So You Want to Get Started with Robotics

Aug. 18, 2022

Open Robotics' Katherine Scott talks about how to make the plunge into robotics, and discusses the company's latest Turtlebot 4.

William G. Wong

Katherine Scott

Related To: Electronic Design

This video is part of the TechXchange: ROS: Robot Operating System and TechXchange Talks

Robotics remains a hot topic for almost all engineers. Many budding engineers would like to get involved with robotics but where to start? Buy a kit? Build one from scratch?

I talked with Open Robotics' Katherine Scott, Developer Advocate with Open Robotics. She works with new and experienced robotics developers and has tips on where to start.

We also talk about the Turtlebot 4 (Fig. 1). This platform was developed in cooperation with Clearpath Robotics and iRobot. The Turtlebot 4 is available as a low-cost Turtlebot 4 Lite and the full-featured Turtlebot 4 Standard.

1. The Turtlebot 4 is available in two versions: Turtlebot 4 Lite (left) and Turtlebot 4 Standard (right).

Both platforms are based on iRobot hardware running ROS 2. ROS 2 runs on the built-in Raspberry Pi 4B. Each is equipped with a Luxonis Oak-D-Pro/Lite stereo-depth 3D cameras and a Slamtec RPLIDAR-A1 LiDAR system providing 360-degree views.

You can check out the functionality using the simulated version running on Gazebo (Fig. 2).

2. The Gazebo robot simulation software supports the Turtlebot 4.

For more information, you can check out the links and additional videos below on the Turtlebot 4 and ROS 2 navigation support.

Getting Started with the Turtlebot 4

Want to see the Turtlebot 4 in action? Check out this short video on the compact and full featured versions.

Turtlebot 4 Navigation

The Turtlebot 4 runs ROS 2. This modular platform allows developers to take advantage of ROS 2 navigation services.

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.