Understanding ROS – PCL interfacing packages
The point cloud is a group of 3D points in space that represent a 3D shape/object. Each point in the point cloud data is represented using X, Y, and Z values. Also, more than just a point in space, it can hold values such as RGB or HSV at each point (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_cloud). The PCL library is an open source project for performing 3D point cloud processing.
Like OpenCV, it is under the BSD license, and free for academic and commercial purposes. It is also a cross-platform package that has support in Linux, Windows, macOS, and Android/iOS.
The library consists of standard algorithms for filtering, segmentation, feature estimation, and so on, which are required to implement different point cloud-based applications. The main web page of the point cloud library can be found at http://pointclouds.org/.
Point cloud data can be acquired by sensors such as Kinect, Asus Xtion Pro, Intel RealSense, and others...
