SLAM with LIDAR
I've been posting similar questions on open topics, but that may have not been the proper way to address the forum.
This may seen like a data dump, but I'm trying to be as complete as possible here so that one can see as much about what I have going on as possible. Of course, I will provide if more information if more is needed.
Thank you guys in advance for any help or leads you can provide.
Using ros indigo
I've seen several examples of real-time and post-processed slam with RPLIDAR. Just a few: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDeNKbcnuE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCF7P7u8pDk
https://youtu.be/gy9cDuaNW1w?t=48s
Now I've been fiddling with launch files for a couple months now on my free time with little luck as I know very little about how ros is structured and how to tie one tool to another. I've been basically making a Frankenstein Monster launch file and crossing my fingers.
I'm not receiving any errors and RVIS launches with out any problems and I can see the realtime data plotted on the 2D plane as red squares. I set the Global Fixed Frame to "map" and the RPLidarLaserScan display (really just LaserScan) Topic to "/scan". Then I add the "Map" display and set the topic to "/map". And press "Reset" at the bottom. The 2D plane on the display changes color to the "map" color, but I still do not see an occupancy grid, just the same red squares.
I feel like I'm missing something simple, like I'm not listening in on the right published topic. I've tried all the permuations of topic combinations but I cannot get a nice slam occupancy grid or map.
It might be easier to make a .bag file and post process it through hector mapping. Does anyone
Here is my current launch file:
<!--
Used for visualising rplidar in action.
It requires rplidar.launch.
-->
<launch>
<include file="$(find rplidar_ros)/launch/rplidar.launch" />
<node name="rviz" pkg="rviz" type="rviz" args="-d $(find rplidar_ros)/rviz/rplidar.rviz" />
<node pkg="hector_mapping" type="hector_mapping" name="hector_mapping" output="screen">
<!-- Frame Names -->
<param name="base_frame" value="base_link" />
<!-- param name="base_frame" value="/laser" -->
<param name="map_frame" value="map" />
<param name="odom_frame" value="base-link" />
<!-- param name="odom_frame" value="/laser" -->
<!-- Tf use -->
<param name="use_tf_scan_transformation" value="true"/>
<param name="use_tf_pose_start_estimate" value="false"/>
<param name="pub_map_odom_transform" value="true"/>
<!-- Map size / start point -->
<param name="map_resolution" value="0.050"/>
<param name="map_size" value="2048"/>
<param name="map_start_x" value="0.5"/>
<param name="map_start_y" value="0.5" />
<param name="map_multi_res_levels" value="2" />
<!-- Map update parameters -->
<param name="update_factor_free" value="0.4"/>
<param name="update_factor_occupied" value="0.9" />
<param name="map_update_distance_thresh" value="0.4"/>
<param name="map_update_angle_thresh" value="0.06" />
<param name="laser_z_min_value" value = "-.5" />
<param name="laser_z_max_value" value = "0.5" />
<!-- Advertising config -->
<param name="advertise_map_service" value="true"/>
<param name="scan_subscriber_queue_size" value="5"/>
<param name="scan_topic" value="/laser/scan"/>
<!-- param name="scan_topic" value ...
