Mastering ROS 2 with LIMO-Robot – Robot-Specific Training

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\Mastering ROS 2 with LIMO: A 4-Month Self-Study Course\
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\Mastering ROS 2 with LIMO: A 4-Month Self-Study Course\ \Course Syllabus\

\Course Description\ \This comprehensive 4-month self-study course is designed to take motivated beginners and intermediate learners on an immersive journey into the world of ROS 2 robotics, with a specific focus on practical application using the LIMO mobile robot platform. Through a blend of foundational concepts, practical tutorials, and hands-on projects, you will gain the skills and confidence to develop, deploy, and debug sophisticated robotic applications using ROS 2 on the LIMO. This course emphasizes a learn-by-doing approach, ensuring that theoretical knowledge is immediately reinforced with practical experience.\

\Primary Learning Objectives\ \Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:\ \ \Understand the core concepts and architecture of ROS 2.\ \Proficiently use ROS 2 command-line tools and client libraries (Python/C++).\ \Develop ROS 2 nodes, topics, services, actions, and parameters.\ \Integrate and configure sensors (LiDAR, camera, IMU) on the LIMO robot.\ \Implement localization techniques (Odometry, AMCL) for mobile robots.\ \Master ROS 2 Navigation Stack for autonomous navigation and path planning.\ \Control the LIMO robot for various tasks, including teleoperation and autonomous movement.\ \Perform simulation and visualization of ROS 2 applications using Gazebo and Rviz.\ \Debug and troubleshoot ROS 2 applications effectively.\ \Apply acquired knowledge to design and implement a complex robotics project on the LIMO.\ \

\Necessary Materials\ \ \\Hardware:\
\ \LIMO mobile robot (or access to a simulated LIMO environment)\ \Computer with Ubuntu 20.04 (Foxy Fitzroy) or 22.04 (Humble Hawksbill) installed\ \Internet connection\ \ \ \\Software:\
\ \ROS 2 Foxy or Humble distribution\ \Gazebo simulation environment\ \Rviz visualization tool\ \Python 3 and C++ development environments\ \VS Code or another preferred IDE\ \ \ \

Course Content: 14 Weekly Lessons

\Week 1: Introduction to ROS 2 and LIMO Robot\ \ \\Title:\ ROS 2 and Your First Robot: Getting Started with LIMO\ \\Learning Objectives:\
\ \Understand the fundamental concepts of ROS 2 and its advantages over ROS 1.\ \Set up your development environment for ROS 2 and LIMO.\ \Perform basic teleoperation of the LIMO robot.\ \ \ \\Key Vocabulary:\
\ \\ROS 2:\ Robot Operating System 2, a flexible framework for writing robot software.\ \\LIMO:\ A compact, omnidirectional mobile robot platform ideal for ROS 2 development.\ \\Nodes:\ Executable processes in ROS 2 that perform computation.\ \\Topics:\ Named buses over which nodes exchange messages.\ \\Messages:\ Data structures used for communication over topics.\ \\Teleoperation:\ Controlling a robot remotely, often with a joystick or keyboard.\ \ \ \\Content:\
\Welcome to the exciting world of robotics with ROS 2 and the LIMO robot\! This week, we’ll lay the groundwork for our journey. ROS 2 is the next generation of the Robot Operating System, offering significant improvements in areas like real-time performance, security, and multi-robot systems. The LIMO robot, with its omnidirectional capabilities and open-source nature, provides an excellent platform for learning and experimentation.\ \We’ll begin by ensuring your development environment is correctly set up. This involves installing ROS 2 on your Ubuntu machine and configuring it to communicate with the LIMO robot. We’ll then dive into your very first interaction with the LIMO: teleoperation. This hands-on experience will introduce you to the basic communication between your computer and the robot, allowing you to move it around and observe its response. This initial step, while seemingly simple, is crucial for understanding the feedback loop inherent in robotics. We’ll cover how to launch the necessary ROS 2 nodes for teleoperation and how to send commands to the LIMO.\ \ \\Practical Hands-on Examples:\
\ \Install ROS 2 Foxy/Humble on your Ubuntu system.\ \Connect your LIMO robot to your network and verify communication.\ \Launch the LIMO driver and teleoperation nodes.\ \Control the LIMO robot using a keyboard or joystick.\ \ \ \

\Week 2: ROS 2 Core Concepts: Topics, Services, and Actions\ \ \\Title:\ Communicating with Your Robot: The Pillars of ROS 2 Interaction\ \\Learning Objectives:\
\ \Understand the publish-subscribe communication model using ROS 2 Topics.\ \Implement client-server communication using ROS 2 Services.\ \Grasp the concept of long-running, goal-oriented communication with ROS 2 Actions.\ \ \ \\Key Vocabulary:\
\ \\Publisher:\ A node that sends messages over a topic.\ \\Subscriber:\ A node that receives messages from a topic.\ \\Service:\ A request-response communication mechanism between nodes.\ \\Action:\ A long-running, pre-emptable communication mechanism with feedback.\ \\Client:\ The node initiating a service or action request.\ \\Server:\ The node providing a service or action.\ \ \ \\Content:\
\Building upon our initial teleoperation, this week we’ll delve deeper into the fundamental communication mechanisms within ROS 2: Topics, Services, and Actions. These three paradigms form the backbone of any ROS 2 application, enabling different parts of your robot’s software to communicate and collaborate.\ \Topics represent a “publish-subscribe” model, where nodes publish data to a named topic, and other nodes can subscribe to that topic to receive the data. This is ideal for continuous data streams like sensor readings or motor commands. We’ll explore how to create publishers and subscribers in Python and C++.\ \Services offer a “client-server” interaction, where a client node sends a request to a server node, and the server responds with the result. This is suitable for discrete, one-time operations, such as triggering a specific action or querying a sensor for a single reading. We’ll learn how to define and implement ROS 2 services.\ \Actions extend services by providing feedback and allowing for pre-emption of long-running tasks. Imagine telling your robot to “go to a specific room.” An action would allow it to report its progress (feedback) and for you to tell it to “stop” midway (pre-emption). We’ll cover the structure of ROS 2 actions and how to interact with them.\ \ \\Practical Hands-on Examples:\
\ \Create a simple ROS 2 publisher and subscriber in Python to send and receive text messages.\ \Implement a ROS 2 service in C++ that receives a number and returns its square.\ \Develop a basic ROS 2 action that simulates a long-running task, providing feedback at intervals.\ \ \ \

\Week 3: Understanding ROS 2 Launch Files and Parameters\ \ \\Title:\ Orchestrating Your Robot: Launching and Configuring ROS 2 Applications\ \\Learning Objectives:\
\ \Utilize ROS 2 launch files to start multiple nodes simultaneously.\ \Pass and manage parameters for ROS 2 nodes.\ \Understand the concept of ROS 2 workspaces and packages.\ \ \ \\Key Vocabulary:\
\ \\Launch file:\ An XML or Python file used to define and launch ROS 2 nodes and other processes.\ \\Parameter:\ A configurable value that a ROS 2 node can access and modify.\ \\Workspace:\ A collection of ROS 2 packages where you develop your robotics projects.\ \\Package:\ A fundamental unit of organization in ROS 2, containing nodes, launch files, etc.\ \\Ament:\ The build system used by ROS 2.\ \ \ \\Content