SPACiSS

Simulation of Pedestrians and an Autonomous Car in Shared Spaces

The implementation is based on Pedsim_ros, ROS packages that wrap a crowd simulator based on Christian Gloor's libpedsim library.
The pedestrian model is based on the social force model of Helbing et. al.

This package is useful to support Autonomous vehicle (AV) developments that require the simulation of pedestrians and an AV in various shared spaces scenarios.
It allows:
   1. in simulation, to pre-test AV navigation algorithms in various crowd scenarios,
   2. in real crowds, to help online prediction of pedestrian trajectories around the AV.

Contents

• Features
• Installation
• AV control modes
• Launch files
• Scenarios
• Reference papers
• License
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements

Features

• Heterogeneous crowds in shared spaces for simulation and prediction of 100 pedestrians in real time.
• Individuals and groups walking using social force model, with various social relationships
• Prius AV model (from https://github.com/osrf/car_demo/tree/master/prius_description) or Zoe AV model (from https://univ-nantes.io/hamon-a/icars-public), controlled from within the simulation or by an external ROS controller publishing velocity commands.
• Pedestrians reactions to the AV
• 3 shared space environments (business area, campus, citer center) and 8 scenarios for each env. ready to test AV navigation algorithms
• Sensors simulation (point clouds in AV frame for people and walls)
• XML based scene design
• Visualization using Rviz
• Optional plugin to connect with Gazebo

Installation and launch

Requirements

Tested on:

• Ubuntu 16.04 with ROS Kinetic and Gazebo7 (master branch)
• Ubuntu 18.04 with ROS Melodic and Gazebo9 (master branch)
• Ubuntu 20.04 with ROS Noetic and Gazebo11 (noetic branch)

Requires:

• ROS with the navigation and visualization stack
• C++11 compiler (or C++14 for Noetic)
• Qt4 (or Qt5 for Noetic)
• Gazebo if pedsim_gazebo_plugin is used

Install commands

cd [workspace]/src
git clone https://github.com/maprdhm/Spaciss.git  
cd Spaciss
git submodule update --init --recursive
cd ../..

catkin_make or catkin build (twice at the first time)

Sample usage

roslaunch experimental_package business_area.launch

The previous command should start the simulator with the business area environment and the shared space scenario (many pedestrians and an AV).
More launch files are in the experimental_package/launch repository.
Ready to test scenarios are in the experimental_package/scenarios repository.

With Gazebo

roslaunch pedsim_gazebo_plugin scene1.launch

The previous command should start the simulator and Gazebo with some pedestrians.

Parallel execution of multiple nodes

roslaunch experimental_package multi_node_parallel.launch

The previous command starts 2 simulations with the business area environment and the shared space scenario, with AV max speed of 2m/s and 4m/s respectively.

AV control modes

Mode 0 or 1: with an external controller

The AV in the simulator is controlled externally using any controller than sends Twist messages.

Example with the AV controlled by move_base planner:

roslaunch experimental_package business_area_external.launch

and to send goals to the planner:

rostopic pub /move_base_simple/goal geometry_msgs/PoseStamped '{header: {stamp: now, frame_id: "odom"}, pose: {position: {x: -10.0, y: 10.0, z: 0.0}, orientation: {w: 1.0}}}'

Mode 2: with the social force model

The AV in the simulator is controlled by the social force model, like for pedestrians.
For now, the social force is configured to have the AV go straight to its destination, trying to avoid walls but not pedestrians.

Launch files

• simulator node
• visualizer node + rviz node
• sensor node
• robot controller node and move_base node
• timer node to shutdown all nodes after a timelapse

Parameters for the simulator node

Simulation

Parameter	Use	Default value	Possible values
visualize	Rviz visualisation	true	boolean
simulation_factor	Simulation speed up	1.0	double
update_rate	Simuation step (Hz)	25.0 (0.04 s)	double
scene_file	Scenario	"$(find experimental_package)scenarios/business_area/shared_space.xml"	absolute path to xml scenario file
default_queue_size	size of queue for published msgs	10	int

AV

Parameter	Use	Default value	Possible values
kbd_teleop	Keyboard control of AV	false	boolean
rqt_teleop	ROS rqt control of the AV (UI)	false	boolean
with_robot	Simulation with an AV	true	boolean
pose_initial_x	x postion of the AV	5.0	double
pose_initial_y	y postion of the AV	5.0	double
pose_initial_theta	Orientation of the AV	0.0	double
robot_description	URDF model of AV	prius.urdf	absolute path to urdf file
max_robot_speed	Max speed of AV (m/s)	3.0	double
robot_mode	AV control mode	1	0 or 1: teleoperation / 2: social_drive (with SFM)

Pedestrians

Parameter	Use	Default value	Possible values
enable_distraction	Agent visual distraction	false	boolean
probability_random_stop	Agent probability to do a temporary stop	0.0	double [0..1]

Groups

Parameter	Use	Default value	Possible values
enable_groups	Groups presence	true	boolean
group_size_lambda	Lambda parameter in Poisson law distribution for groups sizes	1.1	double>0
groups_couples_proportion	Proportion of couples in groups	0.0	double [0..1] Couples can only be groups of 2. If proportion(group_size=2) < groups_couples_proportion -> generated groups_couples_proportion < groups_couples_proportion
groups_friends_proportion	Proportion of couples in groups	1.0	double [0..1]
groups_families_proportion	Proportion of couples in groups	0.0	double [0..1]
groups_coworkers_proportion	Proportion of couples in groups	0.0	double [0..1]

Scenarios

 <scenario>
    <waypoint id="wu" x="0" y="-20" r="2" b="2"/>
    <waypoint id="wd" x="0" y=" 20" r="2" />
    <obstacle x1="10" y1="30" x2="10" y2="-30"/>
    <agent x="0" y="-30" n="12" dx="10" dy="10" type="0" purpose="1">
        <addwaypoint id="wd" />
        <addwaypoint id="wu" />
    </agent>
</scenario>

waypoint

Parameter	Use	Possible values
id	Identifiant	string
x	x position	double
y	y position	double
r (opt, default 0)	radius	double
b (opt, default 0)	behaviour	0: simple / 1: source / 2: sink

obstacle

Parameter	Use	Possible values
x1	x1 position: obstacle start	double
y1	y1 position: obstacle start	double
x2	x2 position: obstacle end	double
y2	y2 position: obstacle end	double

agent

Parameter	Use	Possible values
x	x initial position	double
y	y initial position	double
n	Number of agents, to change crowd density	int
dx (opt if n=1)	Dispersion of agents along x axis	double
dy (opt if n=1)	Dispersion of agents along y axis	double
type (opt, default 0)	Agent type (affects the max speed and force desired for elderly, affects the max speed/size/max rotation angle/force social and force obstacle for robot)	0: adult / 1: child (unused) / 2: robot (=AV) / 3: elder / 4: immob (stationary)
purpose (opt, default 0)	Trip purpose of agent (affects the max speed except for robot and elderly)	0: unknown / 1: work / 2: leisure
addwaypoint	id	id of a waypoint

source (spawn area)

Parameter	Use	Possible values
x	x initial position	double
y	y initial position	double
n	Number of agents	int
dx (opt if n=1)	Dispersion of agents along x axis	double
dy (opt if n=1)	Dispersion of agents along y axis	double
type (opt, default 0)	Agent type	0: adult / 1: child (unused) / 2: robot (=AV) / 3: elder / 4: immob (stationary)
purpose (opt, default 0)	Trip purpose of agent	0: unknown / 1: work / 2: leisure
addwaypoint	id	id of a waypoint

attraction

Parameter	Use	Possible values
id	Identifiant	string
x	x initial position	double
y	y initial position	double
width	Width of attraction zone	double
height	Height of attraction zone	double
strength	Attraction strength	double

Reference papers

Manon Prédhumeau. 2021. Simulating Realistic Pedestrian Behaviors in the Context of Autonomous Vehicles in Shared Spaces: Doctoral Consortium. In Proc. of the 20th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2021), May 3–7, 2021, IFAAMAS, 3 pages. http://www.ifaamas.org/Proceedings/aamas2021/pdfs/p1829.pdf

Manon Prédhumeau. 2021. Modélisation et simulation de comportements piétons réalistes en espace partagé avec un véhicule autonome. Université Grenoble Alpes. Français. tel-03518751

License

The core libpedsim is licensed under LGPL.
The ROS integration and extensions are licensed under BSD.

Contributors

Manon Prédhumeau, Lyuba Mancheva, Julie Dugdale, Anne Spalanzani

The package is a work in progress mainly used in research prototyping.

Acknowledgements

This work has been developed as part of the HIANIC project.