SLAMcore spatial intelligence software now fully supports ROS 2

Listen to this article

SLAMcore enables robots to understand their environment and maintain localization within a map.

SLAMcore’s spatial intelligence software and SDK is now fully compatible with ROS 2. The Robot Operating System (ROS) is an open-source collection of software frameworks for robotics development. SLAMcore also supports ROS 1, allowing developers to integrate vision-based SLAM software into a variety of robots.

SLAMcore’s vision-based SLAM allows full 3D mapping and path planning within ROS 2 and supports the development of semantic mapping to add understanding of objects within a map. The company said its algorithms make use of several enhancements in ROS 2, specifically the upgraded Nav 2 stack that supports fully autonomous navigation and enhanced support for embedded processors.

Founded in 2016, London-based SLAMcore summed up the benefits of supporting ROS 2 as follows:

• Enhanced SLAM efficiency for better memory and processor utilization: providing accurate, real-time position (in 6 degrees of freedom) running locally on minimal compute/memory that frees up compute/memory for product capabilities.
• Full 3D mapping and path planning: offering accurate, dense, 3D voxel-based maps for accurate maps of the robot’s surroundings for navigation purposes.
• Potential for semantic object maps: providing access to future SLAMcore capabilities including semantic object identification and labelling within maps.

“Our customers are looking to deploy robots in real-world and at-scale situations and are turning to vision-based SLAM systems for efficient mapping, location and positioning,” said SLAMcore CEO Owen Nicholson. “Integrating SLAMcore’s leading spatial intelligence with ROS 2 designs is a straightforward and highly cost-effective approach for them to quickly address complex SLAM challenges and move projects forward faster.”

Related: Overcoming the robotics tower of babel

The SLAMcore SDK, with support for ROS, ROS 2 and C++ interfaces is available now. It can be downloaded from SLAMcore.com and deployed with standard hardware. A wide range of hardware and bespoke application set-ups are supported by SLAMcore’s engineers and next-generation capabilities are being explored at SLAMcore Labs.