Can I call ROS “ros::init(…)” within the player (Player/Stage) driver?

edit

There are several approaches to using a player driver in ROS:

1. Wrapping the player library in a ROS node (like erratic_player does).

2. Converting the driver to ROS manually.

The first probably gets the job done quicker, but is harder to maintain. With a little practice, the second is relatively straightforward. I've done quite a few. If you have follow-up questions, feel free to ask.

When converting a player driver to a ROS node, the class inherited from the player Driver class is no longer needed and just adds unnecessary complexity.

Make a simple C++ main program, something like this:

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  ros::init(argc, argv, NODE);
  ros::NodeHandle node;

  // topics to read and write
  brake_cmd = node.subscribe("cmd", 10, ProcessCommand,
                             ros::TransportHints().tcpNoDelay(true));
  brake_state = node.advertise<art_brake::State>("state", 10);

  if (GetParameters() != 0)             // from the player constructor
    return 1;

  ros::Rate cycle(20.0);                // set driver cycle rate

  if (Setup() != 0)                     // from the player Setup()
    return 2;

  // Main loop; grab messages off our queue and republish them via ROS
  while(ros::ok())
    {
      ...                               // activities from player Main()
      cycle.sleep();                    // sleep until next cycle
    }

  Shutdown();

  return 0;
}