ROS Rover for ROS 1 and the IGLUNA Study

This repository is a cleaned-up ROS 1 workspace built around autonomous navigation, lunar analogue robotics, and the rover-side software ideas explored in the IGLUNA research line.

It is meant to be useful for readers of the IGLUNA papers who want a practical codebase to inspect and extend

The most useful package for new users is leo_navigation, which now acts as the curated entry point for localization, navigation, and a small waypoint mission demo.

Research Context

The repository is inspired by the IGLUNA analogue mission and related lunar lava tube exploration studies.

Verified IGLUNA-Related Papers

Direct mission papers and analogue-mission planning papers

• 2021 - Autonomous navigation applied to the IGLUNA lunar analogue mission on collaborative robotic systems
  Direct paper on the IGLUNA field campaign, the rover-plus-hopper concept, shared mapping, SLAM, and path planning.
  Links: IRIS, IAF Digital Library

• 2021 - Application of a hierarchical task planner to a lunar lava tube analogue robotic mission
  Directly connected to the analogue mission and especially relevant for the hddl_wrapper side of this repository.
  Link: IRIS

• 2021 - Application of MBSE to model Hierarchical AI Planning problems in HDDL
  Planning-focused follow-up on the same rover-and-drone analogue mission thread, linking MBSE and HDDL for autonomous operations.
  Links: IRIS, ICAPS PDF

Closely related precursor and follow-up work in the same lunar lava tube and autonomy line

• 2020 - MBSE APPROACH APPLIED TO LUNAR SURFACE EXPLORATION ELEMENTS
  Early model-based systems engineering work on the lunar surface exploration elements behind the broader mission concept.
  Link: IRIS

• 2020 - A NOVEL APPROACH TO PLANETARY ROVER GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION AND CONTROL BASED ON THE ESTIMATION OF THE REMAINING USEFUL LIFE
  Navigation and guidance precursor work on autonomous rover decision-making, resource-aware path selection, and lunar rover operations.
  Link: IRIS

• 2022 - An Integrated Design Platform to Analyze and Size Planetary Exploration Systems Applied to Lunar Lava Tube Exploration
  System-level design and sizing work for lunar lava tube exploration architectures.
  Link: IRIS

• 2022 - Sizing of a propelled-hopping system on the moon
  Hopper-side study for autonomous cave exploration and mapping in lunar lava tubes.
  Link: IRIS

• 2023 - Integrated Conceptual Design and Parametric Control Assessment for a Hybrid Mobility Lunar Hopper
  Journal follow-up on the hybrid wheel-plus-thruster hopper concept for lava tube scouting.
  Links: IRIS, MDPI

• 2023 - Simulating Operational Concepts for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems: A Framework for Early Design Validation
  Broader methods paper on validating autonomous robotic concepts of operations; part of the same autonomy and analogue-mission research thread.
  Links: DOAJ, MDPI

• 2023 - Application of AI planning and MBSE to the Study and Optimization of ConOps for Autonomous Robotic Space Exploration Systems
  PhD thesis tying together the operational-modeling and planning work, with IGLUNA used as one of the case studies.
  Link: IRIS

What This Repository Contains

How the code maps to the research line

• leo_navigation/
  Best place to start if you are coming from the autonomy and navigation papers. This is where the cleaned-up ROS 1 localization, move_base, and waypoint-demo material lives.

• hddl_wrapper/
  Most relevant to the hierarchical planning and HDDL papers.

• leo_rover/leo_description/, leo_rover/leo_gazebo/, leo_rover/leo_control/
  Most relevant if you want the rover model, simulation worlds, and basic control wiring used around the analogue-mission workflow.

• slam_leo/ and older leo_rover/leo_navigation/ material
  Useful as reference for the research prototype stage, especially around mapping, perception, and mission experiments, but not the best starting point for new users.

Recommended package

• leo_navigation/
  The curated ROS 1 package for:
  • odometry and IMU bridging for robot_localization
  • localization and navigation launch files
  • move_base configuration
  • a simple waypoint mission demo

Rover packages

• leo_rover/leo_description/
  URDF, RViz configuration, and model preview launch files

• leo_rover/leo_gazebo/
  Gazebo worlds and simulation launch files

• leo_rover/leo_control/
  Controller and state-publishing launch files

• leo_rover/leo_msgs/
  Custom ROS messages and services used by the rover packages

Reference and legacy material

• leo_rover/leo_navigation/
  Older experimental navigation package kept for reference and ignored by catkin to avoid a duplicate package name

• hddl_wrapper/
  Planning-related research code

• slam_leo/
  Point-cloud and mapping experiments

• realsense-ros/
  Vendored RealSense ROS packages

• executive_smach_visualization/
  SMACH viewer sources

Recommended Starting Point

1. Put this repository inside the src folder of a catkin workspace.

2. Build the workspace in your normal ROS 1 setup.

3. Start with leo_navigation/README.md.

4. Launch the curated navigation stack:

   roslaunch leo_navigation exploration_stack.launch

5. Launch the example mission:

   roslaunch leo_navigation waypoint_demo.launch

Notes for Readers of the Papers

This repository is not a full reproduction of every subsystem from the publications. It is a practical ROS 1 workspace shaped by that research line.