[ros-users] Leuze ROD-4 laser rangefinder driver released (dfki_sscs_laser_drivers stack 0.1.0)

[René Wagner]

Hi all,

I've ported a driver for the Leuze rotoScan ROD-4 family [1] of laser
rangefinders originally developed as part of my thesis [2] from my own
IPC library over to ROS.

The driver is provided by the rod4_node package in the
dfki_sscs_laser_drivers stack. While we are still evaluating repository
hosting options internally, the stack is available from here:

http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~rwagner/ros/dfki_sscs_laser_drivers-0.1.0.tar.bz2

The rod4_node driver currently supports ROD-4 models connected via
Ethernet only, but could be extended to interface with RS422 models. The
underlying network protocol implementation has been stable for more than
a year now. All testing has been done with a "ROD4 plus" unit. The
ROS-specific code was developed against ROS "latest".

Documentation is a bit scarce at the moment. rod4_node takes only two
ROS parameters, one for the hostname/IP address of the laser range
finder ("host") and one for the frame ID ("frame_id"). Configuration of
the laser rangefinder is only possible through a separate (physical) 
configuration port with a vendor-provided tool and cannot be changed at
runtime.

Otherwise, rod4_node should behave like any other ROS laser rangefinder
driver, i.e., publish a sensor_msgs::LaserScan on the "scan" topic
whenever a new scan comes in.

I'll see if I can add proper documentation to the ROS wiki shortly (see
my other message to the list).

Feedback/suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,

Rene

[1] http://www.leuze.de/products/los/mess/rod4/rod4_en.html
[2] http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/agebv/en/ReneWagnerDiplomarbeit
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Dipl.-Inf. René Wagner                     Junior Researcher
DFKI Bremen                           Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 5
Safe and Secure Cognitive Systems             D-28359 Bremen

Phone: (+49) 421-218-64224       Fax: (+49) 421-218-98-64224
Web: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/agebv/en/ReneWagner
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