[Feature request]: Enhancement for mutex group definition and visualization

[TanJunKiat]

Before proceeding, is there an existing issue or discussion for this?

• I have done a search for similar issues and discussions.

Description

Mutex group is a new feature that allows user to limit one robot in a specific group of waypoints or lanes.

The implementation is to indicate the mutex group at the property panel of either the waypoint or the edges using traffic editor.

The current implementation does not give a very clear visual indication of the mutex group at first glance, especially when there are multiple mutex groups in large map.

In addition, defining and editing multiple mutex groups is troublesome as you have to amend individual elements.

Implementation Considerations

Since mutex are usually in an area, i would suggest to use a similar UI/UX for drawing polygons, where user can draw a polygon defining a specific mutex region. When building the workspace, the rmf_building_map_tools will add a mutex group property to all the vertices in that polygon. The polygon will also visually indicate the mutex group's name for a clearer visual effect.

Alternatives

No response

Additional information

No response

[TanJunKiat]

What I am trying out is using a polygon definition in the traffic editor to define the mutex group.

The mutex group name will be visible in the editor page, which makes it clear, and the polygon paints a clearer picture of which vertices are affected.

The rmf_building_map_tools is also modified to compare each mutex group with each vertex to check if the point lies within a polygon before adding the mutex group parameter.

This, however, opens up a restriction whereby users might want to have a waypoint in the polygon but do not want to have a mutex group for some reason. One possibility is to have a property, ignore mutex, that can be set to true to ignore any mutex implementation.

[TanJunKiat]

And also want to gather feedback on the lane mutex implementation.

Should the mutex be applied on the lane when both waypoints are within a polygon or just when the center of the edge is in the polygon.