Dead Reckoning Navigation

This repository contains the stdr_dead_reckoning package developed. The package is designed to move 2D robot from where it is spawned at (1, 2, 0) to (1, 14, 0) without hitting the walls.

---

Note: This package is intended for ROS Noetic on Ubuntu Focal. It is recommended to have basic knowledge of ROS nodes, services, and tf transformations to use this package effectively.

---

Table of Contents

1. Package Structure
2. Installation of Required Packages
3. Installation of ARIAC Project
   • Create Workspace
   • Clone This Repository
4. Launching the Package
5. Interpreting the Output
   • Video for Running Experiment
6. Links and Resources

---

Package Structure

  stdr_dead_reckoning
  ├── CMakeLists.txt
  ├── package.xml
  ├── launch
  │   ├── dead_reckoning.launch
  │   └──stdr_dead_reckoning_with_robot.launch 
  ├── scripts
  │   └──talker
  ├── src
  │   └──stdr_dead_reckoning
  │      └──talker_module.py
  └── README.md

Installation of Required Packages

To use this package, ensure the following dependencies are installed:

Retrieve and prepare the STDR for building. Make a catkin workspace and make it the current working directory.

mkdir ‐p ~/stdr_ws/src
cd ~/stdr_ws/src

Clone the STDR repository from GitHub (Noetic is the default branch).

git clone ‐b noetic-devel / https://github.com/cwru‐ecse‐376/stdr_simulator.git

Prepare to make the packages Change to the base of the catkin workspace.

cd ../

Configure to use ROS manually

source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash

Ensure all the dependencies are installed.

rosdep install -‐from‐paths src ‐i ‐y ‐r

Build the packages

catkin_make

Add the newly built packages to the environment

source devel/setup.bash

Start the STDR to test the installation.

roslaunch stdr_launchers server_with_map_and_gui_plus_robot

Clone this repository under src of the stdr_ws workspace

    git clone https://github.com/cwru-courses/ecse_476_s25_ixk238_stdr_dead_reckoning.git

• Compile the workspace

    catkin_make

• Run workspace configuration to be used by ROS

    source devel/setup.bash

Launching the Package

• Launch the Dead Reckoning Navigation by using dead_reckoning.launch file :

  Firstly, run the server_with_map_and_gui_plus_robot.launch in the background

  roslaunch stdr_launchers server_with_map_and_gui_plus_robot.launch&

Then, run the dead_reckoning.launch file

 roslaunch stdr_dead_reckoning dead_reckoning.launch

These two lines will open the simulator run both server_with_map_and_gui_plus_robot node and dead_reckoning_talker node installed previously.

• Launch the Dead Reckoning Navigation by using dead_reckoning.launch file :

 roslaunch stdr_dead_reckoning stdr_dead_reckoning_with_robot.launch

This one line will open the simulator run both server_with_map_and_gui_plus_robot node and dead_reckoning_talker node installed previously.

Interpreting the Output

Terminal Outputs and Observations

• When you run the roslaunch file, you will the output in the following Figure:
• As seen in the above terminal image, there is no error and the file can be launched correctly. We can see that the robot moved by set of instructions by using two main functions which publish Twist to cmd_vel topic. One of these functions is "move_forward". It sets the x axis of the linear velocity while "rotate_robot" sets the z axis of the angular velocity of the robot. In this way, robot moves to the requested position (1,14,0) approximaetly. The output lines "Rotating robot by ... radians at ... rad/s.." and "Moving forward by ... meters at ... m/s..." indicates that these functions are running, accordingly.

Video for Running Experiment

dead_reckoning_robot.mp4

Links and Resources

• CWRU ECSE 476 Course Page