RTAB-Map (Real-Time Appearance-Based Mapping) is a graph-based SLAM library and standalone application for robot mapping and localization.
It is designed to work with visual and range sensors and uses incremental appearance-based loop closure detection to recognise when a robot revisits a previously mapped location. Accepted loop closures add constraints to the map graph, which can then be optimised to reduce accumulated positioning error. A memory-management strategy limits the number of locations considered during loop detection and graph optimisation, helping the system remain practical for large environments. RTAB-Map can be used as a standalone graphical application or integrated into a wider robotics stack, with data stored in project databases that can be inspected, replayed and processed by accompanying tools.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Supports RGB-D cameras, stereo cameras and 3D lidar for mapping.
- Provides six-degree-of-freedom mapping for handheld sensors and mobile robots.
- Uses bag-of-words appearance matching for loop closure detection.
- Includes graph optimisation after loop closures are accepted.
- Records live sensor streams into RTAB-Map databases.
- Exports assembled point clouds, meshes, textured meshes and camera imagery.
- Generates 2D occupancy grids and exports estimated poses.
- Includes tools for inspecting database contents, parameters and per-node statistics.
- Can report mapping statistics including timing information, loop closures and error against ground truth.
- Provides a Qt-based graphical interface alongside command-line utilities.
- Integrates with ROS for robotic mapping and navigation workflows.
Website: github.com/introlab/rtabmap
Support:
Developer: Mathieu Labbé / IntRoLab
License: BSD 3-Clause “New” or “Revised” License
RTAB-Map is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Robotics Software | |
|---|---|
| NASA Vision Workbench | Image processing in the context of machine vision |
| DART | Dynamic Animation and Robotics Toolkit |
| Gazebo Sim | Robot simulation made easy |
| AprilTag | Visual fiducial system popular for robotics research |
| Webots | Multi-platform desktop application used to simulate robots |
| ROS | Software framework for building robot applications |
| ARGoS | Physics-based simulator designed to simulate robot swarms |
| RTAB-Map | Graph-based SLAM software for 3D mapping and navigation |
| MoveIt | Robotic manipulation platform for ROS 2 |
| OpenRTM-aist | Component-oriented development of robot systems |
| ROSboard | Lightweight web dashboard for visualizing ROS data |
| Vizanti | Web-based visualizer and mission planner for ROS robots |
| Choreonoid | Integrated graphical framework for robotics development |
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