RPLidar Hector SLAM

Using Hector SLAM without odometry data on a ROS system with the RPLidar A1.

1. Install ROS full desktop version (tested on Kinetic) from: http://wiki.ros.org/kinetic/Installation/Ubuntu
2. Create a catkin workspace: http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/CreatingPackage
3. Clone this repository into your catkin workspace
4. In your catkin workspace run source /devel/setup.bash
5. Run chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0 or the serial path to your lidar
6. Run roslaunch rplidar_ros rplidar.launch
7. Run roslaunch hector_slam_launch tutorial.launch
8. RVIZ should open up with SLAM data

Sources

RPLidar
Hector_SLAM
Fixing launch files (only needed if you are using the original hector slam repository)

• In catkin_ws/src/rplidar_hector_slam/hector_slam/hector_mapping/launch/mapping_default.launch
  replace the second last line with
  <node pkg="tf" type="static_transform_publisher" name="base_to_laser_broadcaster" args="0 0 0 0 0 0 base_link laser 100" />
  the third line with
  <arg name="base_frame" default="base_link"/>
  the fourth line with
  <arg name="odom_frame" default="base_link"/>
• In catkin_ws/src/rplidar_hector_slam/hector_slam/hector_slam_launch/launch/tutorial.launch
  replace the third line with
  <param name="/use_sim_time" value="false"/>