Mastering ROS 2 installation
When you read this section’s title, you may wonder what we must master to install software on a computer. I think you will get clarity after going through this section completely.
Most robots’ computers run on a Linux distribution, most commonly Ubuntu. The robot computers were chosen based on the robotic application requirements. They can be industrial PCs with x86_64 architecture or ARM64-based compute modules such as Jetson Orin or Raspberry Pi.
As you know, we will deploy the robot application on the robot computer. However, robot software development will mostly happen on a developer workstation or laptop, which can be loaded with Windows, Ubuntu, or macOS.
Can ROS 2 be installed on all platforms? Yes. It is possible with the help of tools such as Docker, VirtualBox, VMware, UTM, and so on. Let’s explore different ways of installing ROS 2 on a robot and in our development machine.