What this book covers
Chapter 1, Introduction to ROS, gives you an understanding of the core underlying concepts of ROS.
Chapter 2, Getting Started with ROS Programming, explains how to work with ROS packages.
Chapter 3, Working with ROS for 3D Modeling, discusses the design of two robots; one is a seven Degrees of Freedom (DOF) manipulator, and the other is a differential drive robot.
Chapter 4, Simulating Robots Using ROS and Gazebo, discusses the simulation of a seven-DOF arm, differential wheeled robots, and ROS controllers that help control robot joints in Gazebo.
Chapter 5, Simulating Robots Using ROS, CoppeliaSim and Webots, introduces the CoppeliaSim and Webots simulators, showing how to simulate and control different types of robots.
Chapter 6, Using the ROS MoveIt! and Navigation Stack On, covers out-of-the-box functionalities such as robot manipulation and autonomous navigation using ROS MoveIt! and the navigation stack.
Chapter 7, Exploring the Advanced Capabilities of ROS-MoveIt!, discusses the capabilities of MoveIt!, such as collision avoidance, perception using 3D sensors, grasping, picking, and placing. After that, we will see how to interface robotic manipulator hardware with MoveIt!.
Chapter 8, ROS for Aerial Robots, discusses how to simulate and control aerial robots with ROS, considering the particular case of quadcopters.
Chapter 9, Interfacing I/O Boards, Sensors, and Actuators to ROS, discusses interfacing some hardware components, such as sensors and actuators, with ROS. We will look at the interfacing of sensors using I/O boards, such as Arduino or Raspberry Pi, with ROS.
Chapter 10, Programming Vision Sensors Using ROS, OpenCV, and PCL, discusses how to interface various vision sensors with ROS and program them using libraries such as Open Source Computer Vision (OpenCV) and Point Cloud Library (PCL).
Chapter 11, Building and Interfacing Differential Drive Mobile Robot Hardware in ROS, helps you to build autonomous mobile robot hardware with differential drive configuration and interface it with ROS. This chapter aims to give you an understanding of building a custom mobile robot and interfacing it with ROS.
Chapter 12, Working with pluginlib, Nodelets, and Gazebo Plugins, shows some of the advanced concepts in ROS, such as ROS pluginlib, nodelets, and Gazebo plugins. We will discuss the functionalities and application of each concept and will practice one example to demonstrate their workings.
Chapter 13, Writing ROS Controllers and Visualization Plugins, shows how to write and run a basic ROS controller. We will also see how to create a plugin for RViz.
Chapter 14, Using ROS in MATLAB and Simulink, discusses how to connect MATLAB and Simulink with ROS.
Chapter 15, ROS for Industrial Robots, helps you understand and install ROS-Industrial packages in ROS. We will see how to develop a MoveIt! IKFast plugin for an industrial robot.
Chapter 16, Troubleshooting and Best Practices in ROS, discusses how to set up a ROS development environment in Eclipse IDE, best practices in ROS, and troubleshooting tips in ROS.