> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://qualcomm-3.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Enable basic RPLIDAR handling with rplidar-ros2

The `rplidar-ros2` sample application provides basic device handling for the 2D laser scanner RPLIDAR A1/A2/A3/S1/S2/S3.

## **Pipeline flow for** `rplidar-ros2`

The figure shows the pipeline of the rplidar-ros2 sample. The sample application gets the driver data from the `rplidar` SDK, and then publishes the `/scan` topic.

<img
  src="https://mintcdn.com/qualcomm-3/yGkP9qWXD9bU7DYB/SDKs/QIR-SDK-2.0/media/80-65220-2-qirp-sdk-qsg/rplidar-ros2-pipeline.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=yGkP9qWXD9bU7DYB&q=85&s=1d3addcf414b61e581b01dd688a37017"
  style={{
width: "60%",
display: "block",
margin: "0 auto" }}
  width="362"
  height="402"
  data-path="SDKs/QIR-SDK-2.0/media/80-65220-2-qirp-sdk-qsg/rplidar-ros2-pipeline.svg"
/>

<p style={{ textAlign: 'center', fontWeight: 'bold' }}>
  Figure : rplidar-ros2 pipeline
</p>

## ROS topics used in the `rplidar-ros2 ` pipeline

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th style={{ width: '15%' }}>ROS topic</th>
      <th style={{ width: '25%' }}>Message type</th>
      <th style={{ width: '25%' }}>Published/Subscribed by</th>
      <th style={{ width: '40%' }}>Description</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>`/scan`</td>
      <td>`sensor_msgs::msg::LaserScan`</td>
      <td>Published by `rplidar-ros2`</td>
      <td>The `/scan` topic publishes the laser scan data from the RPLIDAR.</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

## Prerequisites

* You have **Set up the device** according to [Set up the environment for running sample applications](./set-up-env-for-sample-app).

* Connect the power supply and USB port of RPLIDAR A3M1.

## Run out-of-the-box `rplidar-ros2`

1. To set up the QIR SDK and ROS2 environment on the device and run `rplidar-ros2`, start a terminal and run the following commands:

```bash theme={null}
ssh root@[ip-addr]
(ssh) source /usr/share/qirp-setup.sh
(ssh) ros2 launch rplidar_ros rplidar_a3_launch.py
```

Example terminal logs showing successful node startup

```bash theme={null}
[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/ubuntu/.ros/log/2026-08-12-02-11-07-846867-ubuntu-3237
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [rplidar_node-1]: process started with pid [3241]
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.361267056] [rplidar_node]: RPLidar running on ROS2 package rplidar_ros. RPLIDAR SDK Version:2.0.0
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.407724891] [rplidar_node]: RPLidar S/N: FBE59AF2C1EA9FC0BEEB9CF374363200
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.407786032] [rplidar_node]: Firmware Ver: 1.26
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.407803166] [rplidar_node]: Hardware Rev: 6
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.459542330] [rplidar_node]: RPLidar health status : 0
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.459631645] [rplidar_node]: RPLidar health status : OK.
[rplidar_node-1] [INFO] [1786500668.759812227] [rplidar_node]: current scan mode: Sensitivity, sample rate: 16 Khz, max_distance: 25.0 m, scan frequency:10.0 Hz,
```

2. To check the topic output, run the following command:

```bash theme={null}
ros2 topic echo /scan
```

**Result:**

```bash theme={null}
header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1786520383
    nanosec: 374856817
  frame_id: laser
angle_min: -3.1241390705108643
angle_max: 3.1415927410125732
angle_increment: 0.0034828970674425364
time_increment: 0.0009069791412912309
scan_time: 1.6316554546356201
range_min: 0.15000000596046448
range_max: 25.0
ranges:
- 0.37400001287460327
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.37400001287460327
- 0.37400001287460327
- 0.37400001287460327
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.375
- 0.37599998712539673
- 0.37599998712539673
- 0.375
- 0.37599998712539673
...
```

3. RViz visualization screenshots showing

<img
  src="https://mintcdn.com/qualcomm-3/0-0NIxeYSFeijDNR/SDKs/QIR-SDK-2.0/media/80-65220-2-qirp-sdk-qsg/rviz_laser.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=0-0NIxeYSFeijDNR&q=85&s=4b75344c9dc16ebd014568b034010ee2"
  style={{
width: "60%",
display: "block",
margin: "0 auto" }}
  width="1920"
  height="1080"
  data-path="SDKs/QIR-SDK-2.0/media/80-65220-2-qirp-sdk-qsg/rviz_laser.png"
/>

<p style={{ textAlign: 'center', fontWeight: 'bold' }}>
  Figure : visualization on RViz
</p>