Hadabot: Create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive w/ ROS 2, Docker, VSCode, ESP32 tools installed

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Hi All,

Perhaps you know Windows users who have trouble connecting to their ESP32 (preventing them from trying it with micro-ROS!), or someone who wants to try ROS 2 in a Linux Ubuntu desktop environment.

Read the new Hadabot post describing instructions on how to create a bootable Ubuntu usb thumb drive installed with ROS 2, Docker, VSCode, and the ESP32 tools.

With this bootable Ubuntu USB drive and a spare ESP32 laying around, you can run through all the past Hadabot blog posts and compile our sample ROS 2 code with VSCode running in a web-browser interface.

For those unfamiliar with my Hadabot effort - Hadabot is a super-low cost robot kit for software engineers, students, and makers to learn ROS 2 and robotics.

The Hadabot runs off an ESP32 microcontroller board (running MicroPython), is easy to set up, and leverages Docker to sandbox the ROS 2 install libraries from your host system. The user interfaces, including an online VSCode, all run on in the web browser to ensure a consistent user experience.

Two ways to learn with Hadabot:

  1. Purchase a Hadabot kit .
  2. Sign up to our email list to stay in touch via the Stay in Touch button.

As usual, love to hear feedback, suggestions, encouragements (discouragements).

Thanks and happy building!
Jack “the Hadabot Maker”

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This is amazing! Good work!

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Hey @jackp510, I know that you are trying micro-ROS, but do you have plans for doing it the default option for communicating your robot with ROS 2? If you have any issues or request, do not hesitate to ask, we are willing to improve and spread micro-ROS!

It would be super nice if you present your results and use cases in the Embedded Working Group. Maybe we can schedule a date with @FraFin.

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Hi @pablogs - thanks for all the offer to help. I am still considering micro-ROS with the ESP32. Using MicroPython w Hadabot enables it to be more “edu friendly” since students can simply upload python. But communicating to the rest of ROS 2 via ros2-web-bridge is definitely not as eloquent as just using micro-ROS.

With all this said, @Dmitry_Ryzhov is the main person who has spearheaded the Hadabot micro-ROS efforts, re-factoring the Hadabot MicroPython code for micro-ROS. He is extremely thoughtful, responsive, and has done a ton of work and can contribute to the EWG if he is interested. @Dmitry_Ryzhov - thoughts?

In the meantime, I will keep you and @FraFin updated as to what the Hadabot micro-ROS intentions are. Don’t hesitate to reach out directly with questions - jack@hadabot.com

Thanks!!
Jack