k4a_ros

Azure Kinect ROS drivers

Dependencies

1. Lua5.1, glog, gflags, tcmalloc, CImg

   sudo apt install liblua5.1-0-dev libgflags-dev libgoogle-glog-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev cimg-dev
   

2. ROS, AMRL ROS Messages
3. Microsoft Kinect For Azure SDK
   If installing on *buntu 18.04, you can follow the instructions as is.
   If installing on *buntu 20.04, you will need to manually add the repo for 18.04 instead as follows in /etc/apt/sources.list:

   deb https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/18.04/prod bionic main
   

   If installing on the nvidia Jetson with Ubuntu 18.04, you will need to modify the package line as follows (reference):

   deb https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/18.04/multiarch/prod bionic main
   

   After that, follow the same instructions as for *buntu 18.04:

   sudo apt install libk4a1.4-dev k4a-tools
   

4. Add the file 99-k4a.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d to allow access to the kinect device, and reboot to apply the changes.
5. Be sure to pull in changes for the git submodules before making. If it's your first time pulling changes in this repo run git submodule update --init --recursive first. After doing this, run git submodule update --recursive --remote.
6. (Optional) To use microphone array, install the audio_common ros package according to the tutorial. At this point, you can go to audio system settings and verify the Azure Kinect microphone is connected.

Compile

1. Add it to your ROS_PACKAGE_PATH environment variable:

   export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=`pwd`:$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH
   

2. Run make [-j]

Usage

The streamed topics will be available on the Fixed Frame kinect on rviz by default.

To stream just converted laserscan data :

./bin/depth_to_lidar --points=false

To stream converted laserscan data and a 3D point cloud:

./bin/depth_to_lidar --points=true

To stream an RGB point cloud as sensor_msgs/PointCloud2:

./bin/stream_pcl

To save registered color and RGB images to disk (e.g. to the directory out):

./bin/save_rgbd_images --save_dir out

libusb errors

If you encounter an issue with the libusb driver, it may be due to the data bus limit on the usb port not being set to a high enough value. If this is the case, open the grub file (/etc/default/grub) and replace the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=quiet splash with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=quiet splash usbcore.usbfs_memory_mb=2000. Then, run sudo update-grub and reboot the system after updating grub.

XServer errors

This package needs access to an OpenGL display for the k4a drivers. If running in a headless mode, you might have to recreate the ~/.Xauthority file to gain access to the server, in addition to setting the DISPLAY environment variable (e.g. export DISPLAY=:0). To re-create the ~/.Xauthority file, see: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/209746/how-to-resolve-no-protocol-specified-for-su-user