Week 5: Struggles with Data Conversion

Tasked with Extracting Robot Data

This week, I was assigned the task of extracting and converting robot data from a .db3 file to a more usable format. The goal was to eventually work with an MCAP file format that could be opened using Foxglove. However, the process proved to be more challenging than expected.

Python Conversion Attempts

I spent a significant amount of time trying to use Python to convert the .db3 file into an MCAP file, but kept running into various errors along the way. I tried multiple methods to make the conversion work, but none of them led to the desired result. Early on, I managed to convert the data into a CSV file, but I thought CSV wouldn’t contain everything we needed, so I abandoned it in favor of other methods.

Lessons Learned

After many attempts and errors, I eventually realized that CSV was actually sufficient for our needs. My graduate student mentor, who gave me the task, was able to successfully convert the data to CSV and extract everything he needed. I realized I should have stuck with the CSV method from the start, but this experience taught me a lot about .db3, MCAP, and CSV file formats. In the end, the task was completed, and I gained valuable insight into data conversion processes.

Stay tuned for more updates!