Hibachi: A ROS compatible skid-steer vehicle

SANCHEZ G; MURILLO M; DENIZ N; BENAVIDEZ J; GIOVANINI L

San Juan

Workshop; XIX Workshop on Information Processing and Control; 2021

Instituto de Automátiuca, Universidad Nacional de San Juan-CONICET

Skid-steer vehicles are one of the most popular configuration of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs). Their mechanical simplicity provides researchers and developers with an easy to build vehicle that can perform complicated tasks either in outdoor or indoor scenarios. However, the process of building an AGV usually requires to spend a lot of time solving problems that are already solved. This work focuses on the process required to make a working AGV –the Hibachi– compatible with Robot Operating System (ROS). We mainly describe and explain the tasks of developing the required software and device drivers to implement ros_control on the existing hardware, allowing easier sensor integration and providing a standarized testbed for AGV research.