I can't get my ZED mini camera to work

Software
1

Hi guys. I am trying to get my ZED mini camera to work. It came with my open arm 2.0 robot kit I bought from WowRobo. I have a mac mini, a Raspberry pi 5 and a old linux pc I’ve tried it on with no luck, i don’t have cuda hardware (although I downloaded that new code for cuda to work on the mac mini i just cant get the camera to register).

Raspberry pi:

What we tested:

  • Connected the ZED Mini through the USB hub and also moved/reconnected the USB hardware.
  • Inspected the USB topology on both the Mac and Raspberry Pi.
  • macOS I/O Registry detects a Stereolabs device named ZED-M Hid Device.
  • The detected HID connection reports only 12 Mbps, which appears to be the camera’s USB 2 control/sensor interface.
  • macOS AVFoundation reports no ZED video device or video formats.
  • Because no video interface is enumerated, there is no device available for a bounded AVFoundation capture test.
  • On the Raspberry Pi, the ZED similarly appears only as its HID interface.
  • No /dev/video* UVC side-by-side ZED video node is created.
  • The Pi’s USB topology showed the connected hub operating at 480 Mbps, while the available 5000 Mbps SuperSpeed buses were empty.
  • The Render Studio ZED image endpoint consequently returns HTTP 503 / camera not detected.
  • The two separate Arducam wrist cameras work correctly through the same camera system and return live 960×600 JPEG frames. This confirms that the Pi camera publisher, Mac proxy, network connection, and Render Studio camera wall are functioning.
  • We updated the Pi publisher to automatically discover a ZED UVC side-by-side video node if one appears. It continues to report the ZED as unavailable because no video node exists.
  • We also updated the wrist-camera discovery after moving USB connections, confirming that USB topology changes are detected correctly.
  • We investigated Mac CUDA compatibility software, but it did not change the result. The immediate failure appears to occur before CUDA or the ZED SDK is involved because the operating system never exposes the camera’s USB video interface.
  • We did not install the official ZED SDK on the Raspberry Pi because Stereolabs documents its ARM/CUDA SDK for NVIDIA Jetson hardware. Our intended Pi fallback was standard UVC side-by-side color video. Depth and tracking would run on a supported NVIDIA/Jetson host.

Current observed state

The computer can see the ZED Mini’s Stereolabs HID/control input, so the camera is not completely absent. However, it cannot see any camera/video input. There is no UVC video interface, no AVFoundation camera, no /dev/video device, and therefore no image stream.

The strongest indication is that only the 12 Mbps HID interface is connected while the required SuperSpeed video interface is missing. I have plugged it into the blue port both ways and even bought a cable that matches specs, no luck.

Mac Mini

What we tested:

  • Connected the ZED Mini through the USB hub and also moved/reconnected the USB hardware.
  • Inspected the USB topology on both the Mac and Raspberry Pi.
  • macOS I/O Registry detects a Stereolabs device named ZED-M Hid Device.
  • The detected HID connection reports only 12 Mbps, which appears to be the camera’s USB 2 control/sensor interface.
  • macOS AVFoundation reports no ZED video device or video formats.
  • Because no video interface is enumerated, there is no device available for a bounded AVFoundation capture test.
  • On the Raspberry Pi, the ZED similarly appears only as its HID interface.
  • No /dev/video* UVC side-by-side ZED video node is created.
  • The Pi’s USB topology showed the connected hub operating at 480 Mbps, while the available 5000 Mbps SuperSpeed buses were empty.
  • The Render Studio ZED image endpoint consequently returns HTTP 503 / camera not detected.
  • The two separate Arducam wrist cameras work correctly through the same camera system and return live 960×600 JPEG frames. This confirms that the Pi camera publisher, Mac proxy, network connection, and Render Studio camera wall are functioning.
  • We updated the Pi publisher to automatically discover a ZED UVC side-by-side video node if one appears. It continues to report the ZED as unavailable because no video node exists.
  • We also updated the wrist-camera discovery after moving USB connections, confirming that USB topology changes are detected correctly.
  • We investigated Mac CUDA compatibility software, but it did not change the result. The immediate failure appears to occur before CUDA or the ZED SDK is involved because the operating system never exposes the camera’s USB video interface.
  • We did not install the official ZED SDK on the Raspberry Pi because Stereolabs documents its ARM/CUDA SDK for NVIDIA Jetson hardware. Our intended Pi fallback was standard UVC side-by-side color video. Depth and tracking would run on a supported NVIDIA/Jetson host.

Current observed state

The computer can see the ZED Mini’s Stereolabs HID/control input, so the camera is not completely absent. However, it cannot see any camera/video input. There is no UVC video interface, no AVFoundation camera, no /dev/video device, and therefore no image stream.

The strongest indication is that only the 12 Mbps HID interface is connected while the required SuperSpeed video interface is missing.

Could you please advise whether this points to:

  1. A USB cable that carries control but not SuperSpeed video.
  2. An incompatible USB-C adapter or hub.
  3. A camera firmware or USB-interface problem.
  4. A required macOS driver or permission step.
  5. A hardware fault in the ZED Mini or its cable.

We would also appreciate the recommended method for confirming that both the HID interface and SuperSpeed stereo-video interface are enumerating correctly on macOS.

These were the cables I bought to test, as mine didn’t come with a cable that I saw

2

Hi @wprojects,
Welcome to the StereoLabs community, and thank you for the detailed report.

The key detail is this one:

The ZED Mini is a composite device: the HID/IMU interface works on USB 2 (that is the 12 Mbps device you see), while the stereo video interface enumerates only on a USB 3 SuperSpeed link. If the SuperSpeed lanes are not established, the video interface does not appear, which is exactly what you observe on both hosts.

These are the most likely causes. Your topology shows the camera behind a USB 2 hub, so please connect the camera directly to a blue USB 3 port on the Raspberry Pi 5, with no hub or adapter in between. The LISEN 240W cable is a charging cable and, like most of them, it carries only USB 2 data, so please use the Cable Matters USB-A to USB-C cable for the test.

Before thinking about a hardware issue, please also try flipping the USB-C connector on the camera side and test a different USB 3 port. If the video interface still does not appear with a direct connection and a verified USB 3 cable, please write to support@stereolabs.com including the camera serial number, and we will investigate it.

No driver is required; the ZED Mini video interface is UVC compliant. Please note that macOS is not a supported platform for the ZED SDK, which requires an NVIDIA GPU (a PC with an NVIDIA graphics card or an NVIDIA Jetson).

On Linux, lsusb -t must show two StereoLabs devices (vendor ID 2b03): the HID at 12M and the video device at 5000M, and a /dev/video* node is created. On macOS, system_profiler SPUSBDataType must list both the “ZED-M Hid Device” and the ZED-M video device, the latter under a SuperSpeed (5 Gb/s) bus.

For the Raspberry Pi 5, once the video interface is enumerated, you can use our open-source ZED Open Capture library to grab the synchronized side-by-side stereo stream and the IMU data without CUDA.

You can find all the details about the camera on the ZED Mini product page on the StereoLabs website.

Myzhar

3

The ZED Mini is partially connected now. Its HID/IMU interface appears as:

2b03:f681 STEREOLABS ZED-M HID Interface — 12 Mbps

The stereo-video interface is still missing. The ZED is connected through the 480 Mbps hub, while both 5000 Mbps USB 3 buses remain empty.

Connect the ZED directly to a blue USB 3 port using the USB 3 data cable. Avoid the current hub.

No change yet. The ZED HID interface reconnects successfully, but only at 12 Mbps. Its stereo-video interface is absent, and both 5000 Mbps buses are empty.

This confirms the Pi and ZED control interface communicate, but the cable is not carrying the SuperSpeed lanes. Try a different verified USB 3 cable.

i flipped the cable and swapped it. from teh hub and still get this as a result

4

I’ve tried multiple cords, multiple directions, hub, no hub nothing ever connects.

5

I never got a usb cable with my camera on my order also, but i bought these, none of which worked in any order or combo, hub, no hub, adapter no adapter. I’ve been trying to get this to work for a month.

7

this is the last cable i tried as well, also didn’t work i still get the same thing every pc i try and every direction
LISEN USB C to USB C Cable, 240W Fast Charging Type C Charger Cord (6.6FT)

it wont let me post a link ti keeps flagging me

9

Hi @wprojects,

thank you for the additional tests, and I’m sorry it took this long without results.

I’ve tried multiple cords, multiple directions, hub, no hub nothing ever connects.

The Cable Matters USB-IF certified cable is a valid USB 3 cable, so with the camera connected directly to a blue USB 3 port of the Raspberry Pi 5 the video interface should enumerate on the 5000M bus. If it never appears with that cable, on three different hosts and in both connector orientations, the cable and the hosts are no longer the likely cause; this points to a fault on the camera side, such as the USB-C connector or the SuperSpeed interface of the ZED Mini.

Please note that the LISEN USB-C to USB-C cable is a charging cable that carries only USB 2 data, and the UGREEN adapters add a further point of failure, so they are not useful for this test.

As a last check, please connect the camera directly to a blue port of the Raspberry Pi 5 using the Cable Matters cable, run the following command before plugging it in, and post the full output:

sudo dmesg -w

followed by:

lsusb -t

A healthy ZED Mini shows a new SuperSpeed USB device line for the video interface; any USB 3 link error reported by the kernel will confirm the diagnosis.

I never got a usb cable with my camera on my order also

A ZED Mini purchased from us ships with two USB 3.0 Type-C to Type-A cables (4 m and 1.5 m), as listed on the ZED Mini store page. Since your camera came inside the WowRobo kit, the cables were probably not included by the reseller; I recommend asking WowRobo about them. Spare USB 3.0 Type-C cables are also available in the StereoLabs Accessories store.

If the dmesg output confirms that the video interface never enumerates, please write to support@stereolabs.com with the camera serial number (printed on the label on the camera), the WowRobo proof of purchase, the link to this thread, and the logs above, so that we can verify the warranty status and start the RMA procedure.

Myzhar

10

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I completed the additional checks. The ZED Mini still exposes only its HID interface:

Bus 004 Device 005: ID 2b03:f681 STEREOLABS ZED-M HID Interface
Product: ZED-M Hid Device
Manufacturer: STEREOLABS
SerialNumber: 14826248

The kernel reports:

usb 4-2.2: new full-speed USB device using xhci-hcd
usb 4-2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=2b03, idProduct=f681
usb 4-2.2: Product: ZED-M Hid Device
hid-generic: USB HID v1.11 Device [STEREOLABS ZED-M Hid Device]

No new SuperSpeed USB device message appears for the ZED video interface. The camera creates no /dev/video* nodes, and ZED Open Capture reports:

Cannot open camera video capture

I have tested multiple cables, connector orientations, ports, direct connections, and three different host computers. The HID interface is detected, but the video/SuperSpeed interface never enumerates.

The camera serial number is 14826248. The ZED Mini was supplied as part of a WowRobo kit, and the original Stereolabs USB cables were not included. Based on these results, it appears the camera’s USB-C connector or SuperSpeed interface has failed.

I emailed Stereolabs support with the proof of purchase, this thread, and the logs to request a warranty review or RMA. Please let me know if there are any additional diagnostics you need first. It’s from sam@render email (don’t want to share the rest for spam reasons, you’ll see me in there)

11

Quick question:

I’m choosing an onboard computer for an OpenArm 2.0 robot with a mobile base. I’m considering the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit 8GB with a USB ZED Mini—not the ZED X Mini (ZED-121210)—for depth sensing, alongside additional cameras for teleoperation and recording demonstrations.

Simulation and training would run in Isaac Lab on a separate cloud GPU machine. The Jetson would handle ROS 2, cameras, local perception, and eventually inference with a trained robot policy.

Before purchasing, could you confirm:

  • Is the USB ZED Mini fully supported on this kit, and which JetPack, ZED SDK, and ROS 2 wrapper versions do you recommend together?
  • What depth resolution, frame rate, and depth mode are realistic while leaving resources for robot control and other cameras?
  • Are there USB bandwidth, RAM, or video encoding limitations I should account for, particularly for recording and remote teleoperation?
  • Would you recommend the Orin Nano Super 8GB, or is Orin NX 16GB a better starting point for this workload? I’m also open to other suggestions for hardware, it just needs cuda. Let me know your thoughts on something compact. I was going to setup nvidia cloud to run the simulations on their hardware, but this would be a cheaper way to get a setup up and going.

I have the open arm 2.0 hand cameras. I’m looking for a tested, reliable configuration and would appreciate any benchmarks or example setups.

EDIT: Quick update, I did finally get the camera to work! Can you confirm the jetson will work though with the zed depth sensors ?

12

Does this happen even if you flip the Type C connector on the camera side?
Please note that the Type C connector is not flippable with the ZED Mini and it works only on one side.