360 Camera ROS 2 Minimal

This workspace is the minimal version of the project needed to run:

ros2 launch receive_theta receive_theta_sensorpod.launch

and publish:

• /camera/image
• /camera/image/compressed

Only the receive_theta ROS 2 package and the third-party camera dependencies needed by that package are kept.

Repository Layout

src/
  receive_theta/
    CMakeLists.txt
    package.xml
    launch/receive_theta_sensorpod.launch
    src/receiveTheta.cpp
    dependency/
      libuvc-theta/
      gstthetauvc/

System Dependencies

Install the GStreamer runtime and development packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install \
  libgstreamer1.0-0 \
  libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-base \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-good \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly \
  gstreamer1.0-libav \
  gstreamer1.0-tools \
  gstreamer1.0-x \
  gstreamer1.0-alsa \
  gstreamer1.0-gl \
  gstreamer1.0-gtk3 \
  gstreamer1.0-qt5 \
  gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio

Install the ROS and OpenCV dependencies used by receive_theta:

sudo apt install \
  ros-jazzy-cv-bridge \
  ros-jazzy-rclcpp \
  ros-jazzy-sensor-msgs \
  ros-jazzy-std-msgs \
  libopencv-dev

Build Third-Party Camera Dependencies

Build and install libuvc-theta:

cd src/receive_theta/dependency/libuvc-theta
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j
sudo cmake --install build
sudo ldconfig

Build and install the thetauvcsrc GStreamer plugin:

cd src/receive_theta/dependency/gstthetauvc/thetauvc
make
sudo make install

Verify the plugin is visible:

gst-inspect-1.0 thetauvcsrc

Build The Workspace

From the workspace root:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
colcon build --packages-select receive_theta --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
source install/setup.bash

Run

1. Plug the RICOH THETA camera into USB.
2. Power it on.
3. Switch it into live video mode.
4. Launch the node:

ros2 launch receive_theta receive_theta_sensorpod.launch

Verify Topics

ros2 topic list | grep /camera/image
ros2 topic hz /camera/image
ros2 topic echo /camera/image/compressed --once

Notes

• showImage:=true opens a preview window:

ros2 launch receive_theta receive_theta_sensorpod.launch showImage:=true

• The node subscribes to /imu/data for timestamp alignment. If there is no IMU input, image publishing still works and only timestamp compensation becomes less accurate.