Rviz, abbreviation for ROS visualization, is a powerful 3D visualization tool for ROS. It allows the user to view the simulated robot model, log sensor information from the robot's sensors, and replay the logged sensor information. By visualizing what the robot is seeing, thinking, and doing, the user can debug a robot application from sensor inputs to planned (or unplanned) actions.

Rviz displays 3D sensor data from stereo cameras, lasers, Kinects, and other 3D devices in the form of point clouds or depth images. 2D sensor data from webcams, RGB cameras, and 2D laser rangefinders can be viewed in rviz as image data.

If an actual robot is communicating with a workstation that is running rviz, rviz will display the robot's current configuration on the virtual robot model. ROS topics will be displayed as live representations based on the sensor data published by any cameras, infrared sensors, and laser scanners that are part of the robot's system. This can be useful to develop and debug...