RTAB-Map's ROS package.
ROS 2 wrapper for RTAB-Map, a graph-based SLAM library with appearance-based loop closure detection. It builds and maintains a 3D map from RGB-D, stereo or lidar data, closes loops on revisited places and exports the result as an occupancy grid, a point cloud or an OctoMap.
ROS 2 Humble minimum required. The interface matches ROS 1: parameters and topic names still follow the ROS 1 documentation for anything not yet covered by the package pages below.
| Build | Docker | |
|---|---|---|
| ROS 1 | ||
| ROS 2 |
| Distro | Ubuntu | Released | In apt | Build | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROS 1 | Noetic (EOL) | 20.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Humble | 22.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Iron (EOL) | 22.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Jazzy | 24.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Kilted | 24.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Lyrical | 26.04 | |||
| ROS 2 | Rolling | 26.04 | |||
| Docker | rtabmap_ros |
Released is the version bloomed into rosdistro; In apt is what apt install actually gives you today. They differ while a release is waiting on a buildfarm sync.
The stack is split into small packages so a pipeline only pulls in what it uses. Package names link to their documentation where it exists; the rest are being written and will be linked as they land.
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
rtabmap_slam |
The rtabmap node itself: appearance-based loop closure detection, graph optimization, memory management and map assembly. |
rtabmap_odom |
Odometry nodes — rgbd_odometry, stereo_odometry and icp_odometry. Any external odometry can be used instead. |
rtabmap_sync |
Synchronizes camera and lidar topics into a single message so they reach the SLAM node together — rgbd_sync, stereo_sync, rgbdx_sync. |
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
rtabmap_util |
Utility nodes around the pipeline: format conversions, point cloud filtering and assembly, obstacle detection, map assembly, database replay. Most are useful on their own. |
rtabmap_costmap_plugins |
A variant of nav2's voxel layer that follows the robot along z, keeping the voxel grid centered on the base frame. For robots that change altitude, e.g. drones. |
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
rtabmap_msgs |
Message, service and action definitions used across the stack. |
rtabmap_conversions |
C++ library converting between RTAB-Map library types and ROS 2 messages. |
rtabmap_python |
Python helpers for RTAB-Map's own binary formats, currently the compressed matrices carried in rtabmap_msgs fields and database blobs. |
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
rtabmap_viz |
RTAB-Map's own GUI as a ROS 2 node: live graph, loop closures, feature matches and the parameter panel. |
rtabmap_rviz_plugins |
RViz displays for the map graph, the assembled cloud and the SLAM info. |
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
rtabmap_launch |
rtabmap.launch.py, the one-line way to bring up the whole stack. |
rtabmap_examples |
Sensor integration examples: stereo and RGB-D cameras, 3D lidar. |
rtabmap_demos |
Full robot demos: turtlebot3 and turtlebot4, nav2 integration, multi-session mapping. |
These instructions are for ROS 2. For ROS 1, follow the installation instructions on the master branch, which also carries the latest version for Noetic.
sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rtabmap-rosMake sure to uninstall any rtabmap binaries:
sudo apt remove ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rtabmap*RTAB-Map ROS2 package:
cd ~/ros2_ws
git clone https://github.com/introlab/rtabmap.git src/rtabmap
git clone --branch ros2 https://github.com/introlab/rtabmap_ros.git src/rtabmap_ros
rosdep update && rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
export MAKEFLAGS="-j6" # Can be ignored if you have a lot of RAM (>16GB)
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=ReleaseTo build with rgbd_cameras>1 support and/or subscribe_user_data support:
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DRTABMAP_SYNC_MULTI_RGBD=ON -DRTABMAP_SYNC_USER_DATA=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=ReleaseFor sensor integration examples (stereo and RGB-D cameras, 3D LiDAR), see rtabmap_examples sub-folder.
For robot integration examples (turtlebot3 and turtlebot4, nav2 integration), see rtabmap_demos sub-folder.
To make RTAB-Map's logs appear ordered with RCLCPP's logs, set the following environment variables in your .bashrc (see official "About Logging" documentation for more info):
export RCUTILS_LOGGING_USE_STDOUT=1
export RCUTILS_LOGGING_BUFFERED_STREAM=1
# Optional, but if you like colored logs:
export RCUTILS_COLORIZED_OUTPUT=1If RTAB-Map's GUI or topic frequency feel laggy (even if processing time looks fast enough), it may be caused by the DDS. I recommend to use Cyclone DDS, you can try it by adding this before launching any nodes/launch files (or add to your .bashrc):
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
# Cyclone prefers multicast by default, if your router got too much spammed,
# disable multicast with (https://github.com/ros2/rmw_cyclonedds/issues/489):
export CYCLONEDDS_URI="<Disc><DefaultMulticastAddress>0.0.0.0</></>"Rtabmap/*, Grid/*, Odom/* and other core parameter is listed in the RTAB-Map parameter reference.Each package's API reference is generated with rosdoc2 from the Doxygen comments in its public headers, and published to docs.ros.org. rosdoc2 documents one package per invocation, so building the whole stack is a loop over them — run it from the repository root:
for pkg in rtabmap_*/; do
rosdoc2 build --package-path "$pkg" --output-directory doc_output || break
doneEach package lands in doc_output/<package>/index.html.
BSD-3-Clause, see LICENSE. RTAB-Map itself may be built with components under other licenses; see the rtabmap repository.
No open issues yet, or sync has not completed.