Building a ROS Robot for Mapping and Navigation #1

I previously showed a demo of Turtlebot 3 doing mapping and navigation with ROS. Now it's time to attempt to built a robot from scratch and understand how ROS hangs together and which components we need to implement it all from scratch. I'm using my NERF Blaster Robot chassis to try this because it has wheel encoders and already has an Arduino on board.

In this video I've added a Raspberry Pi 4, and an RPLidar A1 which we'll look at more closely next time.

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HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

Below you can also find a lot of the typical tools, equipment and supplies used in my projects:

XROBOTS

Former toy designer, current YouTube maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it.

XRobots is the community around my content where you can get in touch, share tips and advice, and more build FAQs, schematics and designs are also available.

[mikeydk]

Can't stop hearing it as ROSberry Pi :D

[HerrPOZA]

I had been trying to get into ROS and couldn’t find my way into it. Thanks to you I have now started in RoboIgnite Academy.
This series has just become more fascinating!
What an amazing display of software abilities.

[kamathsblog]

I've been using ROS for a few years now, and I'm stoked to see one of my favourite youtubers also getting into it. Can't wait to see the openDog doing cool autonomous stuff using ROS.

[marianaurel]

i'm not sure if people realize and appreciate enough the work you do, in the sense that just reducing the gear ration from the motors, converting that into code, calibrate the 2 motors (which are opposite to each other) to match each other's speed, get the accurate reading from the encoders, and this is not even talking about the communication and translation between devices when you are using ros or electronics, etc, is just talking about that small part on wheels+encoders+arduino IDE. Well done!

[patrickjdarrow]

Graduating soon(ish), COVID willing, and I can't help but thank you for your awesome work which has been a huge part of what inspired my to pursue engineering. Cheers James.

[Takon_pilot]

When open dog v2 can walk properly he should put a lidar scanner on it

[sammflynn]

This series will become the most view robotics realated video on youtube crystal clear explnation

[dafoex]

If it helps anyone, the way I think of ROS topics is less "pipes" and more "pigeon-hole message box". A ROS node can theoretically subscribe to any topic it wants and go to collect the latest data whenever required.

[anglerfish]

man you got me into Arduino, then I got interested in pi, and now you introduce ROS. Im gonna go bankrupt this way lol. I actually applied for different jobs for the sole purpose of funding this hobby xD. Thanks haha

[adamwishneusky]

I love how you build things up one chunk and interface at a time, debugging each before moving to the next

[bennedictbyy]

This video is really informative. I had a similar project a year ago for a University subject. However seeing how you done it makes me want to improve so so more! Thanks for sharing!

[binukanishadbamunuge]

Thumbs up for the crystal clear explanation.. Waiting for part 2 🤘

[emoutraspalavras-marloncou]

I don't if you take it as compliment (I hope so), but you're far better than Iron Man himself! Thank you for the lesson!

[marknaeem]

This will be the best series ever!

Just read a comment about the VM for ROS. It's not really the best option. neither is the other workstation xD.

You can switch to ROS2 which can run on windows (it's newer than ROS and does not have much documentation and support as ROS so it's a good step to start with ROS).
Or you can use dual boot. you will get both windows and ubuntu running on the same machine (you get to choose which OS to load when booting).

[offbeatrobotics]

For a rolling vehicle on a flat surface the static traction (tires not slipping) is solely determined by the coefficient of friction of the tires and the force (weight) applied to those tires.

This is because as the contact patch is increased in size the relative pressure is decreased proportionally and therefore grip remains the same.

If you need more traction and wear isn't a concern you can just switch to a softer durometer gripper tire. If wear is a concern then a softer durometer and a wider tire.

This all gets way more complicated when considering something like a race car going around a track with contact patches changing size dynamically, uneven road surfaces, changing coefficient of friction with temperature and track surface. But for slow robots things are nice and simple.

[GeorgeHawkins]

The site for the free ROS book seems to have gone offline. But the actual book was always on Dropbox and is still available there - unfortunately, YouTube usually censors comments with links so, I'll just say you can find everything via the Wayback Machine. In any case, the book covers ROS Kinetic Kame which came out in 2016 and belongs to the old ROS 1 series of releases. ROS 2 came out in 2017 and has been stable for a long time - so, it's probably best to start on a book or tutorial that covers it. James's videos are still a great place to get a high-level intro to the general ideas.

[CerebralDad]

Congrats on getting through that James - I know how hard ROS is to learn! This is very exciting to see this developed.

[twobob]

In /some/ depth if you actually build and follow through the code examples as the wiki suggests. Certainly enough to follow along so far. Hope that helps.

[NathanBuildsRobots]

I’m looking forward to your video on ROS with a laser scanner for mapping. I just ordered a laser scanner but I have no idea how to use it yet!

[finallyfunctional]

Awesome. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ROS essentially looks like a standardized communication API for robotics. Can't wait to see more and what useful robots you can make with this!