MAP_EDITOR_USAGE.md

robot-sf

Map Editor

About

The map editor module supports assembling maps for the robot_sf simulator through a graphical interface. It comes as a split-screen design containing a text editor to the left and a map preview window to the right.

Map File Format

Following sections outline the different parts of a valid map file.

X / Y Margin

The x / y coordinate space bounds have to be specified through margins, both properties are mandatory.

The x_margin property specifies the x coordinate space as [min_x, max_x]. Same goes for y_margin spanning the y coordinate space between [min_y, max_y]. Both space bounds are continuous floating-point numbers.

{
    "x_margin": [-10, 60],
    "y_margin": [-10, 60],
    ...
}

Spawn and Goal Zones

The random sampling of spawn and goal positions of the robot and all pedestrians is specified through rectangular zones. Each rectangle with points ABCD is given as a tuple of (A, B, C) where |AC| represents the diagonal; D = A + (C - B).

The spawn zones are defined as robot_spawn_zones and ped_spawn_zones and the goal zones as goal_zones. All three properties are mandatory and need to contain at least one zone each.

{
    "robot_spawn_zones": [
        [[0, 40], [0, 30], [10, 30]]
    ],
    "ped_spawn_zones": [
        [[20, 40], [20, 30], [30, 30]]
    ],
    "goal_zones": [
        [[40, 10], [40, 0], [50, 0]]
    ],
    ...

In the map editor's preview window, robot spawn zones are blue, pedestrian spawn zones are red and goal zones are green. The colors are coherent with the simulation view's coloring.

Robot Routes

For navigating the robot from each spawn zone towards each goal zone, routes have to be specified. Each route contains a list of waypoints which are used by the simulator to mock global navigation.

The routes are specified by the robot_routes property. It's always required to contain all combinations of robot spawn zones and goal zones where the route waypoints are a non-empty list.

Spawn and goal zones with n elements are assigned ids within [0, n-1] in an ascending order according to their position in the map file.

{
    "robot_spawn_zones": [
        [[0, 40], [0, 30], [10, 30]]
    ],
    "goal_zones": [
        [[40, 10], [40, 0], [50, 0]]
    ],
    "robot_routes": [
        {
            "spawn_id": 0,
            "goal_id": 0,
            "waypoints": [
                [10, 30],
                [15, 27],
                [20, 23],
                [25, 19],
                [30, 16],
                [35, 13],
                [40, 10]
            ]
        }
    ],
    ...
}

In the map editor, routes are displayed as green circles.

Obstacles

Last but not least, the map contains a set of obstacles that the robot and the pedestrians need to navigate around to avoid collisions.

The obstacles are specified as obstacles property. It contains a list of polygon where each polygon consists of a list of vertices. The obstacles list is allowed to be empty, although it doesn't make a lot of sense to have an empty map.

{
"obstacles": [
        [
            [0, 10],
            [10, 10],
            [10, 0],
            [0, 0]
        ],
        [
            [40, 50],
            [50, 50],
            [50, 40],
            [40, 40]
        ]
    ],
    ...
}

Obstacles are displayed with black lines which is consistent with the simulation's coloring.

Known Issues

• The text editor doesn't support the Ctrl+A key binding to select all text.