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https://github.com/simondlevy/BreezySLAM

Simple, efficient, open-source package for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
https://github.com/simondlevy/BreezySLAM

Last synced: 27 days ago
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Simple, efficient, open-source package for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

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README

        

BreezySLAM
==========



This repository contains everything you need to
start working with
Lidar
-based
SLAM
in Python. (There is also support for Matlab, C++, and Java; however, because of the popularity of
Python for this kind of work, I am no longer updating the code for those languages.)
BreezySLAM works with Python 3 on Linux and Mac OS X, and
with C++ on Linux and Windows.
By using Python C extensions, we were able to get the Python and Matlab versions to run
as fast as C++. For maximum efficiency on 32-bit platforms, we use Streaming
SIMD extensions (Intel) and NEON (ARMv7) in the compute-intensive part
of the code.


BreezySLAM was inspired by the Breezy
approach to Graphical User Interfaces developed by my colleague
Ken Lambert: an object-oriented
Application Programming Interface that is simple enough for beginners to use,
but that is efficient enough to scale-up to real world problems; for
example, the mapping of an entire floor of a house, shown in the image above-right,
made by a BreezySLAM
user.

As shown in the following code fragment, the basic API is extremely
simple: a constructor that accepts Lidar parameters and the size of
the map (pixels) and mapping area (meters); a method for updating with the current scan; a method that returns
the current robot position; and a method for retrieving the current map as a byte
array.


from breezyslam.algorithms import RMHC_SLAM

lidar = MyLidarModel()

mapbytes = bytearray(800*800)

slam = RMHC_SLAM(lidar, 800, 35)

while True:

scan = readLidar()

slam.update(scan)

x, y, theta = slam.getpos(scan)

slam.getmap(mapbytes)

If odometry is available, it can also be passed into the update method.

Installing for Python


The BreezySLAM installation uses the popular
distutils
approach to installing Python packages, so all you should have to do is
download and unzip the file, cd to BreezySLAM/python, and do


sudo python3 setup.py install

For a quick demo, you can then cd to BreezySLAM/examples and do


make pytest

This will generate and display a PGM file showing the
map and robot trajctory for the Lidar scan and odometry data in the log file
exp2.dat. If you have the
Python Imaging Library installed,
you can also try the log2png.py script to generate a
a PNG file instead.

If you have installed [PyRoboViz](https://github.com/simondlevy/PyRoboViz),
you can see a “live” animation by doing


make movie

You can turn off odometry by setting the USE_ODOMETRY
parameter at the top of the Makefile to 0 (zero). You can turn off
the particle-filter (Monte Carlo position estimation) by commenting-out
RANDOM_SEED parameter.

To see what other features are available, do


pydoc3 breezyslam

By using the component classes Map, Scan, and
Position and the distanceScanToMap() method,
you can develop new algorithms and particle filters of your own.

Testing with the Hokuyo URG04LX

If you're running on Linux, you can install the BreezyLidar package, the OpenCV Python package, and
try the urgslam.py example in the examples folder.

Testing with the GetSurreal XV Lidar

BreezySLAM includes Python support for the inexpensive
XV Lidar from GetSurreal.
To try it out, you'll also need the xvlidar
Python package. Once you've installed
both packages, you can run the xvslam.py example in the BreezySLAM/examples folder.

Testing with the SLAMTEC RPLidar A1

BreezySLAM also includes partial Python support for the inexpensive
RPLidar A1 from SLAMTECH.
To try it out, you'll also need the rplidar
Python package. Once you've installed that package, you can run the
rpslam.py example in the BreezySLAM/examples folder.

Unfortunately, I and several users have had trouble using BreezySLAM with the
RPLidar A1. The issues are inconsistent enough that I cannot provide support
for this lidar unit if you run into trouble using it with BreezySLAM.

Installing for Matlab


I have run BreezySLAM in Matlab on 64-bit Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The matlab directory contains all the code you
need, including pre-compiled binaries for all three operating systems. To try it out in Matlab, add this directory to your
path, then change to the examples directory and do


>> logdemo('exp2', 1)

If you modify the source code or want to build the binary for a different OS, you can change to the matlab
directory and do


>> make

For making the binary on Windows I found
these instructions very helpful when I ran into trouble.

Installing for C++

Just cd to BreezySLAM/cpp, and do


sudo make install

This will put the libbreezyslam shareable library in your /usr/local/lib
directory. If you keep your shared libraries elsewhere, just change the LIBDIR
variable at the top of the Makefile. You may also need to add the following line to your ~/.bashrc
file:


export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib

For a quick demo, you can then cd to BreezySLAM/examples and do


make cpptest

Again, you'll need to change the LIBDIR variable at the top of
the Makefile in this directory as well, if you don't use /usr/local/lib.

Installing for Java

In BreezySLAM/java/edu/wlu/cs/levy/breezyslam/algorithms and
BreezySLAM/java/edu/wlu/cs/levy/breezyslam/components,
edit the JDKINC variable in the Makefile to reflect where you installed the JDK.
Then run make in these directories.

For a quick demo, you can then cd to BreezySLAM/examples and do


make javatest

Notes on Windows installation

Because of the
difficulties that I and others have had installing Python extensions on Windows, I am no longer supporting
the Python version of this package on Windows. If you want to try it yourself, here are some instructions.


To build and use the C++ library on Windows, I used MinGW. Whatever C++ compiler
you use, you'll have to add the location of the .dll file to your
PATH environment variable in the Advanced Systems Settings.

Adding new particle filters

Because it is built on top of the CoreSLAM (tinySLAM) code base, BreezySLAM
provides a clean separation between
the map-building and particle-filtering (Monte Carlo position estimation)
components of SLAM. To add a new particle filter, you can subclass
breezyslam.algorithms.CoreSLAM or
breezyslam.algorithms.SinglePositionSLAM
classes, implementing the relevant methods.

Copyright, licensing, and questions

Copyright and licensing information (Gnu
LGPL)
can be found in the header of each source file.

Personnel

Suraj Bajracharya, Simon D. Levy, Matt Lubas, Alfredo Rwagaju

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund
grant from the Center for Innovative Technology (CRCF #MF14F-011-MS). We thank Michael Searing of Olin College for
his help in debugging and testing this package.