Isaac ROS ZED Setup

ZED cameras require the following to be able to publish data to ROS 2 topics:

• ZED SDK

• zed-ros2-wrapper

• ZED X driver (ZED X / ZED X Mini only; installed on the host machine)

When using Isaac ROS with Docker, the ZED SDK and zed-ros2-wrapper are installed automatically during container build when you enable the zed image key in the Isaac ROS CLI configuration. If you are using a Virtual Environment or Bare Metal workflow, you must install the SDK and build zed-ros2-wrapper manually.

Camera Compatibility

All cameras supported by the zed ros2 wrapper work with Isaac ROS.

ZED Model	SQA Testing?
ZED 2i	✓
ZED X	✗
ZED 2	✓
ZED	✓
ZED Mini	✗
ZED X Mini	✗

Setup Instructions

Note

DGX Spark: ZED camera support has not been tested on DGX Spark.

This tutorial assumes that you have completed the instructions in Developer Environment Setup.

1. Configure the Isaac ROS environment to include ZED:

   Docker

   Create a file called ~/.config/isaac-ros-cli/config.yaml with the following content:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/isaac-ros-cli
   touch ~/.config/isaac-ros-cli/config.yaml
   

   docker:
     image:
       additional_image_keys:
         - zed
   

   This will install the ZED SDK and build zed-ros2-wrapper into the container image when you rebuild it.

   Virtual Environment

   Clone the zed-ros2-wrapper repository on the master branch. You will also need to install the ZED SDK on the host (see step 5 below).

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS}/src && \
   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/stereolabs/zed-ros2-wrapper
   

   Bare Metal

   Clone the zed-ros2-wrapper repository on the master branch. You will also need to install the ZED SDK on the host (see step 5 below).

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS}/src && \
   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/stereolabs/zed-ros2-wrapper
   

2. If you are using ZED X or ZED X Mini, refer to the appropriate Stereolabs setup guide.

   • You must install the ZED X driver on the host.

   • If you are using Docker, you do not need to install the ZED SDK on the host (it is installed into the container image when you rebuild it).

3. Plug in the USB cable of your ZED camera before activating the Isaac ROS environment in the next step.

4. Activate the Isaac ROS environment:

   Docker

   isaac-ros activate --build-local
   

   This --build-local flag rebuilds the container image using Dockerfile.zed in one of its layered stages. Rebuilding can take several minutes.

   After the image has been built once, you can use isaac-ros activate to launch the container without rebuilding the image.

   Virtual Environment

   isaac-ros activate
   

   Bare Metal

   isaac-ros activate
   

5. Install the ZED SDK (Virtual Environment / Bare Metal only):

   Docker

   No action required. The ZED SDK is installed into the container image during the Docker build.

   Virtual Environment

   Install the ZED SDK on your host by downloading and running the appropriate installer from the ZED SDK release page.

   Bare Metal

   Install the ZED SDK on your host by downloading and running the appropriate installer from the ZED SDK release page.

6. Install the dependencies for the zed_wrapper package and build it (Virtual Environment / Bare Metal only):

   Docker

   No action required. zed-ros2-wrapper is built into the container image during the Docker build.

   Virtual Environment

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS} && \
   sudo apt update && \
   rosdep update && rosdep install --from-paths src/zed-ros2-wrapper --ignore-src -r -y && \
   colcon build --symlink-install --packages-up-to zed_wrapper
   

   Bare Metal

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS} && \
   sudo apt update && \
   rosdep update && rosdep install --from-paths src/zed-ros2-wrapper --ignore-src -r -y && \
   colcon build --symlink-install --packages-up-to zed_wrapper
   

7. Verify that the ZED camera is connected by running /usr/local/zed/tools/ZED_Explorer:

   /usr/local/zed/tools/ZED_Explorer
   

   If everything is working as expected, verify that you have something similar to the following: