This comprehensive 4-month self-study course is designed to guide motivated beginners and intermediate learners on an immersive journey toward mastering ROS 2, the next-generation Robot Operating System. With a sharp focus on practical application using the agile LIMO mobile robot, this syllabus bridges the gap between theory and real-world implementation. Through a carefully curated blend of foundational concepts, practical tutorials, and challenging hands-on projects, you will gain the skills and confidence to develop, deploy, and debug sophisticated robotic applications. This course is built on a learn-by-doing philosophy, ensuring that theoretical knowledge is immediately reinforced with tangible experience, transforming abstract concepts into practical skills. The ultimate goal is not just to learn about ROS 2, but to achieve true proficiency.
Primary Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
Architect and understand the core concepts and distributed nature of ROS 2.
Proficiently use ROS 2 command-line tools and client libraries (Python/C++).
Develop robust ROS 2 nodes, topics, services, actions, and parameters.
Integrate and configure a variety of sensors, including LiDAR, cameras, and IMUs, on the LIMO robot.
Implement critical localization techniques like Odometry and AMCL for mobile robots.
Master the ROS 2 Navigation Stack (Nav2) for autonomous navigation and intelligent path planning.
Command the LIMO robot for a range of tasks, from direct teleoperation to fully autonomous movement.
Perform high-fidelity simulation and visualization of robotic applications using Gazebo and Rviz.
Effectively debug and troubleshoot complex issues within ROS 2 applications.
Apply your comprehensive knowledge to design and implement a complex, capstone robotics project on the LIMO.
Necessary Materials
Hardware:
LIMO mobile robot: A physical robot is highly recommended for the full experience, though a simulated LIMO environment can be used.
Computer with Ubuntu 20.04 (for ROS 2 Foxy) or 22.04 (for ROS 2 Humble): These Long-Term Support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu provide the stable foundation required for these ROS 2 distributions.
Reliable internet connection: For downloading packages and accessing documentation.
Software:
ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy or Humble Hawksbill: The specific distribution matching your Ubuntu version.
Gazebo simulation environment: An essential tool for safely testing algorithms before deploying them on physical hardware.
Rviz visualization tool: Your window into the robot’s mind, allowing you to visualize sensor data, robot models, and navigation paths.
Python 3 and C++ development environments: The two primary languages for ROS 2 development.
Visual Studio Code (or a preferred IDE): Recommended for its powerful extensions that streamline ROS 2 development.
Course Content: A 14-Week Journey
Week 1: Introduction to ROS 2 and the LIMO Robot
Title: ROS 2 and Your First Robot: Getting Started with LIMO
Content: Welcome to the world of modern robotics! This week lays the essential groundwork for your journey. We’ll explore why ROS 2 is a significant leap forward from ROS 1, offering enhanced real-time performance, security, and multi-robot system support. You’ll be introduced to the LIMO, an ideal learning platform with its advanced omnidirectional drive and open-source architecture. The primary goal is to establish a robust development environment by installing ROS 2 and successfully connecting to your LIMO. The week culminates in your first hands-on interaction: teleoperation. By driving the robot with your keyboard, you’ll experience the fundamental feedback loop of robotics and confirm that your entire system is communicating correctly.
Week 2: ROS 2 Core Concepts: Topics, Services, and Actions
Title: Communicating with Your Robot: The Pillars of ROS 2 Interaction
Content: With basic control established, we now dive into the three fundamental communication paradigms that form the backbone of any ROS 2 system. Topics use a publish-subscribe model, perfect for continuous data streams like a laser scanner broadcasting distance readings. Services provide a synchronous request-response model, ideal for discrete tasks like capture an image now. Actions are for long-running, goal-oriented tasks that require feedback, such as navigate to the kitchen, where the robot can report its progress and the goal can be canceled. Understanding when and how to use each is a critical step toward building sophisticated applications.
The Three Pillars for Mastering ROS 2 Communication
This week’s practical examples will have you build simple publishers and subscribers, implement a request-response service, and develop a basic action server, solidifying your understanding through hands-on coding in both Python and C++.
Week 3: Understanding ROS 2 Launch Files and Parameters
Title: Orchestrating Your Robot: Launching and Configuring Applications
Content: A real robot doesn’t run on a single program; it runs on a network of interacting nodes. Starting each one manually in a separate terminal is inefficient and prone to error. This week, you’ll learn to use ROS 2 launch files, powerful scripts that allow you to start up your entire robotic application—including multiple nodes, parameters, and configurations—with a single command. We’ll also explore Parameters, which allow you to change a node’s behavior without recompiling code, making your applications flexible and easy to configure. Finally, you’ll learn to organize your code into Workspaces and Packages, the standard structure for all professional ROS 2 development. This is where you transition from writing simple scripts to engineering scalable robotic systems.
By the end of this course, you will have progressed from basic robot control to implementing complex autonomous behaviors. This structured, hands-on syllabus is your roadmap to not just learning the syntax, but truly understanding the philosophy and power behind the Robot Operating System. It is the definitive path to mastering ROS 2 and turning your robotics ideas into reality.