The ifm3d_ros_examples package

This package provides examples and helper scripts for using the ifm O3R camera platform.

Launchfiles

Please see the list below for launch files shipped with the examples package:

Name

Description

six_cameras.launch

Launches six nodes, reading data streams on ports 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Provide coordinate frame transforms for each node. Note: you can use this example for less than six heads, but you will get a timeout error where no heads are connected. This does not disrupt the proper functioning of the connected heads.

nodelet.launch

This is handling the nodelet manager which makes it possible to launch a nodelet similarly as you would a simple node.

head.launch

Launches two data streams for both the 2D RGB imager and 3D TOF imager on a camera head. Default ports are 0 for 3D data (pcic_port_1:=50010) and 2 for 2D RGB data (pcic_port_2:=50012). For different port numbers input port as a parameter when launching.

camera.launch

Launches a single camera stream - so only 3D data or 2D RGB data. This launch file is comparable to a single camera setup (O3Ds and O3Xs)

Nodelet launch structure

Note: The O3R platform can handle multiple data streams.*
The camera.launch file only launches a node for one data stream, on the default pcic port 50010. To launch a node for a different port, use:

$ roslaunch ifm3d_ros_driver camera.launch pcic_port:=<PORT_NUMBER>

The launch file(s) encapsulate several features:

  1. It (partially) exposes the camera_nodelet parameters as command-line arguments for ease of runtime configuration.

  2. It instantiates a nodelet manager which the camera_nodelet will be loaded into.

  3. It launches the camera nodelet itself.

  4. It publishes the static transform from the camera’s optical frame to a traditional ROS sensor frame as a tf2 static_transform_publisher.

You can either use this launch file directly, or, use it as a basis for integrating ifm3d_ros into your own robot software system.

Note: the O3R camera heads carry two imagers, a 3D time-of-flight and a RGB imager.

We provide the head.launch launchfile to handle a whole O3R camera head, that starts two nodes, one for the RGB image (we assume it is plugged in port 0), and one for the 3D imager (we assume it is plugged in port 2).

Building launch files distributed systems

Note: This is WIR. We are currently working on Docker images which will allow you an easy deployment of our ROS node to the VPU.

LICENSE

Please see the file called LICENSE.