A PI ROBOT PRODUCTION, July 2015. - 444 с. Volume 2. Version 1.1.0. For ROS Indigo
In February 2013, ROS stewardship was transferred from Willow Garage to the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF). The stated mission of OSRF is "to support the development, distribution, and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development." The two major projects overseen by OSRF are ROS and Gazebo, the advanced 3D robot simulator. New ROS packages continue to be released on a regular basis by individuals and groups working in both university labs and the robotics industry. Interest in learning ROS continues to grow, and the popularity of ROS By Example Volume 1 has exceeded my expectations. Yet going beyond the basics still requires a fairly steep learning curve and realistic examples dealing with more advanced topics are not always easy to find. The overall goal of Volume 2 is to introduce a collection of ROS packages and tools that are essential for programming truly autonomous robots. This includes the use of executive task managers like SMACH and Behavior Trees, creating custom URDF models for different robots, monitoring the health of the robot using ROS diagnostics, multiplexing control inputs and assigning priorities, controlling a multi-jointed arm for reaching and grasping, monitoring and controlling the robot through a web browser, and performing realistic simulations using Gazebo. When we are finished, you will have the tools necessary to program an "always on" robot that can monitor its own subsystems and perform a series of tasks without human intervention. Please note that the code in this book is written for ROS Indigo. While some of it might work on earlier versions of ROS, it is highly recommended that the reader use ROS Indigo with this book.
