Autonomous Navigation with Octomap

Posted by Andrew on
URL: http://official-rtab-map-forum.206.s1.nabble.com/Autonomous-Navigation-with-Octomap-tp4350.html

Hello,

We are attempting to integrate an autonomous exploration/navigation package (explore-lite) into our existing root configuration. We have the following setup:

Turtlebot 2
Structure Sensor (Depth Image)
RealSense R200 (RGB Image)
RPLidar (2D planar LIDAR)

Previously, we configured RTABMap with the RPLidar, to produce the 2D occupancy grid for navigation. We found that there were problems with obstacles which were above or below the plane scanned by the LIDAR, which would cause the robot to crash into objects (For instance, a chair with thin legs). We switched to using RTABMap's published octomap_grid, which solved the problems with crashing into obstacles.

However, whenever a loop closure occurs, some of the map is lost, and the robot tends to get "stuck" in a loop of entering an area, exploring, getting a loop closure, losing the map, and re-exploring the same area.

We are looking for a way to preserve the free space of the octomap on loop closure, so that the robot does not get stuck exploring previously explored locations.

Or, is there any alternative that we could use that generates a better grid map for autonomous navigation?

Thanks,
Andrew