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Using the Cameras

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rethink-cgindel edited this page Nov 13, 2013 · 5 revisions

Using the Cameras

Summary

There are three cameras available local to Baxter. A single camera is located in either of Baxter's hands, the 'left_hand_camera' and the 'right_hand_camera'. A third camera is available on Baxter's head, the 'head_camera'. Users are provided the ability to adjust a number of parameters describing the cameras operation.

General Info / Guide

The three available cameras 'left_hand_camera', 'right_hand_camera', and 'head_camera' are exposed with the ability to adjust parameters describing its operation.

These include the ability to modify:

  • Frame Width and Height to supported operating modes.
  • Frame Rate (fps)
  • Windowing
  • Binning
  • Exposure
  • Gain
  • White Balance

Important Note: Due to limited bandwidth capabilities only two cameras can be operating simultaneously. Starting a camera while both of the other cameras are in operation will result in an error, and the camera will not open.

Important Note: Default behavior on Baxter startup is for both of the hand cameras to be in operation at a resolution of 320x200 at a framerate of 25 fps.

Supported Frame Size Modes: Frame sizes at which the cameras will operate.

  • 1280x800
  • 960x600
  • 640x400
  • 480x300
  • 384x240
  • 320x200

When opening a camera at an unsupported frame width and height:
Using the camera_control.py example - Exit with the ValueError: Invalid Camera mode.
Using the baxter_inteface camera.py API - The camera driver will open with the mode closest to the specified frame width and height.
Directly using the service calls - The camera driver will open with mode closest to the specified frame width and height.

Resources

ROS API

See the API Reference Page for information on the ROS Interface to the Cameras.

Python API (baxter_interface)

CameraController class: camera.py

Examples

Input and Output

  • Camera Control Example
    • Demonstrates usage for listing, opening, and closing the available cameras.
  • View Cameras Example
    • Use this simple ROS program from the command line to view the image stream from a camera. The example shows you how to use the 'image_view' tool with the Baxter camera topics.

Tools

  • rviz (ROS)
    • The ROS visualizer, rviz, is a great tool for viewing multiple cameras and data streams at once. You can also use the Camera Display Type to render the view of the (virtual) world from the perspective of one of Baxter's cameras.
  • image_view (ROS)
    • A light-weight image viewer for ROS Images. Use this tool when you just want a quick, simple method to check the camera view or to save snapshots.

(Demos)

Learning More

(Tutorials/Walkthroughs)

Articles

Hardware Info

Tips for using the Component

“Methods”

  • ex: republish

<Related Pages/Topics>

See Also

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