rtabmap frontier exploration

Question

Hello community,

has somebody tried to combine RTABMAP and frontier_exploration ? How can I solve the problem of discovering an unknown area to build a map first ?

Idea:

1. discover the area with frontier_exploration and build a map.
2. navigation in a known environment with discovered map.

Does this make sense ???

Thanks for any hints or feedback.

Cheers Christian

ps: is google cartographer a complete solution ?

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Originally posted by ChriMo on ROS Answers with karma: 476 on 2017-04-24

Post score: 1

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Original comments

Comment by Geoff on 2017-04-24:
Whether or not Cartographer is a complete solution depends on what problem you are trying to solve.

Comment by ChriMo on 2017-04-25:
I'd like to solve the problem: lawnmower at unknown environment. Starting always at the defined location of the base station and return after work :-)

Comment by Geoff on 2017-04-25:
For the mapping part of that problem, Cartographer will do the job. It's a very good mapping tool. Exploration will need to be handled separately.

Answer 1

frontier_exploration claims to work with or without the /map topic available. RTABMAP can publish a 2D map that could be used by frontier_exploration (the Turtlebot demo does this). Have a look at the frontier_exploration docs, section 2.2, and the Turtlebot demo for RTABMAP.

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Originally posted by Geoff with karma: 4203 on 2017-04-24

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 1

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Original comments

Comment by ChriMo on 2017-04-25:
Thanks, I will give it a try.

Comment by Dox on 2018-07-05:
Hi, can you share your experience if you have tried it? Tnx.