Version: ROS 2 Humble

Velodyne Puck

Item Numbers

Description	CPR Item	Sales Kit	Installation Kit, With Fasteners
Velodyne Puck sensor	011703	—	—
Velodyne Puck sensor, with M12 connector	020972	026859	027206
Velodyne Puck sensor, with M12 connector, 90° vertical mounting	020972	026965	027222

Specifications

Description	Value
Mass	830 g
Voltage, Minimum	9 V
Voltage, Maximum	18 V
Voltage, Sensor	12 V
Power, Average	8 W
Data	Ethernet, 100 Mbit/s
Range, Minimum	0.9 m
Range, Maximum	100 m
Range, Accuracy	±3 cm
View, Horizontal	360°
View, Vertical	±15°
Resolution, Horizontal	0.4°
Resolution, Vertical	2°
Ingress Protection, Solids	6
Ingress Protection, Liquids	7
Operating Temperature, Min	-10 °C
Operating Temperature, Max	60 °C

Software Bringup

This sensor is included in the Clearpath Robotics robot package that is installed on all of our robots. This allows you to add or remove the sensor from your robot's software description by modifying the robot configuration yaml.

# Model VLP16
lidar3d:
  - model: velodyne_lidar
    urdf_enabled: true
    launch_enabled: true
    parent: base_link
    xyz: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
    rpy: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
    ros_parameters:
      velodyne_driver_node:
        frame_id: lidar3d_0_laser
        device_ip: 192.168.131.25
        port: 2368
        model: VLP16
      velodyne_transform_node:
        model: VLP16
        fixed_frame: lidar3d_0_laser
        target_frame: lidar3d_0_laser
# Model 32C
lidar3d:
  - model: velodyne_lidar
    urdf_enabled: true
    launch_enabled: true
    parent: base_link
    xyz: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
    rpy: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
    ros_parameters:
      velodyne_driver_node:
        frame_id: lidar3d_0_laser
        device_ip: 192.168.131.25
        port: 2368
        model: 32C
      velodyne_transform_node:
        model: 32C
        calibration: "/opt/ros/humble/share/\
          velodyne_pointcloud/params/VeloView-VLP-32C.yaml"
        fixed_frame: lidar3d_0_laser
        target_frame: lidar3d_0_laser

Package and Setup

The Velodyne LiDARs use the velodyne_driver ROS 2 Package. The driver is open source, maintained by the ROS community, and hosted on GitHub. Unlike other drivers, the visual description of the device is hosted in a separate repository. The description package, along with the simulator, is maintained by Dataspeed and hosted on BitBucket.

For more specifics on the way Clearpath's configuration system launches the velodyne_driver, see the Velodyne launch file and the default parameter file in clearpath_sensors.

Model

There are several types of Velodyne LiDAR. To switch between these, the model parameter must be set under the both the velodyne_driver_node and the velodyne_transform_node, and the calibration parameter must be set under the velodyne_transform_node.

Name	Model	Calibration
Puck	"VLP16"	"VLP16db.yaml"
Puck Hi-Res	"VLP16"	"VLP16_hires_db.yaml"
Ultra Puck	"32C"	"VeloView-VLP-32C.yaml"
VLS-128	"VLS128"	"VLS128.yaml"
HDL-32E	"32E"	"32db.yaml"
HDL-64E	"64E"	"64e_utexas.yaml"
HDL-64ES2	"64E_S2"	"64e_s2.1-sztaki.yaml"
HDL-64ES3	"64E_S3"	"64e_s3-xiesc.yaml"

When setting the calibration parameter, prepend the path /opt/ros/humble/share/velodyne_pointcloud/params/ to the calibration file name in the table above.

Troubleshooting

Clearpath is committed to your success. Please get in touch with us and we will do our best to get you rolling again quickly: support@clearpathrobotics.com.

To get in touch with a salesperson regarding Clearpath Robotics products, please email research-sales@clearpathrobotics.com.

If you have an issue that is specifically about ROS and is something which may be of interest to the broader community, consider asking it on https://robotics.stackexchange.com. If you do not get a satisfactory response, please ping us and include a link to your question as posted there. If appropriate, we will answer in the ROS Answers context for the benefit of the community.

Item Numbers​

Specifications​

Software Bringup​

Package and Setup​

Model​

Troubleshooting​

Further Reading​