Perform rrt_exploration without having to set rectangular area of exploration

[sandilyasg]

The tutorial mentions the following:

"When defining the rectangular region for exploration, the sequence of points is important. The sequence is as follows: top-left corner, bottom-left corner, bottom-right corner, top right corner, and finally the initiation point. Initiation point can be chosen anywhere within the known area (white area in the occupancy grid)."

How can I modify the code such that I will not have to set this rectangular area of exploration and the robot will automatically map as much as possible? Or how can I set it to be the default area of entire unoccupied map?

[franklinselva]

Hi @sandilyasg

I think I made a workaround by modifying global_rrt_frontier_detector and local_rrt_frontier_detector nodes of rrt_exploration to start with. You should be able to find more information on the rrt_exploration package. But here is a pointer.

I believe you could set the rectangular area programmatically and extend the area at intervals. But still, It’s a old work of mine and couldn’t remember the exact details, so I would recommend testing it out yourself.

[sandilyasg]

Thanks for your reply @franklinselva ! Really appreciate it. By any chance would you be able to give some help on how I would set up rrt_exploration with hector_quadrotor?

[franklinselva]

I believe the rrt_exploration package handles exploration by creating 2D maps and it may not directly suit your needs. You may need to find a different package that supports your requirements or extend the current package to suit your needs.

[sandilyasg]

@franklinselva hector_quadrotor created a 2D map from SLAM. Thanks for getting back to me, I'll check it out!