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AntBot

5.4 Nav2 Integration

AntBot can perform autonomous navigation using Nav2, the official ROS 2 navigation framework. To run in simulation, 5.3 Simulation Environment Setup must be completed first.

Nav2 Pipeline

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

The Nav2, SLAM Toolbox, robot localization, MPPI, and RPP controller dependencies are declared in antbot_navigation/package.xml, so they can be installed with rosdep from the workspace root.

Terminal window
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

To install them manually, use:

Terminal window
sudo apt install ros-humble-navigation2 ros-humble-nav2-bringup \
  ros-humble-slam-toolbox ros-humble-robot-localization \
  ros-humble-nav2-mppi-controller \
  ros-humble-nav2-regulated-pure-pursuit-controller

Build

Section titled “Build”
Terminal window
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --symlink-install --packages-up-to antbot_navigation
source install/setup.bash

Launch Types

Section titled “Launch Types”
Launch filePurposeFeatures
navigation.launch.pyAutonomous driving with saved mapAMCL + full Nav2 stack
slam.launch.pyBuild map while navigatingSLAM Toolbox (no pre-built map needed)
localization.launch.pyLocalization onlyNo path planning

All launch files accept a mode argument to switch between simulation and real robot:

Terminal window
ros2 launch antbot_navigation slam.launch.py mode:=sim    # Simulation
ros2 launch antbot_navigation slam.launch.py mode:=real   # Real robot

Simulation Mode

Section titled “Simulation Mode”

Run

Section titled “Run”

  1. Start Gazebo simulation

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 1
    ros2 launch antbot_gazebo gazebo.launch.py world:=depot

  2. Start Nav2 navigation

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 2
    ros2 launch antbot_navigation navigation.launch.py mode:=sim world:=depot

  3. RViz visualization

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 3
    rviz2 -d $(ros2 pkg prefix antbot_navigation --share)/rviz/navigation.rviz \
      --ros-args -p use_sim_time:=true

Save Map

Section titled “Save Map”

Save a map generated in SLAM mode:

Terminal window
ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f ~/maps/my_map

To navigate using the saved map:

Terminal window
ros2 launch antbot_navigation navigation.launch.py mode:=sim \
  map:=/path/to/my_map.yaml

Real Robot Mode

Section titled “Real Robot Mode”

Run

Section titled “Run”

  1. Start AntBot bringup

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 1
    ros2 launch antbot_bringup bringup.launch.py

  2. Start Nav2 navigation

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 2
    ros2 launch antbot_navigation navigation.launch.py mode:=real

  3. RViz visualization (from remote PC)

    Terminal window
    # Terminal 3
    rviz2 -d $(ros2 pkg prefix antbot_navigation --share)/rviz/navigation.rviz

Save Map

Section titled “Save Map”

Save a map generated in SLAM mode:

Terminal window
ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f ~/maps/my_map

To navigate using the saved map:

Terminal window
ros2 launch antbot_navigation navigation.launch.py mode:=real \
  map:=/path/to/my_map.yaml

Setting Navigation Goals

Section titled “Setting Navigation Goals”

Single Goal

  1. In RViz, click 2D Pose Estimate to set the initial position

  2. Click Nav2 Goal to specify the target position

Multi-Waypoint Following

  1. Open RViz

  2. Panels → Add New Panel → select nav2_rviz_plugins/Navigation2

  3. Check Waypoint Mode and click multiple goals on the map

  4. Click Start Waypoint Following

Goal via CLI

Terminal window
# Send navigation goal to coordinates (x: 5.0, y: 3.0) in map frame
ros2 action send_goal /navigate_to_pose nav2_msgs/action/NavigateToPose \
  "{pose: {header: {frame_id: 'map'}, pose: {position: {x: 5.0, y: 3.0}}}}"

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