zed-ros-wrapper

This package lets you use the ZED stereo camera with ROS. It outputs the camera's left and right images, depth map, point cloud, and pose information and supports the use of multiple ZED cameras.

More information

Note: The zed_interfaces package has been removed from this repository and moved to its own zed-ros-interfaces repository to allow better integration of the ZED Wrapper on remote ground stations that do not require the full package to be installed. To update your repository please follow the new update instructions. For more information please read issue #750.

Getting started

• First, download the latest version of the ZED SDK on stereolabs.com
• Install the ZED ROS wrapper
• For more information, check out our ROS documentation. If you want to customize the wrapper, check the ZED API documentation

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04
• ZED SDK v4.1 and its dependency CUDA
• ROS Noetic

Build the repository

The zed_ros_wrapper is a catkin package. It depends on the following ROS packages:

• roscpp
• image_transport
• rosconsole
• sensor_msgs
• stereo_msgs
• std_msgs
• std_srvs
• message_filters
• tf2_ros
• nodelet
• tf2_geometry_msgs
• message_generation
• diagnostic_updater
• dynamic_reconfigure
• zed_interfaces

Open a terminal, clone the repository, update the dependencies and build the packages:

$ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/stereolabs/zed-ros-wrapper.git
$ cd ../
$ rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
$ catkin_make -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
$ source ./devel/setup.bash

Update the local repository

To update the repository to the latest release you must use the following command to retrieve the latest commits of zed-ros-wrapper and of all the submodules:

$ git checkout master # if you are not on the main branch  
$ git pull --recurse-submodules # update recursively all the submodules

Remember to always clean the cache of your catkin workspace before compiling with the catkin_make command to be sure that everything will work as expected:

$ roscd
$ cd ..
$ rm -rf build devel
$ catkin_make -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

Run the ZED wrapper

To launch the ZED node use

ZED camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zed.launch

ZED Mini camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zedm.launch

ZED 2 camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zed2.launch

ZED 2i camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zed2i.launch

ZED X camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zedx.launch  

ZED X Mini camera:

$ roslaunch zed_wrapper zedxm.launch  

To select the camera from its serial number:

 $ roslaunch zed_wrapper zed.launch serial_number:=1010 #replace 1010 with the actual SN

Rviz visualization

Example launch files to start a pre-configured Rviz environment to visualize the data of ZED, ZED Mini, ZED 2, ZED X, and ZED X Mini cameras are provided in the zed-ros-examples repository

SVO recording

SVO recording can be started and stopped while the ZED node is running using the service start_svo_recording and the service stop_svo_recording. More information

Object Detection

The SDK v3.0 introduces the Object Detection and Tracking module. The Object Detection module is available only with a ZED 2 camera.

The Object Detection can be enabled automatically when the node start setting the parameter object_detection/od_enabled to true in the file common.yaml.

The Object Detection can be enabled/disabled manually calling the service enable_object_detection.

Body Tracking

The Body Tracking module is not available for the ZED ROS Wrapper. Please consider migrating to the ZED ROS2 Wrapper if you need it.

Spatial Mapping

The Spatial Mapping can be enabled automatically when the node start setting the parameter mapping/mapping_enabled to true in the file common.yaml. The Spatial Mapping can be enabled/disabled manually calling the services start_3d_mapping and stop_3d_mapping.

Geo Tracking (GNSS Fusion)

The Geo tracking module is not available for the ZED ROS Wrapper. Please consider migrating to the ZED ROS2 Wrapper if you need it.

Diagnostic

The ZED node publishes diagnostic information that can be used by the robotic system using a diagnostic_aggregator node.

With the rqt plugin Runtime monitor, it is possible to retrieve all the diagnostic information, checking that the node is working as expected.

2D mode

For robots moving on a planar surface it is possible to activate the "2D mode" (parameter tracking/two_d_mode in common.yaml). The value of the coordinate Z for odometry and pose will have a fixed value (parameter tracking/fixed_z_value in common.yaml). Roll and pitch and relative velocities will be fixed to zero.

Examples and Tutorials

Examples and tutorials are provided to better understand how to use the ZED wrapper and how to integrate it in the ROS framework. See the zed-ros-examples repository

Examples

Alongside the wrapper itself and the Rviz display, a few examples are provided to interface the ZED with other ROS packages :

• RTAB-Map: See zed_rtabmap_example
• ROS Nodelet, depthimage_to_laserscan: See zed_nodelet_example
• AR Track Alvar: See zed_ar_track_alvar_example

Tutorials

A few tutorials are provided to understand how to use the ZED node in the ROS environment :

• Image subscription tutorial
• Depth subscription tutorial
• Tracking subscription tutorial
• Sensors data subscription tutorial
• Object detection subscription tutorial