Progress from robot software architecture to simulated autonomous robots.

ROS 2 and autonomy

Status: Advanced outline; hardware lessons will follow simulation.

Prerequisites

  • Robotics foundations
  • Python functions, debugging, and basic Linux commands
  • Coordinate axes, units, and sensor uncertainty
  • Simulation-first safety habits

Learning objectives

  • explain nodes, topics, services, actions, and parameters;
  • trace data through a simulated robot system;
  • reason about frames, localization, planning, and control; and
  • test autonomy with repeatable scenarios and safe-stop behavior.

Ordered subtopics

  1. Robot software architecture
  2. ROS 2 nodes, topics, services, and actions
  3. Messages, parameters, and launch files
  4. Coordinate frames and transforms
  5. Robot descriptions and simulation
  6. Camera and sensor pipelines
  7. Odometry and localization
  8. Mapping and SLAM
  9. Path planning and obstacle avoidance
  10. Manipulation, inverse kinematics, and trajectories
  11. Simulation-to-reality and safety

Planned project: navigate a simulated mobile robot through a mapped environment.

Completion evidence

Submit a simulation recording or reproducible launch procedure, a system diagram, a map or route, three test scenarios, one failure scenario, and a safety-stop explanation.

References