Using the Slicer ROS 2 module

In a terminal navigate to your Slicer inner build directory (cd). Then:

source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash # or whatever your ROS 2 workspace is
# you can ignore the error message related to slicer_ros2_module/local_setup.bash
./Slicer

Note

The first time you run Slicer, you need to add the module directory should be in the application settings so that it can be loaded.

To do so, open Slicer and navigate through the menus:

Edit → Application Settings → Modules → Additional module paths → Add:

~ros2_ws/build/slicer_ros2_module/lib/Slicer-4.13/qt-loadable-modules

At that point, Slicer will offer to restart. Do so and then load the module using the button:

Modules → Examples → Ros2

The module’s interface will appear on the left side of Slicer. You should leave the first two drop-down menus as-is, i.e. State should be tf2 and Description should be parameter.

The defaults /robot_state_publisher and robot_description should work for most cases so leave these as-is too.

To activate your selection, just hit “Enter” in the /robot_state_publisher box. Please note that we plan to improve this user interface.

At that point, the robot’s model should be loaded and displayed in Slicer.