Best framework for a autonomous mobile robot for agriculture (ROS, Isaac ROS, ISAAC Engine and NVIDIA DRIVE SDK)

Hello,

I’m developing a autonomous mobile robot for agriculture and I found multiple possibilities for the framework like ROS, Isaac ROS, ISAAC Engine and NVIDIA DRIVE SDK.

I use the chat-gpt for give a input, where is a output:

  1. ROS (Robot Operating System):
  • Pros:
    • Extensive community support and a large ecosystem of packages and libraries.
    • Wide hardware compatibility.
    • Well-established and widely adopted in the robotics community.
  • Cons:
    • Performance may vary depending on hardware configurations.
    • Limited real-time capabilities.
    • Integration with advanced hardware features may require additional effort.
  1. Isaac ROS (ROS + NVIDIA’s Isaac SDK):
  • Pros:
    • Combines the power of ROS with the advanced capabilities of the Isaac SDK.
    • Enables integration with NVIDIA GPUs and their optimized algorithms.
    • Offers additional features like perception, planning, and control.
  • Cons:
    • Relatively newer framework compared to ROS.
    • Smaller community compared to ROS, which may result in fewer available packages and resources.
  1. NVIDIA DRIVE SDK:
  • Pros:
    • Specifically designed for autonomous driving systems.
    • Provides a comprehensive set of tools, libraries, and APIs.
    • Optimized for NVIDIA hardware, including GPUs and AI accelerators.
  • Cons:
    • Focused primarily on autonomous driving applications, may not cover a broad range of robotics applications.
    • Limited compatibility with non-NVIDIA hardware platforms.
    • May require additional effort for integration with other robotics frameworks or libraries.
  1. ISAAC Engine:
  • Pros:
    • High-performance robotics engine optimized for NVIDIA GPUs.
    • Core capabilities include perception, planning, control, and simulation.
    • Leverages advanced algorithms and efficient GPU computing.
  • Cons:
    • Requires additional effort for integration with other frameworks like ROS.
    • Smaller ecosystem and community compared to ROS.

If I choose ROS, I can start with ROS Standalone and in the future install Isaac ROS? You have some recommended documentation for that?

Thanks!

That’s an interesting summary, mostly accurate too. Yes, if you choose ROS 2 Humble (standalone), you can run Isaac ROS packages seamlessly thanks to NITROS (NVIDIA Isaac Transport for ROS) which allows nodes to communicate with zero-GPU memory copy overhead while remaining compatible for non-NITROS subscribers such as debug tooling or other ROS 2 nodes. You can get started here with Isaac ROS.

OK thanks :)
But if I have a camera that isn’t supported official by Isaac ROS, but have a official package to ROS (Standalone) I can use it with ISAAC and NITROS?

Other question, I see that you have only Stereo Slam, I can’t use Mono Slam with Isaac?

You recommend some stack of packages for a mobile autonomous robot? Like packages for logging, dashboard, visualization, …

Thanks for your help!