UNH ROS Workshop (Bootcamp)

Hosted by Momotaz Begum, Associate Professor, and Mostafa Hussein, Research Scientist, from UNH's Computer Science Department.

Event Details

• Event Name: ROS Bootcamp
• Event Dates: Wed Jan 28, Thurs Jan 29, Fri Jan 30, Mon Feb 2, Tues Feb 3, 2026
• Event Time: 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
• Event Location: Kingsbury N101
• Required to bring: A laptop that runs Linux 22.04 or higher (dual boot is fine but VM will not work)

Syllabus

• Day 1: Python for Robotics
  • Introduction to Python fundamentals for robotics applications
  • Hands-on examples with perception:
    • Face detection
    • Person and object recognition using YOLO and ArcFace
• Day 2: Core ROS Concepts
  • ROS fundamentals and architecture
  • Key communication mechanisms:
    • Publishers & Subscribers
    • Topics
    • Services & Clients
• Day 3: Advanced ROS
  • Advanced ROS concepts, including Action Servers
  • Practical exercises using:
    • Simulation
    • Real robot (Stretch3)
  • Motor control, rotation, and basic movement
• Days 4–5: Navigation and Mapping with Nav2
  • Introduction to Nav2: commands, configuration, and workflows
  • Applying Nav2 on Stretch3 for:
    • Mapping indoor spaces
    • Setting key locations (e.g., home position, charging station)
  • Integrating perception with navigation:
    • Face recognition
    • Object detection combined with autonomous navigation

Notes

The schedule is intentionally flexible and may be adjusted based on our pace and interests to ensure everyone gets the most value out of the bootcamp. We might go for only 4 days, or we can go for the full five days.

Please take a moment to review the outline and feel free to come prepared with any questions, suggestions, or topics you'd like us to dive deeper into.

Resources

ROS2 Documentation: https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/index.html

It will be very good if you can read through it during the weekend and check the tutorials.

Please remember to bring a laptop that has Linux already installed on it. Expect that you will be doing a lot of coding.

Build System

This repository contains three ROS2 workspaces that must be built in order:

1. humble_ws - ROS2 Humble built from source (for Ubuntu 24.04 Noble)
2. underlay_ws - Missing dependencies (cv_bridge, rqt_image_view)
3. ros_bootcamp_ws - Workshop code and examples

Quick Start

# Build everything in order
make all

# Or build individual workspaces
make init       # Initialize humble workspace (download sources)
make humble     # Build ROS2 Humble from source
make underlay   # Build underlay dependencies
make bootcamp   # Build bootcamp workspace

Setup Environment

After building, source only the final workspace:

source ros_bootcamp_ws/install/setup.bash

The bootcamp workspace setup automatically sources the underlay and humble workspaces.

Clean Build Artifacts

make clean             # Clean underlay and bootcamp
make clean-humble      # Clean humble workspace
make clean-underlay    # Clean underlay workspace
make clean-bootcamp    # Clean bootcamp workspace

See make help for all available targets.