People:Kjeld Jensen:Using the SICK TIM310 Lidar
This page contains information about the use of a SICK TIM310 Lidar (TIM310) together with FroboMind.
At the University of Southern Denmark this lidar model is used mostly for curricular activities. For field robot projects the SICK LMS111 and SICK TIM351 are typically used.
Important
Please notice that a Lidar is a high precision optical equipment. You must therefore be very careful when handling it.
The lidar contains a 45 degree angled mirror which begins to rotate a few seconds after the power has been turned on (which creates the humming sound). The lidar is very sensitive to shocks, so make sure that you remove it from the robot before performing maintenance work or other sorts of rough handling.
The top of the lidar contains an optical transparent plast window through which the laser beam is emitted and received. Please make sure not to scratch the surface.
Installation
In order to use the TIM310 with FroboMind you need to install the sick_tim ROS package:
Change to the directory where you want to install the sick_tim package and download the package content:
cd ~/roswork/src/fmApp/you_application_dir git clone https://github.com/uos/sick_tim
You need to create a udev rule on your computer. You will find a README file about this in the sick_tim/udev directory. To create the udev rule on your computer run:
sudo cp sick_tim/udev/81-sick-tim3xx.rules /etc/udev/rules.d
To load the sick_tim package in your ROS launch file you should include:
<node name="sick_tim310s01" pkg="sick_tim" type="sick_tim310s01" respawn="false" output="screen">
<param name="min_ang" type="double" value="-2.35619449019" />
<param name="max_ang" type="double" value="2.35619449019" />
<param name="intensity" type="bool" value="True" />
<param name="skip" type="int" value="0" />
<param name="frame_id" type="str" value="laser" />
<param name="time_offset" type="double" value="-0.001" />
<param name="publish_datagram" type="bool" value="False" />
</node>
SICK TIM310 Lidar kits available at the University of Southern Denmark
The technical library have 4 SICK TIM310 Lidar kits available for educational purposes. The use of these kits is prioritized as following:
- Semester courses
- MSc. and BSc. projects
- Individual student projects
- Volunteer student projects
In order to loan a SICK TIM310 Lidar kit you need to contact Kjeld Jensen in RoboLab who will notify the library in advance if there is one available for your project. Before returning the SICK TIM310 kit to the library it has to be inspected by Kjeld Jensen who will then notify the library that it has been inspected.
