Welcome to the definitive 4-month self-study course designed to bridge the exciting worlds of web technology and robotics. This comprehensive syllabus is your roadmap to mastering web development for ROS 2, transforming how you interact with, control, and monitor robotic systems. Whether you’re a robotics enthusiast eager to create intuitive user interfaces or a web developer fascinated by the prospect of controlling physical hardware, this course will provide the essential skills to build powerful, browser-based applications for robots.
This journey is crafted for motivated learners. If you have some programming exposure and a desire to specialize, you’ll find a structured path from foundational concepts to advanced implementation. By the end, you won’t just understand the theory; you’ll have the practical ability to design and deploy real-world web interfaces for ROS 2-powered machines.
Learning Objectives: A Skill-Based Approach
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be equipped to:
Master Web Fundamentals: Build a solid understanding of the core technologies that power the web: HTML for structure, CSS for style, and JavaScript for interactivity.
Understand ROS 2 Architecture: Grasp the essential concepts of the Robot Operating System 2, including its communication mechanisms like nodes, topics, services, and actions.
Develop Interactive Front-Ends: Create dynamic web applications that can subscribe to and publish data on ROS 2 topics, enabling real-time monitoring and control.
Implement Robust Back-Ends: Build the server-side logic required to act as a secure and efficient bridge between your web browser and the ROS 2 ecosystem.
Leverage Modern Frameworks: Utilize popular web frameworks and libraries to accelerate your development process and build sophisticated, professional-grade interfaces.
Build a Capstone Project: Design, develop, and deploy a complete web-based interface for controlling and visualizing data from a ROS 2 robot, solidifying your skills.
What You’ll Need to Get Started
To ensure a smooth learning experience, you will need the following tools and environment set up:
Computer: A modern computer with a stable internet connection.
Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04 or a more recent version. A virtual machine (like VirtualBox or VMWare) running Ubuntu is also a perfectly suitable option.
ROS 2: A working installation of ROS 2 (Foxy, Humble, or Iron).
Code Editor: A text editor or Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like Visual Studio Code.
Web Browser: A modern browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
Node.js and npm: These are essential for modern JavaScript development and will be used for our back-end server.
Basic Command-Line Skills: Familiarity with navigating a Linux terminal is highly beneficial.
(Optional but Recommended) A physical ROS 2 robot or a simulation environment like Gazebo will provide an invaluable platform for testing and seeing your code come to life.
Course Syllabus: The First Two Weeks
This 14-week course is structured to build your knowledge incrementally. Here is a detailed look at the foundational first two weeks.
Week 1: Laying the Web Foundation: HTML, CSS, & JavaScript
This week is all about building a solid foundation in core web technologies. Before we can connect to a robot, we must first understand how to build the interface it will connect to. The relationship between these three technologies is simple: HTML provides the skeleton (structure), CSS provides the skin and clothes (presentation), and JavaScript provides the brain and nervous system (interactivity).
HTML: Structuring the Content
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard for creating web pages. It uses tags to define elements like headings, paragraphs, images, and buttons.
Example HTML Structure (index.html):
“`html
Robot Control Panel
Use the button below to interact with the robot.
“`
CSS: Styling the Interface
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes our raw HTML look good. It targets HTML elements using selectors (like tag names, classes, or IDs) and applies styling rules to them, such as color, font size, and layout.
Example CSS (style.css):
“`css
body {
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
background-color: #f4f4f4;
text-align: center;
padding-top: 50px;
}
#myButton {
padding: 12px 25px;
background-color: #007bff;
color: white;
border: none;
border-radius: 5px;
cursor: pointer;
}
“`
JavaScript: Adding Interactivity
JavaScript brings our static page to life. It allows us to react to user events, like a button click, and manipulate the HTML and CSS on the fly.
Example JavaScript (script.js):
“`javascript
document.getElementById(‘myButton’).addEventListener(‘click’, function() {
alert(‘Button was clicked! Preparing to send command to ROS 2…’);
});
“`
Week 2: Introduction to ROS 2 for Web Developers
With basic web skills established, we now turn our attention to the robotics side. This week introduces the fundamental concepts of ROS 2, the framework that acts as the robot’s central nervous system. We will focus on the core components you need to understand for effective web development for ROS 2.
Node: Think of a node as a single, specialized program within the robot’s software. One node might handle camera data, another might control the wheels, and a third could process sensor readings.
Topic: Topics are the communication channels that nodes use to exchange information. A camera node would publish image data to an `/image_data` topic, while a motor control node would subscribe to a `/cmd_vel` topic to receive movement commands.
* Message: A message is the actual piece of data sent over a topic. It’s a structured data type, such as a `Twist` message for velocity commands or a `SensorData` message for readings.
By understanding how these components work together, you will be prepared to build a web server that can tap into these topics, effectively allowing your web browser to become a new node in the robot’s network. This fundamental integration is the key to unlocking the full potential of web development for ROS 2, paving the way for intuitive dashboards, remote teleoperation systems, and powerful data visualization tools accessible from anywhere in the world. Your journey has just begun.