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Range and retro represent two different properties that do not affect each other. Furthermore, the laser visualization inside gazebo visualizes only ranges, and not retros. So naturally, you don't see anything changing.

Retro, in this case, is synonymous with intensity. You could use this, for example, to develop a reflectance sensor. It would work much the same way as a range sensor, only this one, would publish intensities.

You could develop a sensor plugin to do what you want. The plugin would do a post-processing of the ranges, based on the retro values. But then you need to answer the question of what is the range when a ray collides with an "invisible" geometry.