Help integrating opennav_coverage v1.2.1 into my ROS 2 Humble robot package

[Chetan2312]

Hi, I’m working on an autonomous robot in ROS 2 Humble and I want to use opennav_coverage v1.2.1 for coverage path planning. I was able to successfully install fields2cover and opennav_coverage in my ROS 2 Humble environment, but I am struggling to integrate opennav_coverage into my robot package.

I want to:

• Use opennav_coverage to generate a coverage plan for my own saved map.
• Make my robot follow the generated coverage plan using Nav2 or another approach.

Robot Setup
My robot includes the following components:

• Localization & Navigation: Nav2 stack with map_server, amcl, and robot_localization (EKF).
• LiDAR Sensor: Slamtec RPLIDAR S1 for obstacle detection and mapping.
• IMU: Complementary filter for sensor fusion.
• Micro-ROS Nodes: Used for motor control via an ESP32-based microcontroller running Micro-ROS Agent.
• TF Setup: Static transform publisher for map → odom.
• Laser Filter: Processing LiDAR data before navigation.
• URDF-based Model: Robot is defined in URDF and published via robot_state_publisher.

What I Have Tried

• Successfully installed fields2cover and opennav_coverage.
• Subscribed to the /map topic and tried to pass it to the coverage planner.
• Attempted to publish the generated coverage plan as waypoints for navigation.

Issue

Even though I can run opennav_coverage, I am unable to properly integrate it with my own map and move my robot along the planned coverage path. I would appreciate any guidance on:

• How to correctly use opennav_coverage in my robot package to generate coverage plan inside my generated map.
• How to generate waypoints from the coverage plan and use them for navigation.
• Any example implementations or best practices for integrating opennav_coverage with a custom robot.

References

• OpenNav Coverage GitHub: https://github.com/OpenNav-Autonomous-Mobility/opennav_coverage
• Fields2Cover Documentation: https://github.com/FieldRobotics-Lab/Fields2Cover
• ROS 2 Navigation: https://navigation.ros.org/

Code Snippets:

1. Bringup for Coverage Planner Script: Gist Link
2. Navigation Launch File: Gist Link

Would appreciate any insights on how to connect OpenNav Coverage with Nav2 and use it for full coverage path planning. Thanks in advance! 🙌

[SteveMacenski]

Have you checked out our demo package? https://github.com/open-navigation/opennav_coverage/tree/main/opennav_coverage_demo This is built as a demo for how to work with the opennav_coverage stack that can be adapted and expanded upon for particular use-cases.

The README docs also provide a lot of good information about the stack and how it works to configure and deploy it.

[Chuckwisc]

I got opennav_coverage to work with my map, defining a field polygon with the clicked_point in rviz.
My project is based on the linorobot2 https://github.com/linorobot/linorobot2
I made a version of the launch coverage_demo_launch.py and bringup_launch.py without the opennav_coverage robot_model, gazebo and rviz, still using the demo_params.yaml.
The robot is launched by linorobot2_bringup bringup.launch.py.
The rviz/robot model is launched by linorobot2_viz robot_model.launch.py.
I passed the map:=linorobot2_navigation/maps/map_name.yaml to linorobot2_navigation slam.launch.py.
I tried adding a map_server to the demo_params.yaml and passing the map:= into the coverage launch, but something wasn't working.
In rviz map is my fixed frame.
To make the field polygon I made a package to turn the clicked points into a xy list to define a polygon. I made a version of demo_coverage.py which takes the field polygon xy list topic as imput.
Sometimes I was getting "Geometry does not contain point 0" when defining the field polygon. I wonder if opennav_coverage and rviz are seeing the same map.
When I tried to integrate opennav_coverage navigation too much into my existing linorobot2 navigation ,things failed. I needed to think of the opennav_coverage launch as a self contained navigation, and just feed it the robot model, rviz and map.
Opennav_coverage and fields2cover solves a big problem. Thanks for all your work.