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Installation (Laptop only)

1. Install TurtleBot3 packages

sudo apt install ros-humble-turtlebot3 ros-humble-turtlebot3-msgs

2. Clone and build this package

cd ~/turtlebot3_ws/src
git clone git@github.com:smartrobotsdesignlab/potential_fields_lab.git
cd ~/turtlebot3_ws
colcon build --packages-select potential_fields_lab --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

3. Set environment variables — add to ~/.bashrc

export TURTLEBOT3_MODEL=burger
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=30          # Change to 31 for Group 2

Then reload:

source ~/.bashrc

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Running Experiments

On the Robot Pi (SSH in first):

ssh on Robot 1 or 2
ros2 launch turtlebot3_bringup robot.launch.py

On your Laptop — run the experiment:

ros2 launch potential_fields_lab lab.launch.py config:=exp1_baseline
ros2 launch potential_fields_lab lab.launch.py config:=exp2_no_damping
ros2 launch potential_fields_lab lab.launch.py config:=exp3_weak_repulsion
ros2 launch potential_fields_lab lab.launch.py config:=exp4_strong_repulsion

Stop any experiment with Ctrl+C.

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Plotting Results

Logs are saved automatically to ~/pf_logs/ after each experiment.

Single experiment:

python3 src/potential_fields_lab/scripts/plot_results.py --exp exp1_baseline

Compare all four:

python3 src/potential_fields_lab/scripts/plot_results.py \
  --compare exp1_baseline exp2_no_damping exp3_weak_repulsion exp4_strong_repulsion

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Repository Structure

potential_fields_lab/
├── config/
│   ├── exp1_baseline.yaml
│   ├── exp2_no_damping.yaml
│   ├── exp3_weak_repulsion.yaml
│   └── exp4_strong_repulsion.yaml
├── launch/
│   └── lab.launch.py
├── potential_fields_lab/
│   ├── potential_field_1d.py     
│   └── pf_logger.py              
├── scripts/
│   ├── plot_results.py           
│   └── plot_results_dark.py      
├── package.xml
└── setup.py

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Parameters

All parameters are set in the YAML config files. check the config folder and files for details.