SLAM-Based Autonomous Navigation for UGVs

2026-02-10 by David Nicklaser

Installation

Install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Install ROS jazzy according to https://docs.ros.org/en/jazzy/Installation/Ubuntu-Install-Debs.html

Install colcon and the following ROS packages:

sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-ros-gz
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-navigation2
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-nav2-map-server
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-nav2-bringup
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-slam-toolbox

Create a ROS2 workspace and clone the repo into src:

mkdir -p ros2_ws/src
cd ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/Z5cc/navbot.git

Move into the ros2_ws folder and build the project with colcon:

cd ..
colcon build --symlink-install  --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo

Debugging

Stay in the ros2_ws folder and open this folder as a project via VSCode:

code .

Copy the launch config files from vscode_backup to .vscode:

cp src/navbot/vscode/* .vscode 

Under 'Rund and Debug' select 'launch' as the launch config and press the green arrow 'Start Debugging'.

Demo

Stay in the ros2_ws folder and source the ros2 underlay and overlay:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
source install/local_setup.bash

Run the launch files:

ros2 launch navbot launch_sim.py
ros2 launch navbot launch_nodes.py

Run the keyboard node:

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

Use the keys as instructed to navigate the robot. The map built will be visualized in RVIZ. The following GIF shows the complete setup with RVIZ on the left side and the Gazebo simulation on the right side.