Medibot – Autonomous Hospital Delivery Robot

🚀 An end-to-end ROS2 autonomous mobile robot for hospital logistics

Medibot is designed to simulate real-world hospital delivery tasks where a robot can autonomously navigate from a pharmacy to patient rooms using modern robotics algorithms.

🔥 Complete Robotics Pipeline: Simulation → SLAM Mapping → Localization → Autonomous Navigation

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🔄 System Pipeline

Gazebo → SLAM → Map → AMCL → Nav2 → Goal Navigation

Stage	Description
🧠 Simulation	Robot spawned in Gazebo hospital environment
🗺️ SLAM	Builds map of unknown environment
💾 Map Saving	Stores occupancy grid
📍 Localization	AMCL estimates robot pose
🧭 Planning	Nav2 computes optimal path
🚀 Execution	Robot navigates autonomously

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🚀 Features

• 🤖 Custom differential drive robot (URDF/Xacro)
• 🏥 Hospital simulation environment (Gazebo)
• 🧭 Autonomous navigation using Nav2
• 🗺️ SLAM-based mapping (SLAM Toolbox)
• 📍 AMCL-based localization
• 🎯 Goal-based navigation (RViz + CLI)

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Category	Tools
Framework	ROS2 Humble
Simulation	Gazebo
Navigation	Nav2
Mapping	SLAM Toolbox
Language	Python

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📁 Project Structure

medibot_ws/
└── src/
    ├── medibot_description/
    ├── medibot_gazebo/
    ├── medibot_navigation/
    └── aws-robomaker-hospital-world/

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⚙️ Installation

sudo apt update
sudo apt install \
  ros-humble-gazebo-ros-pkgs \
  ros-humble-navigation2 \
  ros-humble-nav2-bringup \
  ros-humble-slam-toolbox

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▶️ How to Run (Copy-Paste Ready)

⚠️ Open 5 terminals and run commands in order.

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🟢 Terminal 1 — Launch Simulation

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
source ~/medibot_ws/install/setup.bash

export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=~/medibot_ws/src/aws-robomaker-hospital-world/models

ros2 launch medibot_gazebo sim.launch.py

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🟢 Terminal 2 — Launch SLAM

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
source ~/medibot_ws/install/setup.bash

ros2 launch nav2_bringup slam_launch.py use_sim_time:=true

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🟢 Terminal 3 — Open RViz

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

rviz2

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🟢 RViz Setup

Set:

Fixed Frame → map

Add:

• TF
• LaserScan → /scan
• Map → /map

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🟢 Terminal 4 — Teleop Robot

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
source ~/medibot_ws/install/setup.bash

ros2 run teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard

Control Keys:

i → forward
k → stop
j → left
l → right

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🟢 Save Map

After exploring environment:

ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f ~/medibot_map

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🟢 Terminal 5 — Autonomous Navigation

Stop SLAM first, then run:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
source ~/medibot_ws/install/setup.bash

ros2 launch nav2_bringup navigation_launch.py \
use_sim_time:=true \
map:=~/medibot_map.yaml

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🎯 Navigation in RViz

1. Click 2D Pose Estimate
2. Set robot pose
3. Click Nav2 Goal
4. Select destination

Robot will autonomously navigate to target location.

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🔍 Debugging Commands

Check LaserScan

ros2 topic echo /scan

Check Odometry

ros2 topic echo /odom

Check TF Tree

ros2 run tf2_tools view_frames

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✅ Expected Working Topics

/scan
/odom
/map
/tf
/cmd_vel

🔁 SLAM Mode (Optional – First Time Mapping)

ros2 launch nav2_bringup slam_launch.py use_sim_time:=true

Save map:

ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f ~/medibot_map

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🎯 Set Navigation Goals (CLI)

ros2 topic pub --once /goal_pose geometry_msgs/msg/PoseStamped "
header:
  frame_id: 'map'
pose:
  position:
    x: 7.0
    y: -7.0
  orientation:
    w: 1.0"

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🏥 Example Tasks

Task	From	To
💊 Pharmacy → Room 1	(-7, -7)	(7, -7)
💊 Pharmacy → Room 2	(-7, -7)	(7, 7)

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🤖 Robot Specifications

• Differential drive mobile robot
• 360° LiDAR (0.1m – 12m range)
• Max speed: 0.26 m/s
• Angular velocity: 1.0 rad/s

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🧭 Navigation Stack

• Global Planner → NavFn
• Local Planner → DWB Controller
• Localization → AMCL
• Recovery → Spin, Backup

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💡 Why This Project?

• Demonstrates full robotics autonomy pipeline
• Combines perception, localization, and planning
• Real-world hospital automation use-case
• Strong portfolio project for robotics roles

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🚧 Future Improvements

• Camera + YOLO integration 🤖
• Multi-goal scheduling
• Multi-robot coordination
• Dynamic obstacle handling
• Real robot deployment

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⭐ If you like this project

Give it a ⭐ on GitHub — it helps a lot!

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📜 License

Apache License 2.0

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• ROS2 Nav2
• SLAM Toolbox
• Gazebo