Joseph - Learning Robotics Using Python: Design, Simulate, Program, and Prototype an Autonomous Mobile Robot Using ROS, OpenCV, PCL, and Python

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First published: May 2015
Second edition: June 2018

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ISBN 978-1-78862-331-5

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Lentin Joseph is an author and robotics entrepreneur from India. He runs a robotics software company called Qbotics Labs in India. He has 7 years of experience in the robotics domain primarily in ROS, OpenCV, and PCL.

He has authored four books in ROS, namely, Learning Robotics using Python, Mastering ROS for Robotics Programming, ROS Robotics Projects, and Robot Operating System for Absolute Beginners.

He is currently pursuing his master's in Robotics from India and is also doing research at Robotics Institute, CMU, USA.

Ruixiang Du is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He works in the Autonomy, Control, and Estimation Laboratory with a research focus on the motion planning and control of autonomous mobile robots in cluttered and dynamic environments. He received a bachelors degree in automation from North China Electric Power University in 2011 and a masters degree in robotics engineering from WPI in 2013. He has worked on various robotic projects with robot platforms ranging from medical robots, and unmanned aerial/ground vehicles, to humanoid robots.

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Learning Robotics using Python contains nine chapters that explain how to build an autonomous mobile robot from scratch and program it using Python. The robot mentioning in this book is a service robot that can be used to serve food in home, hotels, and restaurant. From the beginning to end, the book discusses step-by-step procedures of building of this robot. The book starts with the basics concepts of robotics and then moves to the 3D modeling and simulation of the robot. After successful simulation of the robot, it discusses the hardware components required to build the robot prototype.

The software part of this robot is mainly implemented using Python programming language and software frameworks, such as Robot Operating System (ROS) and OpenCV. You can see the application of python from the designing of a robot to creating robot user interface. The Gazebo simulator is used to simulate the robot and machine vision libraries, such as OpenCV, OpenNI, and PCL, is for processing the 2D and 3D image data. Each chapter is presented with adequate theory for understanding the application part. The book is reviewed by the experts in this field and it is the result of their handwork and passion in robotics.

Learning Robotics using Python is a good companion for entrepreneurs who want to explore service robotics domain, professionals who want to implement more features on their robots, researchers who want to explore more on robotics, and hobbyist or students who want to learn robotics. The book follows a step-by-step guide, which can easily be captured by anyone.

, Getting Started with Robot Operating System , explains the fundamental concepts of ROS, which are the main platform for programming robot.

, Understanding the Basics of Differential Robots , discusses the fundamental concepts of a differential mobile robot. The concepts are Kinematics and Inverse kinematics of differential drive. This will help you implement the differential drive controller in the software.

, Modeling the Differential Drive Robot