ROSBot Lane

Environment / Versions

Observed on the current dev machine (rosbot-server) — other machines (e.g. a laptop dev environment) may differ slightly, but this is the combination this repo has actually been run and debugged against:

Component	Version
OS	Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble)
ROS 2 distro	Jazzy Jalisco
Python	3.12.3
navigation2 / nav2-bringup	1.3.11
slam_toolbox	2.8.4
cv_bridge	4.1.0
rmw_fastrtps_cpp	8.4.3
teleop_twist_keyboard	2.4.1
OpenCV (cv2)	4.13.0
NumPy	2.3.0
SciPy	1.17.1
pandas	required by config/smooth.py — not part of system Python, see venv note below
Robot firmware	Husarion ROSbot 3, firmware 2.0, rosbot_ros jazzy branch

Note: firmware 2.0 does not publish /rosbot3/scan_filtered — only raw /rosbot3/scan. All scan-topic references in this repo (amcl_params.yaml, lane_params.yaml, trajectory_follower_node.py) have been updated accordingly. If you're on an older Husarion image that does publish a filtered scan topic, you may want to switch back.

Note on pandas / config/smooth.py: rosbot-server is an externally-managed Python install (PEP 668) with no sudo access on this university machine, so pandas can't just be pip installed system-wide. Use a local venv instead (smooth.py is a standalone script, no rclpy needed, so a plain venv works):

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install pandas numpy scipy
.venv/bin/python3 config/smooth.py

.venv/ is already in .gitignore.

See structure.md for what every file in this repo does, and guide.md for the full step-by-step recording/smoothing/running walkthrough (with troubleshooting).

IMPORTANT: The commands and scripts in this package now use workspace-relative paths so they work from the repository root without editing them for each machine.

This package provides tools for recording and following a path using a ROSBot.

Overview

A critical component of this setup is the tf_relay node. It maps the current tf topics to what AMCL requires:

• /tf -> /rosbot3/tf
• /tf_static -> /rosbot3/tf_static

Note: You must run the tf_relay node before running AMCL to avoid issues with the tf topics.

Dependencies: For the core following functionality to work, you really only need the main follower node (trajectory_follower_node.py) and the 2 other core files being used in it (pure_pursuit.py and trajectory.py).

1. Recording a Path

To start recording a path, open separate terminals and run the following commands:

Terminal 1: Start TF Relay

python3 rosbot_lane/tf_relay.py

Terminal 2: Launch SLAM Toolbox

ros2 launch slam_toolbox online_async_launch.py \
  slam_params_file:=config/slam_params.yaml \
  use_sim_time:=false

Terminal 3: Start Trajectory Recorder

python3 config/slam_trajectory_recorder.py

Terminal 4: Teleoperate the Robot Drive the robot along the desired path:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard \
  --ros-args -r cmd_vel:=/rosbot3/cmd_vel -p stamped:=true

Terminal 5: Save the Map After completing the drive on the path, save the maps in a new terminal:

ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f config/track_map
ros2 service call /slam_toolbox/serialize_map slam_toolbox/srv/SerializePoseGraph \
  "{filename: 'config/track_map'}"

Terminal 6: Smoothen the Path After completing the recording, you need to run the smooth.py script to smoothen the recorded path:

python3 config/smooth.py

(Note: Please ensure the path to smooth.py is correct for your setup).

2. Running the Robot on a Recorded Path

To run the robot autonomously on the path you just recorded, use the following commands across four terminals:

Terminal 1: Start TF Relay

python3 rosbot_lane/tf_relay.py

Terminal 2: Launch AMCL for Localization

ros2 launch nav2_bringup localization_launch.py \
  map:=config/track_map.yaml \
  params_file:=config/amcl_params.yaml \
  use_sim_time:=false

Terminal 3: Activate Lifecycle Nodes and Initialize Localization

# Activate lifecycle nodes
ros2 lifecycle set /map_server configure
ros2 lifecycle set /map_server activate
ros2 lifecycle set /amcl configure
ros2 lifecycle set /amcl activate

# Global localization (find robot on map)
ros2 service call /reinitialize_global_localization std_srvs/srv/Empty

Terminal 4: Start Trajectory Follower

python3 rosbot_lane/trajectory_follower_node.py