This tutorial guides you through the basics of working with the data produced by a planar laser scanner (such as a Hokuyo URG or SICK laser). To learn how to actually produce or change data from laser scanners, please see the laser_drivers stack.

Raw laser scans contain all points returned from the scanner without processing. Many applications, however, are better served by filtered scans which remove unnecessary points (such as unreliable laser hits or hits on the robot itself), or pre-process the scans in some way (such as by median filtering). This tutorial will teach you how to apply pre-existing filters to laser scans.

In this tutorial you will learn how to assemble individual laser scan lines into a composite point cloud. One particular use case is to assemble individual scan lines from a laser on a tilting stage into a single point cloud to form a full 3D laser sweep.

Raw laser scans contain all points returned from the scanner without processing. Many applications, however, are better served by filtered scans which remove unnecessary points (such as unreliable laser hits or hits on the robot itself), or pre-process the scans in some way (such as by median filtering). This tutorial will teach you how to apply pre-existing filters to laser scans.