Start-up Instructions

Installation steps

• Install ROS 2
• Install Swarm-SLAM packages:

  sudo apt install python3-vcstool
  cd $YOUR_ROS2_REPO
  mkdir src
  vcs import src < cslam.repos

• Install miniconda
• Install python packages

  conda create --name cslam
  conda activate cslam
  sudo apt install python3-pip
  pip install -r requirements.txt # The requirements file is in the main Swarm-SLAM repo.You don't need torch if you are only using lidar.

• Install gtsam: https://github.com/borglab/gtsam . We tested version 4.1.1:

  git checkout 4.1.1

• If you are using lidar, install teaser++ with python bindings: https://teaser.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html#installing-python-bindings
• Install ROS 2 dependencies:

  sudo apt install python3-rosdep python3-colcon-common-extensions
  source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash
  sudo rosdep init
  rosdep update
  rosdep install --from-paths src -y --ignore-src --rosdistro foxy

Build and tests

• Build the repo:

  conda activate cslam
  source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash
  colcon build

• Run tests:

  colcon test

• For images, download CosPlace model ResNet-18 dimension 64 : https://github.com/gmberton/CosPlace . Other models can be used by modifying frontend.cosplace.descriptor_dim and frontend.cosplace.backbone params accordingly. Place the model file in src/cslam/models/ Set frontend.nn_checkpoint accordingly
• For deployment on real robots, I strongly advise to use the Zenoh DDS Bridge with ROS_DOMAIN_ID to avoid flooding the network with discovery messages. For example, on :

  ROS_DOMAIN_ID=$ROBOT_ID ros2 launch cslam_experiments experiment_realsense.launch.py robot_id:=$ROBOT_ID
  zenoh-bridge-dds -d $ROBOT_ID --allow /cslam/.*

Running your experiments

• To adapt Swarm-SLAM to your specific system: take inspirations from the various launch and config files in cslam_experiments.
• Many datasets are only available in ROS 1. To convert them to ROS 2, I suggest to run the bag in ROS 1, along with the ros1_bridge (https://github.com/ros2/ros1_bridge), while recording the bag in ROS 2. In separate terminals run:

  rosbag play bag.bag
  ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --bridge-all-1to2-topics
  ros2 bag record -a

Development

Debugging instructions for ROS 2 nodes