I am building an outdoor robot that will be moving at walking speeds. It will traverse grassy terrain like a golf course. I was wondering if I could get some direction on which camera would best work with my robot. Would the the Zed 2i work or do I need the full size Zed X. It would be nice if the 2i would work as it is more plug and play, but I want to get the appropriate camera for the job. I will be using the camera for computer vision object recognition and slam navigation. I now the zed x also needs the glsl board to run. I am using the camera with a Jetson Orin Nano.
Hi @cbarb2747,
Thanks for reaching out, and for the clear description of your use case; it helps a lot.
For an outdoor robot moving at walking speed over grassy terrain like a golf course, running object recognition and SLAM on a Jetson Orin Nano, both cameras are technically viable, but the ZED X is the better fit for a field robot. The most important reason is the sensor type:
Global shutter (the decisive factor)
- The ZED X uses global shutter CMOS sensors, while the ZED 2i uses rolling shutter sensors.
- On a moving robot, rolling shutter introduces motion artifacts (skew and “jello” effect) because the image is read out line by line while the platform moves. This distorts geometry and degrades feature matching, which directly hurts SLAM accuracy and depth quality.
- A global shutter captures the whole frame at one instant, so the geometry stays consistent under motion. This is the single most important feature for a moving platform, and it is why the ZED X is the standard choice for mobile robotics.
Other ZED X advantages for field robots
- GMSL2 interface designed for robotics; cable runs up to 15 m with locking, vibration-resistant connectors, which matters on a platform that takes shocks and vibration.
- IP67-rated enclosure, so it handles dust and water immersion better than the 2i; a real advantage in wet grass and outdoor conditions.
- Tighter synchronization and lower-latency capture over GMSL2, which further benefits SLAM odometry.
- As you noted, it requires the GMSL2 capture card on the Jetson side; on the Orin Nano this is the standard way to bring the camera up.
ZED 2i
- USB 3.0, so it is more plug and play as you noted, and it has a built-in IMU, barometer, and magnetometer that are useful for fusion-based SLAM.
- IP66-rated, weatherproof against dust and water jets, though not rated for immersion.
- Beyond the rolling shutter limitation, the USB cable is the practical constraint outdoors: passive runs are short, and USB connectors are less robust to vibration than GMSL2 on a mobile platform.
For your scenario, my recommendation is the ZED X, primarily for the global shutter sensors, with the GMSL2 ruggedness and IP67 rating as additional benefits.
One thing to verify on the Orin Nano: please confirm the available compute headroom for your perception plus SLAM stack, since the Nano is the most constrained board in the Orin family. If you share your target frame rate, resolution, and the AI models you plan to run, I can advise on whether the Nano is sufficient or whether you should consider an Orin NX for margin.
For SLAM and positional tracking, both cameras are fully supported by the ZED SDK Positional Tracking module, and the ROS 2 wrapper supports both.