Getting Started with ROS 2 Humble

ROS 2 (Robot Operating System) is the go-to framework for building robotic applications—from simulations to real-time control. This guide will walk you through installing ROS 2 Humble, understanding its core concepts, and running your first nodes.

Whether you’re building a robot from scratch or looking to simulate autonomous navigation, this is where it starts.

What is ROS 2 Humble?

ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill is a long-term support (LTS) version of the Robot Operating System 2, officially supported until 2027. It brings improvements over ROS 1 like real-time support, better middleware abstraction (DDS), cross-platform support, and enhanced security.

💡 ROS 2 is modular—think of it as a toolbox that helps different software parts of your robot talk to each other.

System Requirements

Ubuntu 22.04 (Humble is only officially supported on this version)
2 GB RAM (minimum)
Internet connection
Basic familiarity with Linux commands

Step 1: Install Ubuntu 22.04

ROS 2 Humble works best with Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish. You can either:

Install it on a physical machine
Use a virtual machine (e.g., VirtualBox)
Dual-boot alongside your current OS

Step 2: Set Up ROS 2 Humble

Add the ROS 2 Repositories

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl gnupg lsb-release
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list'

Install ROS 2

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop

🧰 ros-humble-desktop includes all the basic tools, RViz, simulators, and more.

Set Up Environment

Add ROS to your shell startup:

echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Step 3: Run Your First ROS 2 Node

Open two terminals.

Terminal 1: Start the ROS 2 demo talker node

ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

Terminal 2: Start the listener

ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp listener

You should see messages like: I heard: "Hello World: 1" in the listener terminal.

Core Concepts You Should Know

Nodes

These are the building blocks of ROS—individual processes doing specific tasks.

Topics

Nodes can publish (send) or subscribe (receive) messages over a topic. Think of it as a broadcast channel.

Services

For request-reply interactions (e.g., “turn left now”).

Packages

Collections of nodes, configuration, and launch files. You can create your own packages too.

Step 4: Create Your First Package

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws/src
ros2 pkg create --build-type ament_python my_first_package

Now build it:

cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

You can now start adding Python scripts as nodes inside my_first_package.

Step 5: Visualize with RViz

ros2 run rviz2 rviz2

Use this powerful tool to visualize robots, maps, and data from your ROS system.

Step 6: Use turtlesim!

ros2 run turtlesim turtlesim_node

Control the turtle:

ros2 run turtlesim turtle_teleop_key

🐢 Turtlesim is a fun way to learn topics and teleoperation!

Tips & Tricks

Use ros2 topic list and ros2 node list to explore the running system.
Use rqt_graph to see how nodes and topics are connected.
colcon build builds your workspace. Always source your install setup before running your code.

Going Further

Try SLAM with slam_toolbox
Connect sensors using ROS 2 drivers
Simulate robots with Gazebo or Webots
Move to real robots using micro-ROS or ROS 2 on Raspberry Pi

Conclusion

ROS 2 Humble sets the stage for your robotics journey—offering modularity, real-time performance, and support for advanced algorithms like SLAM, perception, and navigation.

Next step? Try integrating it with real sensors and actuators. Or build a small autonomous robot like Beetle!

Happy hacking 🤖

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