ROS robotics news: sensors Archives

DUO3D Stereo vision integration into ROS

By Tully Foote on August 8, 2016 2:32 PM

From Alexander Popovich

I'm happy to announce the ROS integration of the DUO 3D stereo sensor by Code Laboratories. The DUO is an ultra-compact imaging sensor with global shutter and a standard USB interface for ease of use and connectivity. The DUO is intended for use in research, autonomous navigation, robotics and industrial areas. The camera's high speed and small size make it ideal for existing and new use cases for vision based applications.

The DUO MLX solution consists of:

Factory Calibrated Stereo Camera
Industrial Grade Monochrome/Global Shutter Sensors
Integrated Accelerometer/Gyroscope/Temperature (6 DoF IMU)
Fully Programmable Active LED Array (3xIR 850nm High Power LEDs)
DUO SDK License
DUO Dense3D License
USB Mini-B Cable

You can find the ROS driver wiki page here: http://wiki.ros.org/duo3d-driver For more information about DUO sensor please visit product page at: https://duo3d.com

ROS driver for PMD CamBoard pico flexx

By Tully Foote on March 3, 2016 3:00 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Thiemo via ros-users@

I created a ROS driver for the PMD CamBoard pico flexx (a very small ToF sensor) and I would like to share it with you.

The ROS driver publishes point clouds, depth, ir and noise images through ROS topics, supports dynamic reconfigure, nodelets with zero copy transfers and comes with a fully configurable launch file and a detailed readme.

The sources can be found on our GitHub:

https://github.com/code-iai/pico_flexx_driver

Information on the device itself can be found here:
http://www.pmdtec.com/picoflexx/

Some device features:
- size: 68 x 17 x 7.25 mm (WxHxD)
- measurement range: 0.1 - 4 m
- FPS: 5 to 45
- resolution: 224 x 171

Rhoeby Dynamics R2D LiDAR

By Tully Foote on October 21, 2015 3:03 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From John Jordan President of Rhoeby Dynamics LLC

The new Rhoeby Dynamics R2D LiDAR is the smallest, lightest, lowest-cost
2D LiDAR device on the market today. It's proven capable of performing
mapping, navigation and dynamic obstacle avoidance in the indoor setting,
and comes complete with its open-source ROS driver for rapid integration
into any robotics platform.

The device uses IR LED Time-of-Flight (not laser-based), making it a quite
novel technology. This novel approach is what enables us to achieve the
small form factor, low weight, and helps keep the cost down. All settings
are easily controlled via USB (or UART).

Video demonstrations of the LiDAR in operation can be seen here:

http://rhoeby.com/video

In summary, the LiDAR has the following features:

* Scan rate: up to 5 Hz, user-configurable
* Scan range: 360 degrees, over 5 meters
* Angular resolution: typically ~ 1.0 degree, maximum 0.36 degrees (@
1 Hz scan rate)

* small form-factor (75 x 45 x 45 mm)
* light-weight (< 125 g)
* robust design (direct-drive motor)
* no safety issues (compared to laser-based device)

We're confident that this device is well-suited to cost-sensitive
applications requiring indoor Simultaneous Localization And Mapping
(SLAM), navigation and obstacle avoidance, and will be a good fit for many
robots. The device is available now, for immediate delivery in the United
States and beyond.

For more details visit: www.rhoeby.com, or email us at: enquiries@rhoeby.com.

ROS package for Basler cameras

By Tully Foote on September 16, 2015 11:06 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Beatriz Leon Pinzon via ros-users@

We have created a ROS package to be able to publish images using a Basler camera. We have a Basler Dart camera but the package should work with any of their cameras as all use the same API.

Here is the github address:
https://github.com/shadow-robot/basler_camera

Their cameras are not yet uvc compatible so this package would be helpful in the meantime.

Real-time stereo vision integration into ROS

By Tully Foote on September 8, 2015 2:49 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Konstantin Schauwecker via ros-users@

I'm glad to announce the ROS integration of the SP1 stereo vision system by Nerian Vision Technologies. The SP1 provides real-time 3D data through the use of a stereo camera and a powerful FPGA. In ROS, this data can be published as a point cloud or as a disparity map.

You can find the wiki page for the ROS node here:
http://wiki.ros.org/nerian_sp1

Further information about the SP1 system can be found on the product page:
http://nerian.com/products/sp1-stereo-vision/

The ROS node and the API code are published under the MIT license, and can thus be freely modified and redistributed.

Announcing OrSens Outdoor 3D Sensor working with ROS

By Tully Foote on August 28, 2015 3:47 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Konstantin Zhukov via ros-users@

I'd like to announce OrSens - portable stereo-camera calculating depthmap onboard, so you can get depth and RGB streams via USB at 30FPS.

Here is the ROS wiki page for more info:

http://wiki.ros.org/orsens_ros

Here are the repositories:

https://github.com/Oriense/orsens_ros

https://github.com/Oriense/orsens

Here's the website:

http://www.oriense-tech.com/

Our team is working on deep integration with ROS and on providing some ready-to-use computer vision solutions.

We ourselves use the camera in our device for blind people, with ROS-powered software.

We hope that our work could be useful for the community.

ROS Driver for the IFM Efector O3D303

By Tully Foote on July 14, 2015 1:18 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Cross posted from: Ros-Industrial

Love Park Robotics has announced a ROS driver for the new IFM Efector O3D303 3D camera system. This sensor was officially released in Germany on April 13, 2015. The O3D303 is a time-of-flight sensor, specifically designed for use in industrial environments and automation applications. The 176x132 element detector features a relative accuracy of +/-4mm. In addition to the robust design, it is able to operate in illumination conditions ranging from complete darkness to sunlight. It is also affordable, at a per-unit cost of $1250 USD. A picture of the O3D303 is shown below along with a point cloud of an imaged pallet (taken in an office environment) to highlight the quality of the sensor data.

As part of our beta test period, Love Park Robotics developed a software interface to the O3D303 that allows us to utilize the sensor within software frameworks such as PCL, OpenCV, and ROS. This code has been made available as open-source on Github in the following repositories: libo3d3xx and o3d3xx-ros. Additionally, we are working with the ROS Industrial community to make binary debian packages available as part of the core ROS and ROS-I distributions.

For more information see the ROS Industrial Blog Post

New driver for DepthSense DS325 3D Camera

By Tully Foote on May 9, 2015 2:52 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Walter Lucetti via ros-users@

if someone is searching for a driver for the DepthSense DS325 RGB-D time-to-flight camera, I'm glad to say that the first working version of it is available on Github:

https://github.com/Myzhar/ros_depthsense_camera

At this stage the driver can correctly publish RGB videostream, Simple XYZ Pointcloud and RGB XYZ Pointcloud.

One of the strenght of my driver is the fact that it does not use neither OpenCV nor PCL libraries.
It publishes only sensor_msg::pointcloud2 and sensor_msg::Image messages.

The next step will be the porting on CUDA of the heaviest function like the RGB to XYZ mapping and the use of the builtin accelerometer to compensate robot asset.
I will also write the code to simulate a 2D laser scanner to provide full information... if requested.

All this with an eye on the use of 100% of the potential of NVidia Jetson TK1...

Any comment or debug will be really appreciated

Announcing a ROS driver for CH Robotics UM7 IMU

By Tully Foote on March 20, 2015 10:41 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Alex Brown via ros-users@

I'd like to announce the availability of a ROS driver for the CHRobotics.com UM7 Inertial Orientation sensor (IMU). The UM7 is an up-to-date device with quite good performance.

You can see its specs at http://www.chrobotics.com/shop/um7-orientation-sensor. The driver documentation is at http://wiki.ros.org/um7.

DUO3D ROS node release

By Tully Foote on January 12, 2015 12:26 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Krystian Gebis via ros-users@

Hello all,

Recently, I have been working on creating a ROS driver for the DUO3D camera. After working with the DUO team, I have managed to wrap ROS around the DUO API functions, and have the camera images be published as ROS messages' of type sensor_msgs::Image. For those of you who do not know about DUO3D, it is a new, relatively inexpensive, stereoscopic camera which allows for many different custom solutions such as better lens, wider baseline, etc. More information about DUO3D can be viewed here: https://duo3d.com/ .

For those of you who are interested, here is a link to the github repository where I have developed the duo3d_camera node: https://github.com/l0g1x/DUO-Camera-ROS

As for now, I am still in the process of talking with DUO on how to package their shared libraries into a Debian package, so once I get that figured out with them, I will try to release the first version to the ROS repo.

I welcome everyone to give me feedback, as this is my first contribution back to the ROS community.

New 1D ToF Range sensor looking for testing

By Tully Foote on July 28, 2014 2:51 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Luis Rodrigues via ros-users@

I'm one of the developers of a new ToF baser 1D ranging sensor,
that was created in one of our research projects with CERN.

We've just finished the ROS module and would like to find people in the ROS
community that would be willing to test it/use for their projects.

The sensor is 20g, small and the refresh rate is up to 1kHz.

We have it on sale here: www.teraranger.com/product/teraranger-one
but for people which can provide feedback we can offer a substantial discount.

If anyone here is interested in testing it/knowing more, please contact me at: luis.rodrigues@terabee.com

Robopeak announces ROS Drivers for the RPLIDAR

By Tully Foote on June 25, 2014 3:32 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From ShiKai Chen

Descriptions & Images:

=====================

RPLIDAR is a low cost LIDAR sensor suitable for indoor robotic SLAM application. It provides 360 degree scan field, 5.5hz rotating frequency with guaranteed 6 meter ranger distance. By means of the high speed image processing engine designed by RoboPeak, the whole cost are reduced greatly, RPLIDAR is the ideal sensor in cost sensitive areas like robots consumer and hardware hobbyist.

The RPLIDAR core engine performs high speed distance measurement with more than 2000 samples per second. For a scan requires 360 samples per rotation, the 5.5hz scanning frequency can be achieved. Users can customized the scanning frequency from 2hz to 10hz freely by control the speed of the scanning motor. RPLIDAR will self-adapt the current scanning speed.

ROS Node:

=====================

https://github.com/robopeak/rplidar_ros

Videos:

====================

Odometer Free Hector map building using RPLIDAR

Scan Record:

About RoboPeak

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RoboPeak is a research & development team in robotics platforms and applications, founded in 2009. Our team members are Software Engineers, Electronics Engineers and New Media Artists that all come from China.

RoboPeak develops both software and hardware, which include personal robotic platforms, Robot Operating System and related devices.

Our vision is to enrich people's daily-life with the ever-changing development and innovation in robotic technologies.

Website: www.robopeak.com

Announcing ROS support for LazeeEye

By Tully Foote on May 5, 2014 9:25 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Heuristic Labs via ros-users@

I'm writing to make you aware of an exciting new Kickstarter project, the "LazeeEye": http://kck.st/1gVCcrB

LazeeEye takes your existing smartphone and turns it into a depth camera using laser illuminator hardware and a stereo vision processing app.

The goal is to produce hardware and software that can bring 3D perception to devices that have low-power/low-weight processing and a high-resolution, such as what you would find in your smartphone.

You as a ROS user can be particularly excited about using your existing smartphone in robotics applications. In fact, the inspiration for the LazeeEye was for lightweight aerial robots, where we were constrained by the redundancy, inefficiency, cost, and lack of portability of existing 3D sensors.

For more information, or to consider supporting the project, please check out the Kickstarter page: http://kck.st/1gVCcrB, and don't hesitate to spread the word!

I just wanted to affirm that ROS drivers will be made available for LazeeEye, including image capture through rosjava (if on Android). We'll make every attempt possible to match existing conventions for the RGB-D processing pipeline, so as to seamlessly replace your legacy Kinects and Xtions : )

Also wanted to mention hardware support for LazeePi (LazeeEye on a Raspberry Pi), and its camera module.

Skybotix opens VI-Sensor Early Adopter Program

By Tully Foote on May 1, 2014 2:20 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

From Sammy Omari of Skybotix AG and ETHZ ASL via ros-users@

We are happy to announce an Early Adopter Program for the visual-inertial sensor that is developed by the Autonomous Systems Lab, ETH Zurich and Skybotix AG.

The VI-Sensor is a light-weight, fully-calibrated and time-synchronized hardware platform for visual-inertial odometry applications, e.g. for UAV navigation in cluttered environments. It features a high-quality global shutter HDR stereoscopic camera and an industrial-grade inertial measurement system. A detailed spec-sheet can be found here.

The Early Adopter package includes:

- VI-Sensor (factory calibrated: intrinsic, spatial & temporal inter-sensor)

- Linux driver (ROS enabled)

- SDK with example code for working with image and IMU data in openCV and/or ROS

- Ready for stereo visual odometry framework viso2

- Power supply cable kit

- Access to the Wiki page

- Driver and firmware updates

- VI-Sensor protection case

A detailed spec-sheet can be found here.

Price: EUR 3'900.00 (*)

The program addresses research groups around the world that are eager to get their hands on the sensor early.

If you are interested in receiving an Early Adopter quotation, please contact us via sales@skybotix.com indicating your invoice and shipping address.

Please submit your purchase order until May 31th. Purchase orders received after this date cannot be taken into account for the Early Adopter Program.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

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