Book Image

Learning Robotics using Python - Second Edition

By : Lentin Joseph
Book Image

Learning Robotics using Python - Second Edition

By: Lentin Joseph

Overview of this book

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.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Robot drive mechanism

One of the cost-effective solutions for mobile robot navigation is the differential drive system. It's one of the simplest drive mechanisms for a mobile robot and is mainly indented for indoor navigation. The differential drive robot consists of two wheels mounted on a common axis controlled by two separate motors. There are two supporting wheels called caster wheels. This ensures stability and weight distribution of the robot. The following diagram shows a typical differential drive system:

Differential drive system

The next step is to select the mechanical components of this robot drive system, that is, mainly motors, wheels, and robot chassis. Based on the requirements, we will first discuss how to select the motor.

Selection of motors and wheels

...