ROS Topics and Services

Find all topics and services of the nvblox_node and the nvblox_human_node below.

Note

The various tutorials offered by isaac_ros_nvblox (RealSense / HAWK / Isaac Sim ) describe mapping for static scenes and scenes with people elements. The tutorials for static scenes launch the nvblox_node while the people mapping sections launch the nvblox_human_node. The nvblox_human_node inherits from the nvblox_node and adds additional topic subscriptions for the mask image containing the people semantic segmentation.

ROS Topics Subscribed

The nvblox_node subscribes to 4 depth and color topics. The i in the subscription list below can be replaced with 0-3, for example camera_0/color/image.

ROS Topic	Interface	Description
camera_{i}/color/image	sensor_msgs/Image	Optional input color image to be integrated. Must be paired with a camera_info message below. Only used to color the mesh.
camera_{i}/color/camera_info	sensor_msgs/CameraInfo	Optional topic along with the color image above. Contains intrinsics of the color camera.
camera_{i}/depth/image	sensor_msgs/Image	The input depth image to be integrated. Must be paired with a camera_info message below. Supports both floating-point (depth in meters) and uint16 (depth in millimeters, OpenNI format).
camera_{i}/depth/camera_info	sensor_msgs/CameraInfo	Required topic along with the depth image. Contains intrinsic calibration parameters of the depth camera.
pointcloud	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	Input 3D LIDAR pointcloud. You must set the Lidar intrinsic parameters, if using this input, as it uses those to convert the pointcloud into a depth image.
transform	geometry_message/TransformStamped	Odometry as stamped transform messages. Not required if use_tf_transforms is set to true.
pose	geometry_message/PoseStamped	Odometry as stamped pose messages. Not required if use_tf_transforms is set to true.

The nvblox_human_node, which is used for mapping in the presence of people, subscribes additionally to a mask image and corresponding camera info.

Note

Masking on the first camera (camera_0) is supported.

ROS Topic	Interface	Description
mask/image	sensor_msgs/Image	In our people reconstruction tutorials, this mask is published by Isaac ROS Image Segmentation.
mask/camera_info	sensor_msgs/CameraInfo	Required topic along with the mask image. Contains intrinsic calibration parameters of the mask camera.

ROS Topics Published

ROS Topic	Interface	Description
~/mesh	nvblox_msgs/Mesh	A visualization topic showing the mesh produced from the TSDF in a form that can be seen in RViz using nvblox_rviz_plugin. Set mesh_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/mesh_marker	visualization_msgs/Marker	A visualization topic showing the mesh using a marker message.
~/tsdf_layer	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	Pointcloud visualizing TSDF voxels.
~/color_layer	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	Pointcloud visualizing color voxels.
~/freespace_layer	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	Pointcloud visualizing all non high confidence freespace voxels inside a 5x5x1 m box around the depth camera.
~/occupancy_layer	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the static occupancy map (only voxels with occupation probability > 0.5). Set static_occupancy_publication_rate_hz to control its publication rate.
~/static_esdf_pointcloud	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the static 2D ESDF (Euclidean Signed Distance Field), with intensity as the metric distance to the nearest obstacle. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/static_map_slice	nvblox_msgs/DistanceMapSlice	A 2D slice of the static ESDF, to be consumed by nvblox_nav2 package for interfacing with Nav2. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/map_slice_bounds	visualization_msgs/Marker	A visualization topic showing the mesh slice bounds that can be set with the parameters esdf_2d_min_height and esdf_2d_min_height.
~/back_projected_depth	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the back projected latest depth image in the global frame.
~/dynamic_occupancy_layer	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the people/dynamic occupancy map (only voxels with occupation probability > 0.5).
~/dynamic_esdf_pointcloud	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the people/dynamic 2D ESDF (Euclidean Signed Distance Field), with intensity as the metric distance to the nearest person. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/dynamic_map_slice	nvblox_msgs/DistanceMapSlice	A 2D slice of the people/dynamic ESDF, to be consumed by nvblox_nav2 package for interfacing with Nav2. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/dynamic_points	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	Pointcloud visualizing the back-projected pixels of the latest people/dynamic masked depth frame (without temporal fusion).
~/dynamic_depth_frame_overlay	sensor_msgs/Image	Debug image showing the dynamic/people mask overlaid on the depth image. Note: The overlay is showing the mask before postprocessing.
~/combined_esdf_pointcloud	sensor_msgs/PointCloud2	A pointcloud of the combined static and people/dynamic 2D ESDF (minimal distance of both), with intensity as the metric distance to the nearest obstacle or person. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.
~/combined_map_slice	nvblox_msgs/DistanceMapSlice	A 2D slice of the combined static and people/dynamic ESDF (minimal distance of both), to be consumed by nvblox_nav2 package for interfacing with Nav2. Set esdf_update_rate_hz to control its update rate.

Additionally published topics by the nvblox_human_node:

ROS Topic	Interface	Description
~/human_voxels	visualization_msgs/Marker	The pointcloud published at ~/dynamic_points mapped to the corresponding voxels. Set human_debug_publish_rate_h to control its update rate.
~/dynamic_color_frame_overlay	sensor_msgs/Image	Debug image showing the people mask overlaid on the color image.

ROS Services Advertised

ROS Service	Interface	Description
~/save_ply	nvblox_msgs/FilePath	Will save the mesh as the PLY (standard polygon file format, which can be viewed with MeshLab or CloudCompare) at the specified location.
~/save_map	nvblox_msgs/FilePath	Will serialize the entire map, including TSDF, ESDF, etc., at the given location.
~/load_map	nvblox_msgs/FilePath	Will overwrite the current map in the node with a map loaded from the given path.
~/save_rates	nvblox_msgs/FilePath	Will save a table of processing rates to disk, at the given location.
~/save_timings	nvblox_msgs/FilePath	Will save a table of processing times to disk, at the given location.
~/get_esdf_and_gradient	nvblox_msgs/EsdfAndGradients	Accepts an Axis-aligned bounding box and replies with a dense ESDF grid and its gradient.

Example service calls from the command line:

ros2 service call /nvblox_node/save_ply nvblox_msgs/srv/FilePath "{file_path: '/home/USERNAME/super_cool_map.ply'}"
ros2 service call /nvblox_node/save_map nvblox_msgs/srv/FilePath "{file_path: '/home/USERNAME/super_cool_map.nvblx'}"
ros2 service call /nvblox_node/load_map nvblox_msgs/srv/FilePath "{file_path: '/home/USERNAME/super_cool_map.nvblx'}"