ROS2 example

[giafranchini]

Hi, thanks for the very interesting project. I was looking into the documentation and I saw that the ROS API also applies to mola_state_estimators but I did not find an example on how to launch this single components, apart of the full lidar odometry one.
Is there any example / launcher that shows how to interface the state estimation node only with ROS2?

[jlblancoc]

Hi Giacomo!
I'm right now working hard towards finishing the "smoother" state estimator, which is the only one actually doing data fusion. The "simple" version is just a basic algorithm good enough for LO / LIO but without other sensors.
Related:

• Relocalize from gnss mola_lidar_odometry#27
• Refactor: new packages mola_georeferencing, mola_gtsam_factors, functional smoother state estimator #5

Once merged, I'll try to add example launchs and docs, so testing and feedback will be more than welcome. I'm keeping this ticket open until then.

[jlblancoc]

Heads up: the core C++ functionality is already merged into the main branch. It still remains to be fully integrated and examples provided for use from ROS2. Should be out soon...

[giafranchini]

Cool! So what is missing is "just" the ROS2 wrapper? I am asking since I am doing a comparison of ROS2-based state estimation method and I would have liked to also include MOLA

[jlblancoc]

Yes, "just" that 🙃
In the core C++ side, under tests you can already find interesting applications such as merging two independent odometry sources, automatic geo-referenciation, etc.

Everything is still under development but I want (need) to finish a ROS2 interface for some of those cases asap. I'll post back here when done.

BTW: what sensor fusion pkgs are you considering? I think I only know about EKF robot_localization.

[giafranchini]

Sure, thanks for the updates!

Atm I am considering robot_localization, fuse and wolf, I leave the reference here for the last two if you're interested