What is ROS?

ROS (Robot Operating System) is a free and open-source set of software libraries and tools for building robot applications. It provides hardware abstraction, device drivers, libraries, visualizers, message-passing, package management, and more. ROS is used in a variety of fields, including robotics, vision, and artificial intelligence.

Here are a few examples of how ROS1 has been used in various applications

  • Mobile robots: ROS1 has been used to build a wide range of mobile robots, including service robots, delivery robots, and robots for inspection and mapping.
  • Aerospace and defense: ROS1 has been used in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aerospace systems.
  • Manufacturing and logistics: ROS1 has been used to build robots for tasks such as material handling, assembly, and inspection in factories and warehouses.

Prerequisites

You may need a flash drive bigger than 4GB to install Ubuntu. Plus, you need some free space on your disk to be assigned to Ubuntu (approx. 64GB will be enough)

Ubuntu Installation

Install Ubuntu 20.04.05 Focal Fossa from here: https://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/20.04/

  1. Under "Desktop image" click "64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image" to start downloading Ubuntu image.
  2. Install Rufus here: https://rufus.ie/en/
  3. Burn the Ubuntu image to the flash drive using Rufus.
  4. Reboot your computer, enter the boot menu, and select your flash drive.
  5. Follow the instruction to set up your Ubuntu.
Ubuntu Installation

ROS1 installation

ROS1 installation

Here is the official detailed instruction for installing ROS1: http://wiki.ros.org/noetic/Installation/Ubuntu

We will use ROS1 Noetic Ninjemys version here.

1. Update all your subsystems before installation

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Set up your computer to accept software from packages.ros.org.

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

3. Set up your keys

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -

4. Install ROS1 Noetic

sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full -y

This step will take 5 to 10 minutes.

Checking the installation

One way to check if your ROS installation is working properly is by running the 'roscore' command. roscore is the first thing you should run when starting ROS. It starts up the ROS master, which is the central hub that coordinates communication between all the different parts of your ROS system. To start roscore, open a terminal and run the command: 

source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
roscore
Checking the installation

It is a good practice to check the installation by running roscore and other related commands before starting to work with ROS to ensure that everything is set up correctly and avoid potential issues down the road.

Hurray! You're done.

Now move on to the next article on using ROS1. Check out my next article about creating workspaces and packages HERE.