In this chapter we have given an overview of the computer vision tools provided by ROS. We started by showing how to connect and run several types of cameras, particularly FireWire and the USB ones. The basic functionality to change their parameters is presented, so now you can adjust some parameters to obtain images of good quality. Additionally, we provided a complete USB camera driver example.
Then, we moved to the camera calibration topic. With this you have learned how easy it is to calibrate a camera. The importance of calibration is the ability to correct the distortion of wide angle cameras, particularly cheap ones. Also, the calibration matrix allows you to perform many computer vision tasks, such as visual odometry or perception.
We have shown how to work with stereo vision in ROS, and how to set up an easy solution with two inexpensive webcams. We have also explained the image pipeline and several APIs that work with computer vision in ROS, such as cv_bridge
, ImageTransport...