ROS Data Analyzer

Visualize messages from live ROS or ROS 2 topics and bag files

Since R2023a

Description

The ROS Data Analyzer app allows you to visualize messages from live ROS or ROS 2 topics and bag files. Within the app, you can create multiple viewers to simultaneously visualize different ROS or ROS 2 messages from a live topic or a bag file. Additionally, you can assign a unique tag to any ROS or ROS 2 bag file, serving as an identifier for that file. The app also enables you to bookmark specific events when reviewing messages from a bag file. You can then search any bag file by filtering through tags, bookmarks, or the types of visualizers used.

You can open the following viewers using the app, which support the given message types in the table.

Types of Viewer

Viewer	Viewer Icon	Interface	Description
Image Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `sensor_msgs/Image` or `sensor_msgs/CompressedImage` message type. Select Image Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the image. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan the image in all directions.
Point Cloud Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `sensor_msgs/PointCloud2` message type. Select Point Cloud Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the point cloud message. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the message in 3D.
Laser Scan Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `sensor_msgs/LaserScan` message type. Select Laser Scan Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the laser scan message. Use the options on the top to zoom in and out, pan, and rotate the message 3D.
Odometry Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `nav_msgs/Odometry` message type. Select Odometry Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the odometry message. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot in the trajectory. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
XY Plot Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `geometry_msgs/Point` or `nav_msgs/Odometry` message type. Select XY Plot Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize how the numeric message field changes across the XY axes. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot across the XY axes. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
Time Plot Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing `geometry_msgs/Point` or `nav_msgs/Odometry` message type. Select Time Plot Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize how the numeric message field changes with respect to time. See the indicator to view the instantaneous location of the robot. Use the top-right corner options to zoom in and out, and pan in all directions.
Message Viewer			Load a bag file or open a live network containing any message type. Select Message Viewer from the toolstrip and choose the data source from the drop down to visualize the raw message stored in the bag file or the live topic.

For each viewer, you can filter the supported messages in the bag file for visualization. You can fast forward, and rewind based on the message timestamp or elapsed time while playing the bag file. You can also pause, and play the bag frame-by-frame. The app also displays information about the bag file contents after loading the bag file. You can also save a snapshot of the visualization window at any particular instance of time.

Open the ROS Data Analyzer App

MATLAB^® Toolstrip: On the Apps tab, under Robotics and Autonomous Systems, click the app icon .
MATLAB command prompt: Enter rosDataAnalyzer.

Examples

Programmatic Use

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`rosDataAnalyzer`

rosDataAnalyzer opens the ROS Data Analyzer app, which enables you to visualize messages in a ROS or ROS 2 bag file.

Version History

Introduced in R2023a

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R2024a: App renamed to ROS Data Analyzer

The ROS Bag Viewer app has been renamed to ROS Data Analyzer.

R2024a: Play and visualize live data from topics in ROS and ROS 2, and add tags and search bag files

You can now use the ROS Data Analyzer app to play live data from topics in ROS and ROS 2. You can also add tags to ROS and ROS 2 bag files and search across all the recently opened ones using these filters:

Tags added to bag files
Bookmarks added to bag files
Visualizers open in the last session with the bag file loaded in the app

R2023b: Enable visualizing ROS 2 bag files and 3-D odometry plots, adding bookmarks, and saving and importing sessions

You can now use the ROS Bag Viewer app to visualize ROS 2 Bag files and add 3-D odometry plots to visualize nav_msgs/Odometry messages. You can also add bookmarks while visualizing bag file data.

The app now automatically saves the visualization session including the plots and bookmarks for a ROS or ROS 2 bag file, when you close the app or load a new bag file. It restores the data when you load the same bag file again.