Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Carol Fairchild, Lentin Joseph, Dr. Thomas L. Harman
Book Image

ROS Robotics By Example, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Carol Fairchild, Lentin Joseph, Dr. Thomas L. Harman

Overview of this book

ROS is a robust robotics framework that works regardless of hardware architecture or hardware origin. It standardizes most layers of robotics functionality from device drivers to process control and message passing to software package management. But apart from just plain functionality, ROS is a great platform to learn about robotics itself and to simulate, as well as actually build, your first robots. This does not mean that ROS is a platform for students and other beginners; on the contrary, ROS is used all over the robotics industry to implement flying, walking and diving robots, yet implementation is always straightforward, and never dependent on the hardware itself. ROS Robotics has been the standard introduction to ROS for potential professionals and hobbyists alike since the original edition came out; the second edition adds a gradual introduction to all the goodness available with the Kinetic Kame release. By providing you with step-by-step examples including manipulator arms and flying robots, the authors introduce you to the new features. The book is intensely practical, with space given to theory only when absolutely necessary. By the end of this book, you will have hands-on experience on controlling robots with the best possible framework.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
ROS Robotics By Example Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Introducing quadrotors


Quadrotors, sometimes called quadcopters, are part of a broad category of robots called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that have four motors and propellers to provide lift for the craft. In this chapter, we will introduce some of these flying robots that are controlled by ROS. The chapter will consider both simulations and flying the real thing.

The following figure shows the Crazyflie quadrotor that will be discussed later in this chapter:

Crazyflie quadrotor

In the image, notice the four propellers or rotors that act to lift the craft vertically for takeoff and keep it in flight at a certain altitude when flying. First, such crafts are classified as rotocrafts because lift is generated by the rotors shown in the figure, rather than the wings of an airplane. Second, they are not helicopters, because the main propeller and the tail rotor control the flight of a helicopter. The tail rotor of a helicopter keeps the craft from rotating itself due to the rotation of the...