SLAM Tutorial

We assume that you have downloaded the rosbag files to a folder /path/to/MCD as in Fig. 1:

We try to create a consistent settings for the benchmark. Specifically, after compiling the code successfully, one only needs to seek out the run_mcdviral.launch file, modify the data_path and bag_file arguments, and then launch the method with roslaunch <method> run_mcdviral.launch. Some extra configurations for each method will also be noted.

LIO methods

The methods below can be configured to work in ouster-only mode, livox-only mode, or merged ouster-livox mode. If you are interested in having your method listed here. Please prepare your launch and configurations in the same manner and contact us to update this list.

SLICT

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/slict
• We recommend you test out this method successfully so that other methods can depend on some of its utilities.
• After successfully compiling the package, please modify the data_path argument in run_mcdviral.launch and launch it.
• To configure SLICT to work with only ouster or livox, simply comment out the extrinsics in slict/config/mcdviral_atv.yaml and slict/config/mcdviral_hhs.yaml as follows.

FAST_LIO

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/FAST_LIO
• The included run_mcdviral.launch file uses slict_livox_to_ouster and slict_merge_lidar in SLICT to convert livox pointcloud to ouster and them merge it with the ouster pointcloud to make a single input. You can change the file slict/config/mcdviral_atv.yaml to run only the ouster or livox lidar as in the SLICT case.
• Alternatively if you insist on running ouster (1 lidar only) and livox only without relying on SLICT, you can comment out the slict_livox_to_ouster and slict_merge_lidar nodes and change the config file in run_mcdviral.launch:

    <!-- Chose the config file based on the sequence names -->
    <arg name="config_file" value="mcdviral_atv" if="$(eval 'ntu_'  in bag_file)" />
    <arg name="config_file" value="mcdviral_hhs" if="$(eval 'kth_'  in bag_file)" />
    <arg name="config_file" value="mcdviral_hhs" if="$(eval 'tuhh_' in bag_file)" />
  
    <rosparam command="load" file="$(find fast_lio)/config/$(arg config_file)_ouster.yaml" /> <!-- CHANGE TO _livox -->
  
    <!-- Run the livox to ouster converter -->
    <!-- <node pkg="slict" type="slict_livox_to_ouster" name="slict_livox_to_ouster" respawn="false" output="log" required="true"></node>   -->
        
    <!-- Create the merge pointcloud -->
    <!-- <node pkg="slict" type="slict_merge_lidar" name="slict_merge_lidar" respawn="true" output="screen" required="false">
        <rosparam file="$(find slict)/config/$(arg config_file).yaml" command="load"/>
    </node> -->
  

DLIO

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/dlio
• Default config is for merged lidar mode. Configuration for ouster or livox lidar mode is similar to SLICT. Since DLIO is a direct method, there is no special feature extraction for either ouster or livox, we recommend that you keep slict_livox_to_ouster and slict_merge_lidar in the run_mcdviral.launch and only modify the extrinsics in slict/config/mcdviral_atv.yaml and slict/config/mcdviral_hhs.yamlto select the lidar type in single lidar mode.

CLIC

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/clic
• Note: you will also have to set the path to clic/config folder here and here.
• Currently the launch file is set to run with LIVOX only mode. To change to ouster, you can change the lidar_odom_yaml param at here and here.
• To run with merged lidar, change the lidar_odom_yaml to /mcdviral_atv/lidar_mcdviral.yaml in the same way, and uncomment the following part in the launch file:

  <!-- Run the livox to ouster converter -->
  <!-- <node pkg="slict" type="slict_livox_to_ouster" name="slict_livox_to_ouster" respawn="false" output="log" required="true"></node>   -->
  
  <!-- Create the merge pointcloud -->
  <!-- <node pkg="slict" type="slict_merge_lidar" name="slict_merge_lidar" respawn="true" output="screen" required="false">
    <rosparam file="$(find slict)/config/mcdviral_$(arg dataset_cfg).yaml" command="load"/>
  </node> -->
  

  LIO-SAM

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/LIO-SAM
• The default configuration is with ouster lidar. Changing to merged pointcloud or livox pointcloud is similar to the previous cases.

VIO methods

VINS-Fusion

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/VINS-Fusion_Noetic_Focal
• The procedure is similar to LIO methods. Please clone the repo to your catkin workspace, build, and then set the path to MCD root under the data_path argument in the run_mcdviral.launch file.
• If you encounter any problem please raise an issue on the repo.

OPEN-VINS

• Link: https://github.com/brytsknguyen/open_vins
• The procedure is similar to all of the above. Please clone the repo to your catkin workspace, build, and then set the path to MCD root under the data_path argument in the run_mcdviral.launch file.
• If you encounter any problem please raise an issue on the repo.

KIMERA

• This method requires three repos
  • Kimera-RPGO
  • Kimera-VIO
  • Kimera-VIO-ROS
• Please follow the official instructions to install the package. The run_mcdviral.launch file can be found in the Kimera-VIO-ROS package.
• If you encounter any problem please raise an issue on the repo.

Ranging-aided Methods

TBD