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Mapping & SLAM

Build 2D and 3D maps of an environment with the OM1 autonomy stack.

Before a robot can navigate on its own, it needs a map. SLAM — simultaneous localization and mapping — is how OM1 builds one: you drive the robot through a space, and from its LiDAR and depth sensors it assembles a map while keeping track of where it is inside it.

There are two ways to map, both started with a single API call:

  • 2D SLAM for flat, single-floor spaces. It's the quickest path to autonomous navigation and produces an occupancy grid (.pgm / .yaml).

  • 3D SLAM for anything with ramps or multiple levels. It captures a full point cloud (.pcd) and, from the same data, also rasterizes a 2D grid — so one 3D run gives you both map types, sharing a single world origin.

If you just want to watch mapping happen, the Cloud Simulator walks through it end to end without hardware. The rest of this page is the hands-on version for a real robot.

In the portal

You don't have to touch the API — a full mapping session runs from the OpenMind portal. Open your machine's autonomy view, start SLAM (2D or 3D), drive or let it explore, and save the map when it looks complete.

Before you start

  • The robot is online and its Orchestrator is reachable at http://<robot>:5000.

  • Nav2 is stopped — SLAM and Nav2 can't run at the same time.

  • For 3D, the robot actually has a 3D stack. Check slam_3d_supported in GET /status first; not every platform has it.

Building a map

Kick off a run — 2D:

…or 3D:

Starting 2D SLAM also turns on frontier exploration, so the robot begins covering the space on its own — or you can just teleoperate it. Watch the map fill in from the portal's live view, and pause or resume exploration with /explore/stop and /explore/resume whenever you need to take manual control.

Drove somewhere worth remembering? Save it as a named waypoint while SLAM is still running:

When the map looks complete, save it:

One call writes every artifact the current mode can produce into a single folder — there's no partial option. One thing to watch: check the status field in the response, not just the HTTP code. A partial_success means one artifact saved and another didn't, with the details in errors.

Then stop SLAM:

Save before you stop — stopping tears the map down.

Parameters

POST /start/slam/2d

Parameter
Type
Default
Description

launch_file

string

slam_launch.py

Custom SLAM launch file

map_yaml

string

—

Path to an existing map to continue mapping from

POST /start/slam/3d

Parameter
Type
Default
Description

launch_file

string

slam_launch.py

Dispatched to the 3D stack via slam_mode:=3d

rviz

bool

false

Launch RViz2 with the 3D SLAM view

POST /maps/save

Parameter
Type
Required
Description

map_name

string

yes

Map name — no /, \, .., or spaces

map_directory

string

no

Custom storage directory

What you get

A saved map is a folder under maps/<map_name>/. What's in it depends on how you mapped:

  • 2D: <name>.pgm, <name>.yaml, <name>.posegraph, <name>.data, <name>_vpr.npz

  • 3D: all of the above, plus <name>.pcd (full resolution) and <name>_downsampled.pcd (the one uploaded to the cloud)

A folder with only a grid can't be used for 3D map navigation, and one with only a point cloud can't be used by Nav2 — so what a map supports follows from the mode that made it.

If something goes wrong

  • 400 when starting SLAM — Nav2 is running, or SLAM already is. Check GET /status and stop the other one.

  • 400 on /start/slam/3d — the robot type has no 3D stack. Confirm slam_3d_supported: true.

  • partial_success on save — one artifact type failed; the errors field says which. Whatever saved is still uploaded.

For system endpoints like GET /status and base control, see the Autonomy API Overview.

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