slam_toolbox configuration

[AbBaSaMo]

• [x] install slam_toolbox
  • added as depend in esda_launch package.xml
• [x] fix configurations where needed
  • no changes needed it seems. just need a base_footprint frame
• [x] add to perception launch
• [x] test with the lidar running [might need to publish static transforms]
• [ ] create a sim or launch that provides the transforms we need

Dependency with https://github.com/Monash-Connected-Autonomous-Vehicle/ESDA/issues/21

• Dependency resolved as above issue is now closed

[AbBaSaMo]

From https://roscon.ros.org/2019/talks/roscon2019_slamtoolbox.pdf

It seems, going off

• https://www.exyn.com/news/differences-between-online-and-offline-slam#:~:text=Online%20SLAM%2C%20as%20you%20can,to%20worry%20about%20robot%20control. and
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaiA3hWaRzE, that we want to use online mapping to prioritise object detection and async for efficiency thus use online_async_launch.py.

Going off of the articulated robotics vid, we need to add a base_footprint link for slam to work. Not sure if I could just use baselink anyway though.

[AbBaSaMo]

Moving this discussion https://github.com/Monash-Connected-Autonomous-Vehicle/ESDA/issues/21#issuecomment-1899439380 here. Currently have the same issue as Jiawei on publishing those static transforms. Fixed when publishing a base_footprint instead of base_link tf as hinted here https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/107718/ros2-map-not-received-when-using-slam-toolbox

So a prerequisite is the transform tree @Jiawei-Liao found but because the base frame is base footprint, we must either publish that or remap it in the slam config to baselink if we want to use base link.

For testing purposes we can probs create a simple launch file that publishes these static transforms until something more proper is created in sim. Closing issue for now as we know what the pre-requisites for slam_tb are but still some work to do.

@dylan-gonzalez am pretty in-adept when it comes to transforms. Just confirming, when we have a urdf, is there some publisher that outputs these transforms for us?

[AbBaSaMo]

For visual reference. Base footprint is a must unless we change base frame from base footprint in which case we must rename it to whatever we use

[AbBaSaMo]

robot localization https://github.com/orgs/Monash-Connected-Autonomous-Vehicle/projects/11/views/1?pane=issue&itemId=49275884 now closed and provides the map -> odom -> baselink transform. This means we just need a transform between base_link and base_footprint or we can just use base_footprint in robot localization rather than base_link.