Point Cloud Library (PCL)
- Software
- Perception
- Library
A standalone open-source library for processing 2D and 3D images and point clouds, aimed at robotics and research work.
Made by Point Cloud Library (PCL).
Source on GitHub: github.com/PointCloudLibrary/pcl (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 66e1d0e (opens in a new tab).
Licenses
- Code
- BSD-3-Clause (opens in a new tab)
Read by Robotheca from LICENSE.txt (opens in a new tab) (BSD-3-Clause) at commit 66e1d0e (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.
- Commercial use
- Yes
What it does
- Provides a large set of algorithms for processing 2D images and 3D point clouds.
- Is a standalone project, independent of other frameworks.
- Is supported by a consortium of commercial companies and a non-profit organization, Open Perception.
- Has platform-specific compiling tutorials for Linux, macOS and Windows.
- Offers tutorials and documentation, and community help through Stack Overflow and a Discord server.
- Asks researchers who use it to cite the 2011 ICRA paper.
Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 66e1d0e.
Getting started
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- How to start
- The project's website (opens in a new tab)
Maintenance
- Status
- Active: a commit in the last 90 days
- Newest commit
- 10 Oct 2026 on master
- Latest release
- PCL 1.15.1 (26 Aug 2025)
Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.
Links
Robots on Robotheca that use it
No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.
Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.