Driver installation for Intel RealSense camera

The Intel RealSense camera series consist of RGBD-cameras, which deliver not only color pictures, but also depth pictures. Hence, it is possible to calculate the depth perception, 3D imaging, interior mapping, and feature tracking. The low cost and these features, makes this camera attractive in the field of robotics.

In order to use the RealSense cameras F200, R200, SR200, LR200 or ZR300 in a Linux environment the library librealsense is needed. Also the kernel needs to be patched. This patch is necessary, to add the right picture format into the Video4Linux driver. The librealsense library needs further libraries and a C++-compiler with complete C++11 support.

In order to keep the installation process as simple as possible, all the required libraries and components are set into one debian-paket. Using an installer, the complete installion is automated.

In case a manual installtion is wished, the instructions of the librealsense library are found on readme.

Note: The Intel RealSense camera is only compatible to a robotino 3(since 2014) and with an extra USB3 port. It is not compatible to the USB2 port.

Installation on Robotino OS 1.2.x (Ubuntu 12.04) systems

Note: The Intel RealSenes camera is not compatible to the ROS Version of Ubuntu 12.04. Hence, it is suggested to update the systems to Ubuntu 16.04.

Since the Intel RealSense camera driver needs a kernel update and another C++ compiler, the system will be modified by the installer as follows

• Installation of the provided kernel 4.4.0 (included in the installer).
• Inclusion of an inoffical paket repository (PPA), in order to use components of the C++-Compiler toolchain.
• Installation of the provided paket libglfw3 and librealsense (included in the installer).

Note: The installation of the provided kernel could be a small security issue. For official supported kernels, security updates are provided. For the provided kernel there will be not security updates prepared. Therefore, it is suggested to update the system to Ubuntu 16.04. To start the installation, the following commands need to be executed in a terminal. Internet connection is required:

wget http://doc.openrobotino.org/download/jebens/RealSense4Robotino_0.9.3-1_Kernel_4.4.0-36.55.bin
chmod +x *.bin
sudo ./RealSense4Robotino_0.9.3-1_Kernel_4.4.0-36.53.bin

After successful installtion, restart the computer.

Installation auf Robotino OS 2.0.x (Ubuntu 14.04) und Robotino OS 3.0.x (Ubuntu 16.04) Systemen

Um die Installation durchzuführen sind folgende Befehle in einem Terminal bei vorhandener Internet-Verbindung einzugeben:

wget http://doc.openrobotino.org/download/jebens/RealSense4Robotino_0.9.3-1_NoKernel.bin
chmod +x *.bin
sudo ./RealSense4Robotino_0.9.3-1_NoKernel.bin

Nach erfolgreicher Installation muss der Rechner neu gestartet werden.

Notwendige Schritte nach einer Aktualisierung des Kernels

Wurde der Kernel durch ein Update aktualisiert, so muss der Treiber für die Intel RealSense Kamera neu erstellt werden. Dies wird durch Aufruf des Skripts /usr/src/librealsense/patch_all_kernels.sh ermöglicht:

sudo /usr/src/librealsense/patch_all_kernels.sh

Wurde der Treiber für den aktuellen Kernel installiert, so ist ein Neustart des Rechners notwendig bevor die Intel RealSense Kamera benutzt werden kann.

Test der Kamera

Zum Testen der Kamera werden die mitgelieferten Beispielprogramme vom Installer installiert. Zunächst muss natürlich die Kamera angeschlossen werden. Anschließend kann man die 3d-Daten der Kamera bspw. mit dem Programm cpp-pointcloud in einem 3d-Viewer betrachten. Der Quellcode der Beispielprogramme befindet sich im Verzeichnis /usr/share/librealsense-examples/ und die vorbereiteten Beispielprogramme im Verzeichnis /usr/bin/.