OpenSeeGround

OpenSeeGround is a research project exploring the combination of a 2D-lidar sensor and mirrors, in order to extend the limited 2D FOV-plane into a 3D-style FOV, thus extending the overall FOV of the sensor. The research conducted was based on a customized Turtlebot4-Pro. This customization includes an additional platform attached on top of the robot, consisting of a power source, a computing unit and the lidar-sensor including the attached mirrors. Further details about the developed calibration software can be found here: lidar_mirror_fov_reshaper Repository

Overview

The repository contains the following components of the OpenSeeGround project:

• openseeground_description: Contains the URDF and RViz configuration for the OpenSeeGround robot.
• openseeground_resources: Contains CAD-files, providing a detailed overview about the developed and used hardware components.

OpenSeeGround Turtlebot4-Pro customization

Parts

• 1x Metal carrier plate
• 1x 2D-Lidar-Sensor, in the project a SICK TIM 551 was used.
• 1x (Embedded) PC, in the project a PicoSys 2685 was used.
• 1x DC-DC Converter, in the project a Mean Well RSD 60G 12 was used.
• 1x Power Source, in the project a Makita 18V Li-ion Battery was used.
• 1x Battery Terminal, in the project a Makita 18V Li-ion Battery Terminal was used.
• 1x Battery Connection plate for the battery terminal, in the project a Battery Connection plate was used.
• 2x Mirrors
• 1x Polymer 3D-Printed Mirror Holder, the CAD-file for the developed holder can be found here
• Electrical wires, depending on the used components.
• Screws, depending on the used components.

Electrical Wiring

Network Configuration

Since all developed software components are based on ROS2, the network based communication is solely based on ROS2.

openseeground_description

Build and Installation

Setup Workspace

mkdir -p <ros_ws_name>/src
cd <ros_ws_name>
pushd src
git clone https://github.com/ioskn/OpenSeeGround.git # clone repository
popd +0

Install Dependencies

Targeting ROS2 Humble. Installation assumes it to be already installed.

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
cd <ros_ws_name>
rosdep init # initialize rosdep, only if using rosdep for the first time
rosdep update # update rosdep database
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y # install dependencies

Build & Install Workspace

colcon build --packages-select openseeground_description # build only openseeground_description

Usage

source <ros_ws_name>/install/setup.bash # source workspace

ros2 launch openseeground_description openseeground_description.launch.py # default launch config w/o rviz configuration started
ros2 launch openseeground_description openseeground_description.launch.py rviz:=true # launch config w/ rviz configuration

References & Publications

• lidar_mirror_fov_reshaper, developed software components for the calibration of the mirror poses.

• Andreas Löffler, Hartmut Gimpel, "Calibration of a Mirror Enhanced 2D-Lidar for Ground Detection", presented on ICRA@40 conference 2024. (Only abstract publicly available)

• Final paper TBA

Acknowledgements

This research, conducted in the project “OpenSeeGround” of the research programme “Autonomous Robotics”, has been financed by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung gGmbH. (https://www.bwstiftung.de/de/programm/autonome-robotik).

The developed customization platform attached on top of the Turtlebot4-Pro includes the following components which were not developed by the authors of this repository:

• osg_battery_makita_18v Source: Makita 18V Li-ion Battery by CodeNameX is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

• osg_battery_terminal Source: Source: Makita LXT 18V Battery Mount V4 by Wiseone is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

• rear_Caster_Attachment Source: IRobot Create3 Rear-Caster.

License

Apache License, Version 2.0