Nav2 Speed-Restricted Zones

Source: speed-restricted-zones

Why This Matters

Many environments do not need a full keepout. They need slower motion: near people, near ramps, beside fragile equipment, or in visually ambiguous spaces. Speed filters let you encode that policy without inventing fake obstacles.

Distilled Takeaways

• Speed zones are built from a mask map plus a SpeedFilter, analogous to keepout filters but with graded behavior.
• Percentage-based limits are usually easier to reason about than absolute speed maps because they scale with robot configuration.
• The controller must actually honor the published speed-limit topic, or the filter adds complexity with no effect.
• White-versus-black semantics in the underlying image and OccupancyGrid conversion are easy to get wrong; validate them visually.
• Speed-restricted zones complement keepout zones rather than replacing them.

Practical Guidance

• Use percentage mode unless you have a fixed operational requirement in meters per second.
• Validate controller support before depending on the feature. MPPI and Regulated Pure Pursuit handle it well; DWB usually needs extra work.
• Keep masks sparse and intentional. Too many speed zones make behavior hard to predict and harder to explain.
• Use RViz or topic inspection to confirm that speed-limit messages change as the robot moves through the map.

Good Use Cases

• Crowded shared hallways.
• Ramps or traction-sensitive surfaces.
• Manipulation approach zones near people or equipment.
• Areas where perception quality drops and slower motion materially improves safety.

Corroborating References

• Nav2 speed filter configuration
• Nav2 MPPI controller docs
• Nav2 Regulated Pure Pursuit docs

When to Read the Original Source

Read the source skill when you need the mask-value mapping details, the costmap_filter_info_server setup for speed filtering, or a controller-specific note about where native speed-limit support exists.