RViz Tasks Panel

RViz2 panel plugin for dispatching and monitoring ROS 2 task action goals. Provides a tabbed GUI where operators can parameterize, execute, and cancel tasks on any discovered robot, with live feedback and result display.

Overview

The Tasks Panel replaces CLI-based action goal dispatch with a graphical interface for all 8 AirStack task types. Each task type gets its own tab with auto-generated parameter widgets, an executor selector, and a feedback/result view.

The Navigate tab integrates directly with the waypoint_rviz2_plugin package’s shared WaypointManager singleton, providing inline controls for placing, editing, saving/loading, and executing waypoint-based navigation – no separate waypoint panel needed.

+-----------------------------------------------------+
|  Tasks Panel                      Robot: [robot_1]   |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| [Takeoff] [Land] [Navigate] [Exploration] [Coverage] |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
|  +- Goal Parameters -----+  +- Feedback & Result -+ |
|  | Executor: [/robot1/..] |  | Feedback:           | |
|  | Height: [2.0]  Wp: 3   |  | [live stream]       | |
|  | X:[1] Y:[2] Z:[2] Y:[0]|  |                     | |
|  | [Clear] [Save] [Load]  |  | Result:             | |
|  | goal_tolerance_m: [1.0] |  | [goal outcome]      | |
|  | [Cancel]     [Execute]  |  |                     | |
|  +-------------------------+  +---------------------+ |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Features

• 8 task tabs with auto-generated goal parameter widgets
• Executor discovery – scans ROS 2 topics every 5 seconds to find running action servers
• Robot namespace selector – auto-populated from discovered action server namespaces
• Polygon input – integrates with rviz_polygon_selection_tool to capture 3D polygon selections
• Integrated waypoint controls – the Navigate tab embeds waypoint management (height, X/Y/Z/Yaw editing, Clear, Save, Load) via the shared WaypointManager singleton from waypoint_rviz2_plugin
• Fixed Trajectory editor – type dropdown with auto-populated default attributes in an editable key-value table
• Live feedback – timestamped feedback messages stream in real time
• Result display – color-coded status (green = succeeded, red = aborted, orange = canceled)
• Config persistence – robot and executor selections are saved/restored with the RViz config
• Single-task lock – only one action may execute at a time to prevent conflicts
• Airborne-only tasks – Land, Navigate, and all mission tasks are disabled until the drone is airborne (subscribes to is_airborne from takeoff_landing_planner); Takeoff is always available while idle

Supported Task Types

Tasks marked airborne-only are disabled until the drone is in the air.

Widget Type Mapping

Dependencies

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