Navigation

Outdoor mobile robots need to reach GPS coordinates on their own without a human joystick operator in the loop. The navigation service does this: you define waypoints, and the robot drives between them, replanning around obstacles as it goes.

This is GPS-based outdoor navigation. You need a mobile base, a GPS-capable movement sensor, and optionally cameras with vision services for obstacle detection. The navigation service plans paths, replans when the robot deviates, and avoids obstacles. Your code sets waypoints and monitors progress.

What you can do

• Navigate to GPS coordinates. Send the robot to a specific latitude and longitude. The navigation service plans a path and drives the base there, replanning if the robot deviates or encounters obstacles.
• Follow patrol routes. Define a sequence of waypoints and the robot navigates to each one in order.
• Avoid obstacles. Configure vision services and cameras as obstacle detectors. The navigation service feeds detected obstacles into the path planner automatically. You can also define static obstacles and geofences (bounding regions) in the configuration.
• Switch between manual and autonomous control. Set the mode to Waypoint to navigate autonomously, or Manual to drive the base directly. Switching to Manual stops the active plan but preserves the waypoint queue.

What you need

• A configured base (the robot’s drive system).
• A configured movement sensor that provides GPS position and compass heading.
• Optionally, one or more camera and vision service pairs for obstacle detection.

How it works

The navigation service operates in one of two modes. In Manual mode the service is passive and reports the robot’s location but does not drive. In Waypoint mode the service drives the base: it picks the next unvisited waypoint, calls the motion service’s MoveOnGlobe to plan and execute a path, then moves to the next waypoint on arrival. If a waypoint fails (obstacle, deviation, error), the service retries indefinitely.

The service uses the motion service internally for path planning and execution. You don’t call the motion service directly when using navigation.