Week 8 Update (2/26-3/1)

This week centered around the installation and implementation of the our actual LiDAR sensor. We were able to integrate this into our Move.cpp node and MoveWithLidar.xml behavior tree by creating a new topic /lidarscan that would receive messages from the rplidar, then subscribing to that topic from our Move.cpp node. We also began retrofitting and adjusting our command statements to interact with the Arduino, though that remains untested until we have access to the Arduino itself. We also simplified the initial boot system of our project, wrapping all commands in a single "ultimate_startup.sh" file. After meeting with the Mechanical team, we agreed to meet again the following week to begin the implementation process of our code onto the raspberry pi and subsequently, the bot itself.

Our current state of the project takes in real-time input from our physical Lidar sensor, with specified parameters (obstacles closer than x meters within an 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock range) and performs resulting simulated movements in Gazebo, with real-time 3D mapping (based on physical Lidar readings) saved in rViz. 

Total hours: 24 hours.



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