This video is part of TechXchange: ROS: Robot Operating System
This is a presentation and short overview of some ROS 2 courseware that's useful in learning about the open-source, Robot Operating System (ROS).
The company that created the tutorials and videos presented here is The Construct. There's a fee to access the more advanced courseware, but the company provides some free introduction courseware that's covered in this five-part video series (presented here and available on YouTube) that delve into the basics using Python 3 and ROS 2.
Electronic Design does not have a relationship with The Construct and I can only comment on the videos and tutorials mentioned here. I found these to be useful in getting an understanding of ROS 2 and experimenting with tools like the Gazebo simulator.
The first video, shown above, is about using ROS with Linux. The remaining four videos are listed below. Just click to play each one. The development environment is one that The Construct provides online. You need an account to use it and it's free to get started, which will be sufficient to follow along with the videos.
These videos run about two hours each. They are recordings of interactive sessions with other viewers. It means you might want to skip ahead on occasion, but it highlights issues you may run into while walking through the tutorials. These are the links to the courseware; you need to be logged in to access them.
This isn't the only way to learn about ROS 2 and Python, and it may not be for everyone. However, it does provide a nice environment and extensive tutorials that have more in-depth courses for those interested in learning more.
2. Python 3 for Robotics
ROS 2 works with almost any programming language, including C, C++, and Java. However, Python 3 is one of the more popular and interactive ways of writing programs for robots running ROS 2. The applications don't have to be written in a single language and different modules can interact regardless of what language they're written in. Python 3 also is used in the subsequent videos.
3. Basic Concepts
This session presents the basic tools like the Gazebo simulator. It shows how to teleoperate a simulated robot and gets into compiling packages.
4. ROS Topics
Unfortunately, this video was cut short. Still, you can get an idea of where they started and use the tutorial materials listed above to read about what was presented live.
I've also included (below) a prior version of the five days of training that The Construct did earlier using ROS 1. ROS 1 employs the same general publish/subscribe semantics as ROS 2, so the presentation is useful. ROS 2 added support for distributed data services (DDS) as the backbone for communication. As a result, you will need to use the newer courseware when working with ROS 2.
5. Final Project
The final project uses a simulated robot running ROS. It presents the Gazebo simulation environment that's used to test the robot and its application.
Read more articles and watch more videos in TechXchange: ROS: Robot Operating System
