ROS Resources: Documentation | Support | Discussion Forum | Index | Service Status | ros @ Robotics Stack Exchange |
1 | initial version |
Specwise, the structure sensor seems to be very similar to the Kinect/Xtion in terms of resolution, refresh rate, and FOV. It's a shame they didn't include RGB output.
The FOV on the Kinect is they typical limitation for gmapping, since it can't match as many features as a laserscanner, and doesn't map as much area. It's also fairly noisy compared to a typical laserscanner.
You're also missing odometry, which is necessary for gmapping, and in general makes the task a lot harder. You could try hector_slam, which works without odometry, though I've never tested it myself. Feel free to search around for kinect + hector_slam threads, and you'll find that most people don't have a lot of luck with that setup.
Since you asked about architecture, you'd use the pointcloud_to_laserscan nodelet to convert the pointcloud into a laserscan, and then go from there with the standard gmapping/hector_slam tutorials.