A Comprehensive Guide to Getting Started with ROS2 and LIPSedge AE400

Are you interested in exploring the capabilities of ROS2 and the LIPSedge AE400? Look no further! This guide will walk you through the process of installing ROS2 and the LIPSedge AE400 wrapper, as well as launching a LIPSedge AE400 ROS application.

Before we dive into the installation process, let's briefly discuss what ROS2 and the LIPSedge AE400 are.

ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) is a popular open-source robotics framework that enables developers to create advanced robotic applications. It provides a set of libraries and tools that help with tasks such as message passing, device control, and visualization.

LIPSedge AE400 is a high-performance 3D camera that is widely used in robotics and industrial automation. It features a compact form factor, easy integration, and robustness.

Installing ROS2 with LIPSedge AE400 Wrapper

To get started with ROS2 and the LIPSedge AE400, you'll first need to install ROS2 on your system. Follow these steps to install ROS2:

Method 1: Docker

We provide ready to use docker image for LIPSedge AE400 ROS wrapper.

docker run -it hedgehao/lipsedge-ae4xx:ros2-wrapper

Method 2: Install Manually

The Robot Operating System (ROS) has different distributions recommended for different operating systems. Here we use ROS2 Galactic on Ubuntu 20.04 for the instructions below. You can find all the distributions here.

1. Install ROS via apt

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl gnupg2 lsb-release 

sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key  -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg 

echo"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(source /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null 

sudo apt update 

apt install -y ros-galactic-desktop

2. Install packages for dependencies and for building ROS packages

sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions python3-rosdep ros-galactic-diagnostic-updater

3. Before using any ROS command, some environment variables need to be setup. You can add the environment setup command into your .bashrc / .zhrc file.

echo"source /opt/ros/galactic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc 
source ~/.bashrc

4. Initailize rosdep to install system dependencies for source you want to compile and is required to run some core components in ROS.

sudo rosdep init 
rosdep update

Build LIPSedge AE400 ROS2 application

1. Create a new workspace.

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src 
cd ~/ros2_ws/src/

2. Clone ROS2 application source code

git clone https://github.com/IntelRealSense/realsense-ros.git -b ros2

3. Install all dependent packages then build the app

cd ~/ros2_ws 
rosdep install -i --from-path src --rosdistro galactic --skip-keys=librealsense2 -y 
colcon build

Launch LIPSedge AE400 ROS Application

source ~/ros2_ws/install/local_setup.bash 
ros2 launch realsense2_camera rs_launch.py

Start a new Terminal and launch rviz2.

rviz2

The rviz interface pops up. At the Fixed Framein the left menu, select camera_depth_fram

Add 'DepthCloud' topic

Now, you can see the pointcloud on rviz

Conclusion

By following this guide, you should now have a basic understanding of how to install ROS2 and the LIPSedge AE400 wrapper, as well as launch a LIPSedge AE400 ROS application. With these tools, you can now start exploring the exciting world of robotics and automation. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them to LIPS Forum.