros2 run easynav_system system_main \
  --ros-args --params-file /home/fmrico/ros/ros2/easynav_ws/src/easynav_indoor_testcase/robots_params/simple.serest_params.yaml

At this point, you can use the “2D Goal Pose” button in rviz to send target positions for the robot to navigate to.