Using Beluga with Nav2

Using Beluga with Nav2#

Short video of the integration of beluga_amcl with nav2.

Overview#

Nav2 is a ROS 2 framework that includes several components for robot navigation. One of these components is the localization system, typically nav2_amcl.

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use beluga_amcl in place for nav2_amcl.

To keep it simple, we have built this tutorial on top of the Nav2 Getting Started Guide. We will use the same simulated TurtleBot 3 robot and environment.

Requirements#

Important

This tutorial targets ROS 2 Humble.

Install ROS 2 Humble, Beluga, and Nav2.

Create the workspace#

Since we are using ROS 2, we need to create a workspace. Open a terminal and run the following command:

mkdir -p ~/beluga_demo_ws/src

beluga_demo_nav2 package#

Clone beluga_demo#

The beluga_demo is a public repository where you can find the beluga_demo_nav2 package, among others.

Clone the Ekumen-OS/beluga-demos repository in your workspace:

cd ~/beluga_demo_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/Ekumen-OS/beluga-demos.git

For this tutorial, we will only use the beluga_demo_nav2 package in that repository. This package contains all the necessary files to launch the simulation.

Explanation#

Since beluga_amcl is feature-wise compatible with nav2_amcl (as thoroughly discussed in the beluga_amcl ROS 2 reference page), we can just swap beluga_amcl for nav2_amcl:

beluga_amcl component in beluga_nav2_launch.py from beluga_demo_nav2 package.

Loading beluga_amcl composable node, provided by the beluga_demo_nav2 package.#

nav2_amcl component in localization_launch.py from nav2_bringup package.

Loading of nav2_amcl composable node, provided by the nav2_bringup package.#

That is what the beluga_demo_nav2 package does. Even the same parameter file can be used unchanged, though beluga_demo_nav2 does apply a few minimal changes to better configure beluga_amcl, as explained in its reference page.

Run the example#

Build the workspace:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
cd ~/beluga_demo_ws
colcon build --symlink-install --packages-up-to beluga_demo_nav2

Launch the system:

source install/local_setup.bash
ros2 launch beluga_demo_nav2 bringup_launch.py

You should see rviz2 open with a map loaded and the robot initialized in an incorrect position. You should also see Gazebo open with both TurtleBot 3 world and robot spawned.

beluga_amcl component in beluga_nav2_launch.py from beluga_demo_nav2 package. beluga_amcl component in beluga_nav2_launch.py from beluga_demo_nav2 package.

Attention

If the robot is not spawned in gazebo, check the GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH environment variable set in the beluga_demo_nav2_launch.py file.

You can use rviz2 tools to set the correct initial pose of the robot and to navigate the robot around the map.

Conclusion#

This tutorial integrates Beluga and Nav2 for a simulated TurtleBot 3 on ROS 2 Humble. You may also try using Beluga on other supported ROS 2 versions, with different types of robots.

Contents