--- title: Robot Operating Systems description: This topic covers the open-source software frameworks and middleware used to build robot applications. Learners will understand how to manage communication between nodes, utilize existing libraries, and simulate robotic systems in virtual environments. category: engineering subcategory: robotics difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/robot-operating-systems --- # Robot Operating Systems This topic covers the open-source software frameworks and middleware used to build robot applications. Learners will understand how to manage communication between nodes, utilize existing libraries, and simulate robotic systems in virtual environments. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 6 Websites ## Websites ### 1. ROS Discourse Forum Official ROS community forum run by Open Robotics, where maintainers post release announcements, REP proposals, working-group notes and package news. Reading it tells you which distributions and libraries are actively maintained and where current design discussions stand. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://discourse.openrobotics.org/ **Tags:** ros, ros2, community-forum, robotics, announcements ### 2. ROS Official Documentation Official ROS 2 Humble documentation: installation guides, beginner and intermediate tutorials on nodes, topics, services, actions, launch files and tf2, plus API references. Working through it leaves you able to build and debug your own ROS 2 packages. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/index.html **Tags:** ros2, documentation, tutorials, robotics, humble ### 3. Articulated Robotics **Author:** Josh Newans Josh Newans' written and video tutorials for building a ROS 2 mobile robot end to end: URDF modelling, Gazebo simulation, ros2_control, LIDAR and camera integration, and navigation. Learners finish able to run a complete robot software stack on a Raspberry Pi. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://articulatedrobotics.xyz/ **Tags:** ros2, mobile-robots, gazebo, urdf, ros2-control, raspberry-pi ### 4. theconstructsim.com The Construct is an online learning platform offering hands-on ROS tutorials and courses, featuring Gazebo-based simulations and practical projects to teach ROS fundamentals, ROS 2, and robotics programming. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.theconstruct.ai/ **Tags:** websites, engineering-manufacturing, robotics ### 5. ros.org ROS.org is the official portal for the Robot Operating System, a flexible, open-source framework for building robot software. It provides comprehensive documentation, tutorials, API references, distribution releases, and community resources to help learners and developers build and deploy robotics applications. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ros.org **Tags:** websites, engineering-manufacturing, mechanical-engineering ### 6. wiki.ros.org ROS Wiki is the official documentation hub for the Robot Operating System, offering install guides, tutorials, API references, and package listings for developing ROS software, covering both ROS 1 and ROS 2. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://wiki.ros.org **Tags:** websites, engineering-manufacturing, robotics ## Youtubes ### 1. The Construct YouTube channel of the ROS training company The Construct, with tutorials and live classes on ROS and ROS 2 nodes, topics, navigation, Gazebo simulation and robot programming, so viewers can build and simulate robot software step by step. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://youtube.com/@theconstruct **Tags:** ros, ros2, gazebo, robot-programming, robot-simulation ## Books ### 1. Programming Robots with ROS **Author:** Morgan Quigley, Brian Gerkey, William D. Smart Practical O'Reilly guide by three core ROS developers, working through nodes, topics, tf, navigation, manipulation and perception on real and simulated robots. After it you can assemble a working ROS 1 application rather than only run tutorials. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449323898?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, engineering-manufacturing, robotics ### 2. Mastering ROS for Robotics Programming **Author:** Lentin Joseph Advanced Packt volume on building complete robots: URDF and xacro modelling, Gazebo simulation, ros_control and MoveIt! manipulation, hardware interfacing, pluginlib and custom controllers. Suited to readers past the tutorials who need to bring their own hardware into ROS. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1783551798?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, engineering-manufacturing, robotics --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/robot-operating-systems