Mapping

This section will go over the different methods of mapping possible with the quadcopter.

Table of contents

1. Gmapping with Teleop
2. Gmapping with Frontier Exploration
3. Google Cartographer with Teleop

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Gmapping with Teleop

These instructions work with both ROS Kinetic and Melodic.

Make sure use_ground_truth_for_tf is set to true in the quadcopter_gazebo/quadcopter.launch file.

In Terminal Tab 1:

# Runs the Gazebo world
roslaunch quadcopter_gazebo quadcopter.launch

In Terminal Tab 2:

# Runs the rviz visualization tool and gmapping node which creates a map of the environment
roslaunch quadcopter_mapping quadcopter_gmapping.launch

In Terminal Tab 3:

# Runs the code for hovering the drone
roslaunch quadcopter_takeoff_land quadcopter_takeoff_land.launch

In Terminal Tab 4:

# Runs the code for controlling the drone with keyboard
roslaunch quadcopter_teleop quadcopter_teleop.launch

After Mapping in Terminal Tab 5:

# Saves the map to the desired directory
rosrun map_server map_saver -f /home/<username>/catkin_ws/src/quad_sim/quadcopter_mapping/maps/new_map

After map has been saved, land the drone in Terminal Tab 6:

# Lands the drone
rostopic pub /quadcopter_land -r 5 std_msgs/Empty "{}"

Now, you can close all terminal tabs with CTRL-C.

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Gmapping with Frontier Exploration

At the moment, these instructions will only work for ROS Kinetic. I am getting it to work for ROS Melodic.

Make sure use_ground_truth_for_tf is set to true in the quadcopter_gazebo/quadcopter.launch file.

In Terminal Tab 1:

# Runs the Gazebo world
roslaunch quadcopter_gazebo quadcopter.launch

In Terminal Tab 2:

# Runs the code for hovering the drone
roslaunch quadcopter_takeoff_land quadcopter_takeoff_land.launch

In Terminal Tab 3:

# Runs the code for frontier exploration, rviz, gmapping, and move_base
roslaunch quadcopter_exploration quadcopter_exploration.launch

After Mapping in Terminal Tab 4:

# Saves the map to the desired directory
rosrun map_server map_saver -f /home/<username>/catkin_ws/src/quad_sim/quadcopter_mapping/maps/new_map

After map has been saved, land the drone in Terminal Tab 5:

# Lands the drone
rostopic pub /quadcopter_land -r 5 std_msgs/Empty "{}"

Now, you can close all terminal tabs with CTRL-C.

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Google Cartographer with Teleop

These instructions only work with ROS Melodic.

Make sure use_ground_truth_for_tf is set to false in the quadcopter_gazebo/quadcopter.launch file.

In Terminal Tab 1:

# Runs the Gazebo world
roslaunch quadcopter_gazebo quadcopter.launch

In Terminal Tab 2:

# Runs the rviz visualization tool and cartographer node which creates a map of the environment
roslaunch quadcopter_mapping quadcopter_cartographer.launch

In Terminal Tab 3:

# Runs the code for hovering the drone
roslaunch quadcopter_takeoff_land quadcopter_takeoff_land.launch

In Terminal Tab 4:

# Runs the code for controlling the drone with keyboard
roslaunch quadcopter_teleop quadcopter_teleop.launch

After Mapping in Terminal Tab 5:

# Saves the map to the desired directory
rosrun map_server map_saver -f /home/<username>/catkin_ws/src/quad_sim/quadcopter_mapping/maps/new_map

After map has been saved, land the drone in Terminal Tab 6:

# Lands the drone
rostopic pub /quadcopter_land -r 5 std_msgs/Empty "{}"

Now, you can close all terminal tabs with CTRL-C.