librealsense is an open-source, cross-platform C++ library (Linux, Windows, Mac) for easily capturing data from Intel® RealSense™ depth cameras. The API is designed for accessibility to researchers, creative coders, and app developers in domains such as robotics, augmented/virtual reality, and machine learning.

librealsense originally started as a 20% project in an attempt to use RealSense™ depth cameras on macOS. Previously, the APIs for device streaming and control were clunky and only supported on Windows. I took the situation as a challenge to write a user-space USB driver on MacOS/Linux alongside a simplistic API. After hacking on code for a few months, the project gained traction among several senior engineers; somewhere along the way, I temporarily adopted the role of product manager to graduate the API to a formally maintained and supported project.

As of 2017, librealsense is the production software implementation for all RealSense™ cameras, and has been rebranded as the replacement to the former RealSense™ SDK.

» A 3D reconstruction of a room using data captured by the library.