# ROS Setup

Robot Operating System (ROS) is robotics middleware. Although it is not an operating system, it provides services designed for a heterogeneous computer cluster such as hardware abstraction, low-level device control, implementation of commonly used functionality, message-passing between processes, and package management.

{% embed url="<https://jfrog.com/connect/post/what-is-ros-and-why-its-needed/>" %}

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This installation will install ROS Noetic on the system.

* Requires Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

If you don't have dual booted, you can try using VirtualBox or similar. Checkout installation of VirtualBox in [Spruce up your space](/wiki/tutorials/workspace-setup/spruce-up-your-space.md)
{% endhint %}

To install ROS, open the terminal and run the following:

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{% tab title="bash setup" %}
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````bash
# setup sources.list
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

# setup keys
sudo apt install curl # if you haven't already installed curl
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -

# installation
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full

#initialize rosdep
sudo apt install python3-rosdep #if you have not yet installed rosdep,run this line otherwise skip
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

# setup environment
echo "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# fulfill dependencies
sudo apt install python3-rosdep python3-rosinstall python3-rosinstall-generator python3-wstool build-essential  ```
````

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{% tab title="zsh setup" %}
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```bash
# setup sources.list
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

# setup keys
sudo apt install curl # if you haven't already installed curl
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -

# installation
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full

# minimal installation for microcontrollers 
sudo apt install ros-noetic-ros-base  # skip this if ros-noetic-desktop version is being installed

# install a specific package
sudo apt install ros-noetic-PACKAGE # e.g sudo apt install ros-noetic-slam-gmapping

#initialize rosdep
sudo apt install python3-rosdep #if you have not yet installed rosdep,run this line otherwise skip
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

# setup environment
echo "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# fulfill dependencies
sudo apt install python3-rosdep python3-rosinstall python3-rosinstall-generator python3-wstool build-essential
```

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{% code title="For relevant softwares" %}

```bash
# installation for gazebo
curl -sSL http://get.gazebosim.org | sh
sudo apt-get install gazebo11

# single liner installation for meshlab
sudo apt -y install meshlab
```

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{% hint style="warning" %}
If the above install fails, follow the instructions given here:\
<https://wiki.ros.org/noetic/Installation/Ubuntu#Ubuntu_install_of_ROS_Noetic>
{% endhint %}


---

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