Installation and Setup

This page describes how to prepare a Linux PC to build and run the Trossen SDK.

Supported Platforms

	Ubuntu 22.04	Ubuntu 24.04	Jetson (L4T)
x86_64	Yes	Yes	No
arm64/aarch64	No	No	Yes

System Dependencies

Install the base build toolchain and runtime libraries required by the SDK and its examples.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    cmake \
    libopencv-dev \
    libprotobuf-dev \
    protobuf-compiler \
    libfastcdr-dev \
    libfastrtps-dev \
    ffmpeg

Apache Parquet

The LeRobot V2 conversion tool writes Parquet files, so Apache Arrow and Parquet development libraries are required. Install them from the Apache Arrow APT repository.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y -V ca-certificates lsb-release wget
wget -P /tmp https://packages.apache.org/artifactory/arrow/$(lsb_release --id --short | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z')/apache-arrow-apt-source-latest-$(lsb_release --codename --short).deb
sudo apt install -y -V /tmp/apache-arrow-apt-source-latest-$(lsb_release --codename --short).deb
rm /tmp/apache-arrow-apt-source-latest-$(lsb_release --codename --short).deb
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y -V \
    libarrow-dev \
    libarrow-dataset-dev \
    libparquet-dev

Note

This was tested on Ubuntu 24.04. On other Ubuntu releases, the Apache Arrow APT repo name is derived automatically from lsb_release.

Trossen Arm Library

The SDK links against libtrossen_arm. Follow the C++ installation steps in the Trossen Arm software setup guide before building the SDK.

Stereolabs ZED (Optional, Jetson Only)

Stereolabs ZED cameras use GMSL connectors and are supported on NVIDIA Jetson platforms only. Install the ZED SDK by following the official installation guide.

RealSense (Optional, On by Default)

RealSense camera support is enabled by default. Install the RealSense SDK 2.0 by following the librealsense distribution guide.

Note

The two important packages from the RealSense repository are librealsense2-dev and librealsense2-utils. realsense-viewer only needs librealsense2-utils, but find_package(realsense2) in CMake needs the headers and CMake config from librealsense2-dev. If realsense-viewer works but the SDK build fails to find RealSense, it means the runtime is installed but the dev package is missing.

Note

RealSense depth capture is supported alongside RGB, but enabling it significantly increases USB bandwidth. When running multiple cameras, prefer short, high-quality USB 3.0 cables and distribute cameras across independent USB host controllers.

Audio Announcements (Optional)

The SDK announces episode lifecycle events via text-to-speech using spd-say. Install it for hands-free audio cues during recording.

sudo apt-get install -y speech-dispatcher

If spd-say is not installed, announcements are silently skipped.

Building the SDK

Standard Build

git clone https://github.com/TrossenRobotics/trossen_sdk.git
cd trossen_sdk
mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

The build produces:

The example recording binaries in build/examples/.
The conversion tool build/scripts/trossen_mcap_to_lerobot_v2.
The replay tool build/scripts/replay_trossen_mcap_jointstate.

Enabling Stereolabs ZED Support

Stereolabs ZED camera support is off by default. On a Jetson platform, enable it with:

cmake .. -DTROSSEN_ENABLE_ZED=ON
make -j$(nproc)

Disabling RealSense

RealSense support is on by default. If you are building without librealsense installed, or are not using RealSense cameras, disable it explicitly.

cmake .. -DTROSSEN_ENABLE_REALSENSE=OFF
make -j$(nproc)

Convenience Targets

The top-level Makefile wraps the most common CMake invocations. From the repo root:

make build           # Standard build
make test            # Build and run tests
make realsense       # Shortcut for -DTROSSEN_ENABLE_REALSENSE=ON

Verifying the Install

Run the solo example with the default config to verify the binary launches and loads the JSON config.

./build/examples/trossen_solo_ai --dump-config

--dump-config prints the merged configuration (JSON plus any --set overrides) and exits without touching hardware. If this prints a valid config, your build is good.

What’s Next

Now that the SDK is installed, continue to Configuration to learn how to describe your robot in a single JSON file.