Quick Topological Navigation in simulation tutorial

1. First step in strands is launching a mongodb:
   • If this is the first time:
     • create a directory were to store mongodb
   • To launch mongodb:
     • roslaunch mongodb_store mongodb_store.launch db_path:=/path/to/your/directory
2. Second launch simulation:
   • Launch full simulation:
     • roslaunch strands_morse <environment>_morse.launch
   • if you want fast simulation you can use the following option:
     • roslaunch strands_morse <environment>_morse.launch env:=<environment>_fast
3. Launch Navigation:
   • Some environments have navigation launch files already, for example:
     • roslaunch strands_morse <environment>_nav2d.launch
   • if not, you will need to follow these steps:
     • rosrun gmapping slam_gmapping
     • you move the robot around the env to create the map
     • in a separate terminal you save the map in a path:
       • rosrun map_server map_saver -f <name_of_map>
     • Launch strands_movebase:
       • roslaunch strands_movebase movebase.launch map:=<path_to_map>/<name_of_map>.yaml
4. Launch topological_navigation:
   • If you don't have a topological map, First you need to create a topological map!:
     • launch empty topological navigation:
       • roslaunch topological_navigation topological_navigation_empty_map.launch map:=<name_of_topological_map>
       • in rviz add interactive markers for the following topic: /topological_map_add_rm_node/update
       • click green box where you want to add nodes, (you need to drive the robot to the position)
       • to view map add MarkerArray in Rviz with this topic: topological_map_visualisation
       • to send the robot around to the nodes added, add interactive marker: /go_to_node/update
       • to delete undesired edges add interactive markers for the following topic: /topological_map_edges/update
       • click red arrows to delete edges
   • if you already have a topological map:
     • launch:
       • roslaunch topological_navigation topological_navigation.launch map:=<name_of_topological_map>
       • all the marker arrays and interactive markers from the step before work!
5. To Edit topological map:
   • Text file Method:
     • export topological map to text file: rosrun topological_utils map_to_yaml.py <name_of_topological_map> <name_of_file>.yaml
     • play with file
     • reload in datacenter: rosrun topological_utils load_yaml_map.py --force <name_of_file>.yaml
   • Using rosservices:

      /topological_map_manager/add_content_to_node
      /topological_map_manager/add_edges_between_nodes
      /topological_map_manager/add_tag_to_node
      /topological_map_manager/add_topological_node
      /topological_map_manager/get_edges_between_nodes
      /topological_map_manager/get_loggers
      /topological_map_manager/get_node_tags
      /topological_map_manager/get_tagged_nodes
      /topological_map_manager/get_tags
      /topological_map_manager/modify_node_tags
      /topological_map_manager/remove_edge
      /topological_map_manager/remove_topological_node
      /topological_map_manager/rm_tag_from_node
      /topological_map_manager/set_logger_level
      /topological_map_manager/switch_topological_map
      /topological_map_manager/update_edge
      /topological_map_manager/update_node_name
      /topological_map_manager/update_node_pose
      /topological_map_manager/update_node_tolerance
      /topological_map_publisher/get_topological_map

   • use robomongo or any other mongodb interface, map will be in the message_store DB in the topological map collection, each node is an entry and nodes in the same map have the same name in the pointset field.
   • Use this tool: https://github.com/strands-project/strands_navigation/tree/indigo-devel/topological_rviz_tools
6. Use this in code:
   • topological navigation is an action server, there is a simple client that you can run like this:
     • rosrun topological_navigation nav_client.py <name_of_target_node>
     • you can also see the script for inspiration
     • action definition is here
     • more detailed readmes:
       • Topological Navigation
       • Topological Map Definition

• For the environment this was tested <environment>=uol_bl