Lab 3: Wall Following

Assignment link: https://github.com/f1tenth/f1tenth_lab3_template

Deliverable: Implementation of PID control with a video submission of the simulation

Submission video: https://youtu.be/78lcVt-F52M

Intuitive process map of the node functions:

Blockers:

Before running simulation:

• Node file was initially under scripts folder, so the command to run it didn't work (ROS couldn't find it)
• There were errors in the code but they weren't printing out the script was directly run in terminal

Tuning simulation:

• Car slowed down too much before turns, when turning it was too sharp -> lower kp, increase kd and update velocity logic to be more smooth
• Car was "double pumping" before turning -> lower kd
• Car was falling for the divot (false turning) -> updated the get_range() function to use "cone of vision" logic instead
• Car kept turning into the wall -> set desired distance (from left wall) to 1.0