vrx_2022 wildlife_task

Task 4: Wildlife Encounter and Avoid

Summary

This task requires to track an heterogeneous set of moving animals representing animal life and plan an appropriate action according to the animal type. The system should plan and traverse a path that circles clockwise around platypus markers, counterclockwise around turtle markers, and avoids (i.e. remains at a distance from) crocodile markers.

How to Practice

Step 1: Launch the example

roslaunch vrx_gazebo wildlife.launch

Step 2: Subscribe to relevant topics

The following ROS topics contain information relevant to this task:

/vrx/task/info
/vrx/wildlife/animals/poses

For the timeout counter and your current score, subscribe to the /vrx/task/info topic:

rostopic echo /vrx/task/info

For receiving the location of each animal, subscribe to the /vrx/wildlife/animals/poses topic:

rostopic echo /vrx/wildlife/animals/poses

Step 3: Complete the task

• Always stay away from the crocodiles!
• Circumnavigate the platypus clockwise within a 10 meter radius.
• Circumnavigate the turtles counterclockwise within a 10 meter radius.

Notes / Hints:

• Note that, for debugging purposes:
  • You can launch the simulation with roslaunch vrx_gazebo wildlife.launch extra_gazebo_args:="--verbose" and you will see the completion percentage when you start circumnavigating an animal:

[Dbg] [wildlife_scoring_plugin.cc:191] [WildlifeScoringPlugin::Buoy] turtle_buoy::link Virtual gate crossed 
counterclockwise! (25% completed)

• If you hit an animal with the WAM-V, your current circumnavigation status is reset.
• The task finishes when all circumnavigable animals have been circumnavigated or the task timeouts.
• Your time bonus is always applied at the end of the task.