The project is modeled after the NASA sample return challenge. It discusses about the three essential elements of robotics, which are perception, decision making and actuation. The project is carried out in a simulator environment built with the Unity game engine.
The first step is to download the simulator build that's appropriate for operating system. Here are the links for Linux, Mac, or Windows.
Python 3 and Jupyter Notebooks are required for the project. RoboND-Python-Starterkit.
The file called drive_rover.py is used to navigate the environment in autonomous mode. This script calls functions from within perception.py and decision.py. The functions defined in the IPython notebook are all included inperception.py to update the rover map. decision.py includes another function called decision_step() to navigate autonomously. drive_rover.py should work if all the required Python packages are installed. Run the following:
python drive_rover.pyThen launch the simulator and choose "Autonomous Mode". The rover should drive itself now!!
The rover attains a fidelity of 71.1% after mapping 69.9% area.
