Quick Start

Here is a quick guide for setting up 2D simulator.

Flatland uses YAML files to setup the simulation, much like how Gazebo uses URDF files.

1. Create a YAML file called world.yaml with the following content

   Here we define a world with a layer called “map” and one model “turtlebot”. See Configuring World for more details.

properties: {}
layers:
  - name: "map"
    map: "conestogo_office.yaml"
    color: [0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 1]
models:
  - name: turtlebot
    model: "turtlebot.model.yaml"

2. One way of defining a layer map is to use data generated from ROS map_server, if you have map from map_server you can replace map.yaml with the path to the YAML file from map server, and skip the rest of this section. See Configuring Layers for more details.

   Otherwise, create a file named conestogo_office.yaml with the following content, download the map image below, and place both the yaml file and the image in the same directory as world.yaml

image: conestogo_office.png
resolution: 0.050000
origin: [-16.600000, -6.650000, 0.000000]
negate: 0
occupied_thresh: 0.65
free_thresh: 0.196

3. To define a model, create a file named turtlebot.model.yaml with the following content and place it in the same directory as world.yaml. For more details about the model yaml format, see Configuring Models.

bodies:
  - name: base
    pose: [0, 0, 0]
    type: dynamic
    color: [1, 1, 1, 0.4]

    footprints:
      - type: circle
        radius: 0.5
        density: 1

      - type: polygon
        points: [[-.45, -.05], [-.45, 0.05], [-.35, 0.05], [-.35, -0.05]]
        density: 1

      - type: polygon
        points: [[-.125, -.4], [-.125, -.3], [.125, -.3], [.125, -.4]]
        density: 1

      - type: polygon
        points: [[-.125, .4], [-.125, .3], [.125, .3], [.125, .4]]
        density: 1

plugins:
  - type: DiffDrive
    name: turtlebot_drive
    body: base

4. Finally, after having the Flatland packages installed. Run the launch file with the path to the world.yaml. You should be able to see the flatland_viz window with the map and the robot. You can send Twist commands to /cmd_vel to move the robot.

$ roslaunch flatland_server server.launch world_path:=/path/to/world.yaml