Deeper in BLUE. Development of a roBot for Localization in Unstructured Environments

Abstract

Despite the progress that has been made with simulators and the existence of datasets, real experimental platforms are, and will continue to be necessary. Well-designed research platforms that produce reliable results and are easy to operate and debug make all the difference in research productivity. In this paper, we show the works that turned a stock electric cart into a research robot called BLUE. It provides a ROS interface that allows real-time control, monitoring, and adjustment of the system. We provide a quantitative performance evaluation, and a GitHub repository that contains all the information required to replicate the process.