move_quadcopter

This experimental package uses actionlib to implement a simple navigation server and client for hector quadrotor.

Navigation server

Server publishes /cmd_vel topic to control quadcopter movement and /goal_marker topic to indicate current goal in RVIZ (for debugging purposes). The goal is set by navigation client.

Navigation client

Client subscribes to the /get_goal topic. New waypoint for a quadcopter to fly to can be specified for example by:

rostopic pub -1 /get_goal geometry_msgs/Point "x: -4.0
y: -4.0
z: 1.0"

This will trigger goalCallback function of the client which sends a move_quadcopter::NavigateGoal request to the server together with XYZ coordinates of the waypoint.

HOWTO

1. install move_quadcopter package in your catkin workspace and compile it (catkin_make --pkg move_quadcopter)
2. launch the test launchfile: roslaunch move_quadcopter indoor_test_hector_quadcopter.launch
3. take off (either by publishing to messages to /cmd_vel topic or by using joystick - see the comment in indoor_test_hector_quadcopter.launch)
4. publish geometry_msgs/Point on /get_goal topic

The quadcopter should start to move towards the goal marker (visible as small green sphere in RVIZ). It should first adjust its altitude then rotate to face the target and start to moving towards it.

Remarks

• navigation action is considered successfull by the server if the distance from the goal is less than 0.1 (see NavigationServer::executeNavigate)