Free resources

The official step-by-step path: turtlesim, nodes, topics, services, parameters, actions, launch files, workspaces and your first publisher. Do them in order; each takes 5 to 20 minutes.

Your first real ROS 2 session. Every command from the Turtle Commander game works here on a real computer.

A friendly overview of nodes, topics, packages and workspaces, with clear diagrams and videos. Great for building the big picture.

The radio-station explanation of topics, followed by many short ROS 2 tutorials in Python and C++.

Coordinate frames explained with two turtles: one follows the other. Your bridge to robot models and RViz.

Every ros2 command and colcon option on one page. Print it and keep it next to your keyboard.

Short, playful lessons on the shell, files, permissions, processes and packages, with quizzes. No sign-up needed.

The official Ubuntu walk-through of pwd, cd, ls, pipes and sudo.

A complete, readable book by William Shotts for when you want everything in one place.

The language from the creators of Python. Chapters 3 to 5 match Days 3 to 5 of the course.

Harvard's free video course, from functions to classes. Watch the lectures on loops and classes alongside Days 4 and 6.

The best free modern C++ tutorial. Chapters 0 to 8 cover everything you need to read a ROS 2 C++ node.

The reference to look things up in, such as std::vector or std::make_shared. Not a tutorial.

Frames, forward and inverse kinematics, and wheeled mobile robots, explained step by step with short videos.

Short video lessons on robot arms and mobile robots, for when you want to go beyond the course.

How real robots connect motors to ROS 2: diff_drive_controller and joint_trajectory_controller.

Inverse kinematics and collision-free motion planning for real arms.

Navigation for mobile robots: maps, localization, path planning and obstacle avoidance.

Practise in a full Ubuntu and ROS environment inside your browser. The three basics courses are free with an account.