Extract Odometry from LIDAR

[erickmu1]

Description:

• Odometry can be extracted from LIDAR to enhance the odometry's precision

Goals:

• Connect LIDAR to a package (ICP) that extracts Odometry data
• Interface Odometry data to robot_localization

Acceptance Criteria:

• Robot navigates by leveraging LIDAR odometry

Notes:

• Using LIDAR data enables to mitigate the effects of drift by using point clouds
• Look at odometry from point clouds (LIDAR) using ICP (Iterative Closest Point) algorithm

[erickmu1]

Here are the results from attempting to extract Odometry from the LIDAR:

• For kinetic, there are 2 main packages that do this: lidar_scan_matcher and hector_mapping
  • lidar_scan_matcher gives good "odom" estimates on Husky but drifts significantly with Caffeine
  • lidar_scan_matcher doesn't actually publish odom, it publishes a pose but robot_localization requires a Covariance parameter as well (which we would have to add manually and is a pain)
  • hector_mapping can work with only a LIDAR but it serves to replace Gmapping (both publish to the /map topic)
  • https://github.com/introlab/rtabmap_ros/blob/master/launch/demo/demo_hector_mapping.launch
• Unless we are fixed on doing this, we will put ICP Odometry from LIDAR on hold