Installation

An overview on the installation process of both the real and the simulated robot are discussed here.

Note

As a prerequsite, we suggest you to go through the tutorial on creating and building a ROS 2 package.

Distributions

Distros

Jazzy, Lyrical, Rolling

Please follow the list of distributions to know the available active distribution.

Tip

User will be directed to the installation of the distro by pressing the corresponding image.

Warning

Rolling distro is specific for the developers and there are chances to find code that breaks your process or your hardware. Using Rolling distro is encouraged, only if you are developing a package based on the robot, else use other distros.

Packages for Robot-PC

Tip

If you have a brand new robot from us, please skip this entire section and go to Packages for Client-PC

The first step is to install the neobotix-robot-setup-tools Debian package. This package installs and configures essential tools such as SSH and VNC. Additionally, it sets up all necessary udev rules, which are critical for enabling communication between the robot’s PC and its internal components. Please follow the instruction given here in the Installation on the robot PC

ROS 2 does not use catkin for building the package unlike ROS (1), rather it employs ament_cmake as the default.

• Before continuing with this tutorial, make sure you have sourced your corresponding ROS-Distro:

  source /opt/ros/your-ros-distro/setup.bash
  

Follow the simple 3-step process to create your ros-workspace with all the necessary packages:

1. Open a terminal and clone the robot-setup-tool from GitHub.

   For noble (Ubuntu 24, Jazzy):

   git clone --branch noble https://github.com/neobotix/robot-setup-tool.git
   

2. Go to the robot-setup-tool directory:

   cd robot-setup-tool/package-setup
   

3. Run the bash file:

   ./setup-mp_robot.sh
   

   ./setup-rox.sh
   

Additional Step for ROX

In case you have a ROX robot delivered before October 2024, the relayboard_v3 will have an old firmware. Therefore, please checkout version 0.2.1 of the neo_relayboard_v3 ROS 2 package using version control:

cd ~/ros2_workspace/src/neo_relayboard_v3
git checkout 0.2.1
cd ~/ros2_workspace
colcon build --symlink-install

Packages for Client-PC

Creating a ROS workspace

The ROS workspace contains the packages needed on your Client PC. See below on how to initialize it from a terminal:

mkdir -p ros_workspace/src

Downloading the required Neobotix ROS-Packages

Neobotix Robots

Below is an example with neo_mp_400, please choose the robot from the list below.

Robots

mpo_700, mpo_500, mp_400, mp_500, rox

git clone --branch $ROS_DISTRO https://github.com/neobotix/neo_mp_400-2

neo_msgs2

This is essential, when a topic relevant to neobotix modules are used.

git clone https://github.com/neobotix/neo_msgs2.git

neo_srvs2

This is essential, when a service relevant to neobotix modules are used.

git clone https://github.com/neobotix/neo_srvs2.git

Once all the packages are installed:

cd your_colcon_workspace
colcon build --symlink-install
. install/setup.bash

Robot Middleware (RMW)

Neobotix robots use rmw_cyclonedds_cpp by default. Install Cyclone DDS on the client PC so that it uses the same RMW implementation as the robot:

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rmw-cyclonedds-cpp

Then select it in the current shell:

export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp

Sourcing the workspace

Note

. install/setup.bash does not need to be done each time after a package has been built, if the following step has been done.

echo "source your_colcon_workspace/install/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

From the binaries

Navigation2

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-navigation2 ros-$ROS_DISTRO-nav2-*

MoveIt2

Note

Required only for mobile manipulators

sudo apt-get install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-ros2-control ros-$ROS_DISTRO-ros2-controllers \
ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rqt_joint_trajectory_controller ros-$ROS_DISTRO-moveit-*

Packages for Simulation

Note

You can safely skip this step for the real robot.

Warning

Before continuing with this tutorial, make sure you have sourced your corresponding ROS-Distro.

Requirements for Gz Sim

There is currently no official documentation outlining the exact system requirements for modern Gazebo (Gz Sim). The following recommendations are based on our experience running Neobotix simulations.

Recommended minimum specifications to run Gz Sim effectively:

CPU       : Quad-core Intel i5 or equivalent
RAM       : 8 GB or more (16 GB recommended for complex simulations)
Storage   : SSD with at least 20 GB of free space
GPU       : Dedicated GPU with 1 GB or more of VRAM (NVIDIA preferred)

Note

A dedicated GPU with proper driver support is crucial for smooth visualization and sensor simulation in Gz Sim.

Warning

Running simulations on systems below these specifications may lead to reduced performance, crashes, or incomplete rendering.

Simulation Setup

Follow the simple 3-step process to create your ros-workspace with all the necessary packages:

1. Open a terminal and clone the robot-setup-tool from GitHub depending on the Ubuntu version you have installed:

   For noble:

   git clone --branch noble https://github.com/neobotix/robot-setup-tool.git
   

2. Go to the robot-setup-tool directory:

   cd robot-setup-tool/package-setup
   

3. Run the bash file:

   For noble:

   For ROX please run the following command:

   ./setup-rox-simulation.sh
   

   Attention

   Only ROX robots are available.

   For MP-series please run the following command:

   ./setup-mp-simulation.sh
   

Robot Middleware (RMW)

Neobotix robots use rmw_cyclonedds_cpp by default. Install Cyclone DDS with:

sudo apt install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-rmw-cyclonedds-cpp

Then select it in the current shell:

export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp