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Cheat Sheet
Common Data Types
Geometry, sensor, and navigation data types used in robotics
Geometry Types
| Type | Fields | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Point | x, y, z (float64) | A 3D position |
| Vector3 | x, y, z (float64) | A 3D direction or velocity |
| Quaternion | x, y, z, w (float64) | Rotation (w=1 is identity) |
| Pose | position (Point) + orientation (Quaternion) | Position and orientation in space |
| Twist | linear (Vector3) + angular (Vector3) | Velocity command (linear + angular) |
| Wrench | force (Vector3) + torque (Vector3) | Force and torque acting on a body |
| Transform | translation (Vector3) + rotation (Quaternion) | Coordinate transform between frames |
Sensor Types
| Type | Key Fields | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| LaserScan | ranges[], angle_min/max, range_min/max | 2D LiDAR data |
| PointCloud | points[], fields[], width, height | 3D point cloud |
| Image | data[], encoding, width, height | Camera image (raw pixels) |
| CameraInfo | K[9], D[], P[12] | Camera intrinsics and distortion |
| IMU | orientation, angular_velocity, linear_acceleration | Inertial measurement unit data |
| GPS | latitude, longitude, altitude | Global positioning data |
| JointState | name[], position[], velocity[], effort[] | Joint positions and torques |
Navigation Types
| Type | Key Fields | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Odometry | pose + twist | Robot odometry estimate (position + velocity) |
| Path | poses[] | Sequence of waypoints for path planning |
| OccupancyGrid | resolution, width, height, data[] | 2D costmap or grid map |