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Start SLAM with RTAB-Map

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Table of Contents

This article records a ROS 2 setup that connects an Intel RealSense D455 to RTAB-Map for RGB-D SLAM. RTAB-Map provides ROS 1 and ROS 2 branches; use the branch and documentation matching your ROS distribution. rtabmap_ros provides the ROS integration for the RTAB-Map core library.

The commands below were tested in July 2024. Package versions and launch arguments may change.

Examples

Start with the rtabmap_examples launch files. Before launching ROS, verify the camera with realsense-viewer. The generic RealSense RGB-D setup can be adapted to the D455 by selecting compatible stream profiles and topic names.

  • Launch the RealSense node:
Terminal window
ros2 launch realsense2_camera rs_launch.py align_depth.enable:=true depth_module.depth_profile:=640x360x90 depth_module.infra_profile:=640x360x90 rgb_camera.color_profile:=480x270x90
  • Launch RTAB-Map:
Terminal window
ros2 launch rtabmap_launch rtabmap.launch.py frame_id:=camera_link args:="-d" rgb_topic:=/camera/camera/color/image_raw depth_topic:=/camera/camera/aligned_depth_to_color/image_raw camera_info_topic:=/camera/camera/color/camera_info approx_sync:=false queue_size:=20

  • Console: Screenshot 2024-07-21 at 20.44.56.png

  • GUI:

Screenshot from 2024-07-21 20-47-51.png
  • Remote ROS console (Foxglove): Screenshot 2024-07-21 at 20.25.24.png

Notes:

  1. In the tested configuration, the default RealSense topic namespace contains camera/camera.
  2. RTAB-Map launches a GUI by default. Set DISPLAY=:0 in the current shell when the process needs access to the local X display; avoid adding it globally unless that is appropriate for the system.
  3. Increasing queue_size to 20 prevented synchronization stalls in this test. Treat it as a troubleshooting observation, not a universal requirement.

SLAM with Jetson Orin

  • Reconnect the USB-C cable with the opposite orientation if the camera is not detected. Some cables or adapters may not expose SuperSpeed reliably in both orientations.
  • Lower the camera resolution or frame rate if USB bandwidth is insufficient.
Terminal window
ros2 launch realsense2_camera rs_launch.py align_depth.enable:=true depth_module.depth_profile:=640x360x30 depth_module.infra_profile:=640x360x30 rgb_camera.color_profile:=480x270x30