SLAM algorithm used by ZED

Software
1

Is there any documentation/paper on the SLAM algorithm used by ZED and its comparison to other state-of-the-art algorithms?

2

Hi @sobmoyen
the Positional Tracking module of the ZED SDK uses Visual Inertial Odometry algorithms with loop closure that have been internally developed upon years of R&D in this field.
Unfortunately, this is closed information and I cannot reveal more.

1 Like
3

Hi @Myzhar ,
Is that possible to save the “map”(feature map?) and load it again later using ROS2 interface?

4

Yes, you can.
You must set area_memory to true and a valid path for area_memory_db_path`:

5

I faced 2 problems, the very first area file sould be generated directly from the sdk and not ros2 interface(right?)
when I ran spatial_mapping.py I generated .obj file, is the requested area file?
then I provided the full path to the .obj file:
area_memory_db_path: ‘/home/ori/ros2_ws/mesh_gen.obj’
but still it got [ERROR] Unable to load area file

6

You can also use the ROS 2 Wrapper to generate it.

No, that’s from the spatial mapping module, not from the localization module.

This is wrong indeed. Please do not confuse Spatial Mapping with Positional Tracking.

The documentation provides all the required information.

7

Thanks! I managed to create area file and obj file, both directly from the sdk(the python files exmaple),

  1. I ran the ROS2 wrapper with mapping and positional tracking enabled in the config file, but no area and obj file created(I can see the tracking and mapping in RVIZ). how can I store them?
  2. from the mesh I generated using the sdk, I want to voxelize it for path planning, is there a tool or recommended way to do it?