Summary

In this chapter, you first learned how to install and launch ROS. We discussed the ROS architecture and ROS packages, nodes, topics, messages, and services. To apply the knowledge, we used the turtlesim simulator was used to illustrate many ROS commands. For additional control of the turtlesim turtle, see Chapter 8, Controlling Your Robots with External Devices. There the turtle is controlled with a custom game controller.

In Chapter 2, Creating Your First Two-Wheeled ROS Robot (in Simulation), we will show you how to build a robot model that ROS uses to display the robot and allows you to control it in a simulation. The chapter introduces the visualization tool called rviz to display the robot and the simulation tool Gazebo that includes the physics of the robot as you move it around in a simulated environment.