OpenMower ROS v1.2.0

Area-level setting overrides, extended battery reporting, improved emergency handling for v2 hardware, obstacle ordering fix, and simulator improvements.
By Clemens Elflein |

v1.2.0 brings per-area configuration overrides, a batch of v2 hardware improvements, and a handful of reliability fixes.

Area Overrides for Various Settings

The move from map.bag to map.json in v1.1.0 opened the door to flexible, backwards-compatible map extensions. The first major use of that flexibility lands here: individual mowing areas can now carry their own values for outline_count, outline_overlap_count, outline_offset, and angle.

The first three override the global defaults for that area only. angle replaces the automatic orientation detection (which is based on the first two meters of the outline) with a fixed heading — useful for areas where auto-detection consistently picks the wrong direction.

For now, these attributes must be added manually by editing map.json in a text editor. Support in the OpenMower app is planned. Thanks @jrv and @rovo89 .

v2 Hardware Improvements

Several improvements have landed specifically for v2 hardware:

  • Input service & emergency handling — A new input service replaces the previous approach, with more granular emergency state tracking and handling. Thanks @rovo89 .
  • High-level service — A new high-level service consolidates control logic for v2 boards. Thanks @Apehaenger .
  • Extended battery reporting — Battery state is now reported in more detail, giving better visibility into charge level and health. Thanks @Apehaenger , with additional contributions by @ClemensElflein .

User Parameters Always Win

The params include order has been corrected so that user-provided parameters are loaded last and always override built-in defaults. Previously, certain default values could silently take precedence. (@ClemensElflein )

Obstacle Area Ordering Fix

Obstacle areas are now respected regardless of the order they appear in the map. Previously, a quirk in how areas were processed could cause obstacles defined later in the map to be ignored during coverage planning. Thanks @olliewalsh .

Reliability & Developer Experience

  • Deadlock protection in xbot_monitoring — The monitoring subsystem is now guarded against deadlocks that could cause it to hang silently. Thanks @rovo89 .
  • Unbuffered logging — Log output is now written immediately rather than buffered, so messages appear in real time when tailing logs. Thanks @Apehaenger .
  • Simulator fixes — Several issues in the simulator have been resolved. Thanks @olliewalsh and @rovo89 .

Full changelog: v1.1.1 → v1.2.0