Learning Robotics using Python Second Edition

▶Book Description
Robot Operating System (ROS) is one of the most popular robotics software frameworks in research and industry. It has various features for implementing different capabilities in a robot without implementing them from scratch.

This book starts by showing you the fundamentals of ROS so you understand the basics of differential robots. Then, you'll learn about robot modeling and how to design and simulate it using ROS. Moving on, we'll design robot hardware and interfacing actuators. Then, you'll learn to configure and program depth sensors and LIDARs using ROS. Finally, you'll create a GUI for your robot using the Qt framework.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a clear idea of how to integrate and assemble everything into a robot and how to bundle the software package.

▶What You Will Learn
⦁ Design a differential robot from scratch
⦁ Model a differential robot using ROS and URDF
⦁ Simulate a differential robot using ROS and Gazebo
⦁ Design robot hardware electronics
⦁ Interface robot actuators with embedded boards
⦁ Explore the interfacing of different 3D depth cameras in ROS
⦁ Implement autonomous navigation in ChefBot
⦁ Create a GUI for robot control

▶Key Features
⦁ Design, simulate, build, and program an interactive autonomous mobile robot
⦁ Leverage the power of ROS, Gazebo, and Python to enhance your robotic skills
⦁ A hands-on guide to creating an autonomous mobile robot with the help of ROS and Python

▶Who This Book Is For
This book is for those who are conducting research in mobile robotics and autonomous navigation. As well as the robotics research domain, this book is also for the robot hobbyist community. You’re expected to have a basic understanding of Linux commands and Python.

▶What this book covers
⦁ Chapter 1, Getting Started with Robot Operating System, explains the fundamental concepts of ROS, which are the main platform for programming robot.

⦁ Chapter 2, Understanding the Basics of Differential Robots, discusses the fundamental concepts of a differential mobile robot. The concepts are Kinematics and Inverse kinematics of differential drive. This will help you implement the differential drive controller in the software.

⦁ Chapter 3, Modeling the Differential Drive Robot, discusses the calculation of the robot design constraints and 2D/3D modeling of this mobile robot. The 2D/3D modeling is based on a set of robot requirements. After completing the design and robot modeling, the reader will get the designed parameters that can be used for creating a robot simulation.

⦁ Chapter 4, Simulating a Differential Drive Robot Using ROS, introduces a robot simulator named Gazebo and helps readers to simulate their own robot using it.

⦁ Chapter 5, Designing ChefBot Hardware and Circuits, discusses the selection of different hardware components required to build Chefbot.

⦁ Chapter 6, Interfacing Actuators and Sensors to the Robot Controller, discusses the interfacing of different actuators and sensors used in this robot with Tiva C Launchpad controller.

⦁ Chapter 7, Interfacing Vision Sensors with ROS, discusses interfacing of different vision sensors such as Kinect and Orbecc Astra that can be used in Chefbot for autonomous navigation.

⦁ Chapter 8, Building ChefBot Hardware and Integration of Software, discusses the complete construction of robot hardware and software in ROS in order to implement autonomous navigation.

⦁ Chapter 9, Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python, discusses the development of a GUI to command the robot to move to a table in a hotel-like environment.