🛡️ Robust RPLIDAR ROS 2 Driver (Industrial-Grade)

[!CAUTION] BETA VERSION Please use with caution in production environments. Issues and PRs are highly welcome!

“Because the official driver shouldn’t crash just because you pulled the plug.”

This is a heavily refactored, fault-tolerant ROS 2 driver for Slamtec RPLIDAR. Designed with a Lifecycle State Machine and Thread-Safe Architecture, ensuring your robot keeps running even under hardware disconnection or permission failures.

⚡ Why Use This? (Table of Shame)

🧪 Call for Experiments: “Does it survive?”

I need your help to validate this driver on various robots! If you use this driver, please stress-test it (e.g., unplug USB while scanning, change RPM dynamically) and share your results.

📢 How to Submit a Report

Please open an issue with the title [Experiment] Your_Robot_Name and include:

1. Lidar Model: (e.g., A1, A2, S1…)
2. Recovery Log: (Copy paste the terminal output when you unplug/replug)
3. Screenshot: rqt_graph or rviz2

👉 Submit your Experiment Report Here

🚀 Getting Started

1. Installation

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/frozenreboot/rplidar_driver.git
cd ..

# Install dependencies
sudo apt update
rosdep update
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

# Build the workspace
colcon build --symlink-install

2. Quick Launch

ros2 launch rplidar_driver rplidar.launch.py serial_port:=/dev/ttyUSB0

3. Dynamic Reconfigure (Runtime)

You can change the motor speed without killing the node:

ros2 param set /rplidar_node rpm 1000
ros2 param set /rplidar_node scan_mode DenseBoost

🏗️ Architecture

This driver uses a 3-Layer Design to decouple ROS 2 logic from the vendor SDK.

• Node Layer: Handles Lifecycle & Parameters.

• Wrapper Layer: Handles Threading & Mutex.

• SDK Layer: Raw data fetching.

👤 Author & Maintainer

• frozenreboot - Initial Refactoring & Architecture Design

File truncated at 100 lines see the full file

Changelog for package rplidar_driver

Forthcoming

• Added GTest-based test infrastructure, including mock driver tests and lifecycle/publication tests.
• Added driver state and driver sequence documentation.
• Updated README to mark the current release status as beta and document related cautions.
• Clarified that the angle_offset parameter is specified in radians, following REP-103.
• Removed the angle_offset launch argument and rely on YAML parameters instead.
• Fixed QoS parameter inconsistency by initializing the QoS parameter and applying the configured policy.
• Added governance documentation and maintainer information.
• Added an AI disclosure section for OSRF compliance.
• Contributors: frozenreboot, cosmicog

v1.3.0 (2026-01-18)

• Added scan interpolation via the [interpolated_rays]{.title-ref} parameter to generate high-density, mathematical line-segment-based measurements.
• Added [publish_point_cloud]{.title-ref} and [intensities_as_angles]{.title-ref} parameters for debugging and analysis.
• Added configurable ROS 2 QoS profiles via the [qos_policy]{.title-ref} parameter.
• Deprecated [scan_processing]{.title-ref} in favor of the explicit [interpolated_rays]{.title-ref} parameter.
• Removed the [inverted]{.title-ref} parameter. Use TF or [angle_offset]{.title-ref} instead.
• Set the default [scan_mode]{.title-ref} to [Standard]{.title-ref} to prevent ghost points on S-series devices.
• Fixed segmentation faults in [dummy_mode]{.title-ref} caused by unsafe dynamic casting.
• Fixed an index out-of-bounds crash in the interpolation loop.
• Fixed [LifecycleNode]{.title-ref} activation issues where publishers remained silent after state transition.
• Fixed a [TypeError]{.title-ref} in the composition launch file.
• Contributors: cosmicog, frozenreboot

v1.2.0 (2026-01-09)

• Updated copyright years to 2026.
• Fixed scan data mirroring issue where left and right were inverted.
• Fixed launch arguments overriding parameter file settings.
• Contributors: frozenreboot

v1.1.0 (2026-01-06)

• Refactored [RPlidarNode]{.title-ref} into a [rclcpp_component]{.title-ref} to enable component composition and improve IPC performance.
• Added diagnostics for frequency and connection status via [diagnostic_updater]{.title-ref}.
• Updated scan data output to use [Inf]{.title-ref} for out-of-range measurements according to REP-117.
• Contributors: frozenreboot

v1.0.1 (2026-01-03)

• Fixed diagnostic messages when the driver is in a disconnected state.
• Contributors: frozenreboot