NVSLAM and NVblox Setup Guide for AGX Orin with Orbbec Gemini Cameras

This guide covers the setup process for NVSLAM and NVblox environments on the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin platform. The setup is based on Ubuntu 22.04 with JetPack 6. This guide specifically addresses the use of Orbbec Gemini cameras, tested with the Gemini 335L and Gemini 336L models.

1. Platform-Specific Steps

1.1 CUDA Installation (if not already installed)

Check if CUDA is already installed:

nvcc --version

If not installed, run:

sudo apt-get install cuda

Configure CUDA environment variables:

echo 'export PATH=/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export CUDA_HOME=/usr/local/cuda' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Verify CUDA installation:

nvcc --version

2. Common Steps

2.1 ROS2 Humble Installation

Set up the APT repository using NVIDIA's Isaac ROS build farm repo. Please select the Isaac ROS 3.0 version.

Then install ROS2 Humble:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ros-humble-desktop-full python3-rosdep

2.2 Installing the Negotiated Package

sudo rosdep init
sudo curl -o /etc/ros/rosdep/sources.list.d/nvidia-isaac.yaml https://isaac.download.nvidia.com/isaac-ros/extra_rosdeps.yaml
echo "yaml file:///etc/ros/rosdep/sources.list.d/nvidia-isaac.yaml" | sudo tee /etc/ros/rosdep/sources.list.d/00-nvidia-isaac.list
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential devscripts dh-make quilt fakeroot python3-bloom

Edit /etc/ros/rosdep/sources.list.d/nvidia-isaac.yaml, replace focal with jammy, then run:

rosdep update

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src && cd ~/ros2_ws/src \
    && git clone https://github.com/osrf/negotiated && cd negotiated && git checkout master \
    && source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash \
    && cd negotiated_interfaces && bloom-generate rosdebian && fakeroot debian/rules binary \
    && cd ../ && sudo apt-get install -y ./*.deb && rm ./*.deb \
    && cd negotiated && bloom-generate rosdebian && fakeroot debian/rules binary \
    && cd ../ && sudo apt-get install -y ./*.deb && rm ./*.deb

2.3 Additional Dependencies

sudo apt install vpi3-dev libnvvpi3 ros-humble-isaac-ros-nvblox ros-humble-isaac-ros-visual-slam

3. Setting Up the Environment

3.1 Get Source Code and Initialize Submodules

git clone https://github.com/orbbec/isaac_ros-dev.git
cd isaac_ros-dev
git submodule update --init --recursive

3.2 Build the Workspace

colcon build

3.3 Prepare the Camera

cd src/OrbbecSDK_ROS2/orbbec_camera/scripts
sudo bash install_udev_rules.sh

4. Running Examples

Note: NVSLAM and NVblox are separate examples and cannot be run simultaneously. Choose one of the following examples to run.

4.1 Running NVSLAM Example

To run the NVSLAM example, open three terminal windows:

Terminal 1 - Launch Camera for NVSLAM

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch isaac_orbbec_launch isaac_ros_visual_slam_orbbec.launch.py

Terminal 2 - Start RViz2 for NVSLAM

source install/setup.bash
rviz2 -d src/isaac_orbbec_launch/rviz/orbbec.rviz

4.2 Running NVblox Example

To run the NVblox example, open one terminal windows:

Terminal 1 - Launch NVblox Example

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch isaac_orbbec_launch orbbec_dynamics_example.launch.py

5. Demo Video

For a demonstration of Orbbec Gemini 335L on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin with Isaac ROS Visual SLAM and Nvblox, you can watch this video:

Orbbec Gemini 335L Nvblox Demo