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Well, actually the "hard requirement" for a laser only applies (as far as I know) to the default global_planner and the default local_planner. They both are plugins for the move_base node.

The global planner calculates a safe path from the current position of the robot to a goal position, given a known (usually static) map. Then the local planner calculates the Twist commands to send to the robot so it actually follows the global_path while taking dynamic obstacles into account.

The way the default local and global planer are implemented require a laser sensor to build the costmaps used for planning. But if you implement your own global and local planner, there should be no limit to what you can do.

I hope this helps.

Well, actually the "hard requirement" for a laser only applies (as far as I know) to the default global_planner and the default local_planner. They both are plugins for the move_base node.

The global planner calculates a safe path from the current position of the robot to a goal position, given a known (usually static) map. Then the local planner calculates the Twist commands to send to the robot so it actually follows the global_path while taking dynamic obstacles (detected by the laser) into account.

The way the default local and global planer are implemented require a laser sensor to build the costmaps used for planning. But if you implement your own global and local planner, there should be no limit to what you can do.

I hope this helps.

Well, actually the "hard requirement" for a laser only applies (as far as I know) to the default global_planner and the default local_planner. They both are plugins for the move_base node.

The global planner calculates a safe path from the current position of the robot to a goal position, given a known (usually static) map. Then the local planner calculates the Twist commands to send to the robot so it actually follows the global_path while taking dynamic obstacles (detected by the laser) into account.

The way the default local and global planer are implemented require a laser sensor to build the costmaps used for planning. But if you implement your own global and local planner, there should be no limit to what you can do.

I hope this helps.

[UPDATE]

As @ahendrix pointed out, I was wrong, the standard global and local planners don't need any laser information. They can be used with an empty or static map, so there is no need to implement your won global and local planners. The only thing you will be missing is dynamic obstacle avoidance.

Well, actually the "hard requirement" for a laser only applies (as far as I know) to the default global_planner and the default local_planner. They both are plugins for the move_base node.

The global planner calculates a safe path from the current position of the robot to a goal position, given a known (usually static) map. Then the local planner calculates the Twist commands to send to the robot so it actually follows the global_path while taking dynamic obstacles (detected by the laser) into account.

The way the default local and global planer are implemented require a laser sensor to build the costmaps used for planning. But if you implement your own global and local planner, there should be no limit to what you can do.

I hope this helps.

[UPDATE]

As @ahendrix pointed out, I was wrong, the standard global and local planners don't need any laser information. They can be used with an empty or static map, so there is no need to implement your won own global and local planners. The only thing you will be missing is dynamic obstacle avoidance.