Interfacing Hokuyo lasers with ROS

We can interface with different ranges of laser scanners in ROS. One of the most popular laser scanners available in the market is the Hokuyo laser scanner (http://www.robotshop.com/en/hokuyo-utm-03lx-laser-scanning-rangefinder.html):

Figure 10.13 – Different series of Hokuyo laser scanners

One of the most commonly used Hokuyo laser scanner models is UTM-30LX. This sensor is fast and accurate and is suitable for robotic applications. The device has a USB 2.0 interface for communication and has a 30-meter range, along with a millimeter resolution. The arc range of the scan is about 270 degrees:

Figure 10.14 – Hokuyo UTM-30LX

There is already a driver available in ROS for interfacing with these scanners. One of the interfaces is called urg_node (http://wiki.ros.org/urg_node).

We can install this package using the following command:

sudo apt install ros-noetic-urg-node

When the...