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Chapter 2: ROS 2 Setup on Ubuntu 22.04

Template

This is a template file. Fill in content from specs/001-physical-ai-book-specs/spec.md lines 265-354. Use Chapter 1 (01-introduction.mdx) as a formatting reference.

Chapter Purpose & Audience​

Guide readers through installing and configuring ROS 2 Humble or Iron on Ubuntu 22.04, setting up a development workspace, and verifying the installation with basic commands.

Target Audience: Developers setting up their first ROS 2 environment.

Learning Objectives​

  1. Install ROS 2 Humble on Ubuntu 22.04 using official Debian packages
  2. Configure the ROS 2 environment variables and shell setup
  3. Create and build a ROS 2 workspace using colcon
  4. Verify installation by running demo nodes and viewing communication
  5. Troubleshoot common installation issues (missing dependencies, path errors)

Prerequisites​

  • Ubuntu 22.04 installed (physical machine, VM, or WSL2)
  • Completed Chapter 1 (understand ROS 2 concepts)
  • Sudo/admin access to install packages

Key Concepts​

TODO: Add content from spec.md lines 279-286:

  • ROS 2 distributions: Humble (LTS), Iron (latest), and their support timelines
  • Installation methods: Debian packages (recommended) vs. building from source
  • Environment setup: sourcing setup.bash, ROS_DOMAIN_ID, ROS_LOCALHOST_ONLY
  • Workspaces: overlay vs. underlay, workspace structure (src/, build/, install/, log/)
  • colcon build tool for compiling ROS 2 packages
  • Dependency management: rosdep for installing system dependencies

Installation Steps​

TODO: Add detailed installation process from spec.md lines 288-325

Step 1: System Update​

# Update package index
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Add ROS 2 Repository​

TODO: Add repository setup commands

Step 3: Install ROS 2 Humble​

# Install ROS 2 Humble (Desktop variant)
sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop

Step 4: Environment Setup​

# Source ROS 2 setup file
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

# Add to .bashrc for automatic sourcing
echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

Creating Your First Workspace​

TODO: Add workspace creation guide from spec.md

# Create workspace directory
mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws

# Build workspace
colcon build

# Source the workspace
source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash

Diagrams / Architecture Notes​

TODO: Add Mermaid.js diagrams from spec.md lines 327-331:

  • Workspace Structure Diagram
  • Environment Layering Diagram
  • Installation Verification Flowchart

Verification​

TODO: Add verification steps from spec.md

Running Demo Nodes​

# Terminal 1: Run talker
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

# Terminal 2: Run listener
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp listener

Troubleshooting​

TODO: Add common issues and solutions from spec.md lines 293-294

Practice Tasks​

TODO: Add practice tasks from spec.md lines 333-338:

  • Task 1: Install ROS 2 Humble
  • Task 2: Create and build workspace
  • Task 3: Run demo nodes
  • Task 4: Configure automatic environment setup

Summary​

TODO: Add summary points from spec.md lines 340-348

References​

TODO: Add references from spec.md lines 350-354

Next: Chapter 3: Communication Basics →