ROS 2 Getting Started

Installing ROS 2

Note

The ROS 2 Interbotix SLATE packages are compatible with the following distributions: Humble on Ubuntu 22.04 and Jazzy on Ubuntu 24.04.

Follow the ROS 2 installation guide for your specific version on the ROS documentation site:

Humble (Ubuntu 22.04)
Jazzy (Ubuntu 24.04)

Configuring Port Permissions

The SLATE uses a USB-Serial converter to communicate with the host computer.

Remove brltty to prevent it from claiming the device:

$ sudo apt-get remove brltty

Add your user to the dialout group:

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

Reboot your computer to apply the changes:

$ sudo reboot

Installing the Interbotix ROS SLATE Packages

Clone the repository and remove the COLCON_IGNORE file:

$ mkdir -p ~/interbotix_ws/src
$ cd ~/interbotix_ws/src
$ git clone --recursive -b $ROS_DISTRO https://github.com/Interbotix/interbotix_ros_core.git
$ rm ~/interbotix_ws/src/interbotix_ros_core/interbotix_ros_slate/COLCON_IGNORE

Install dependencies:

$ sudo rosdep init
$ rosdep update
$ cd ~/interbotix_ws
$ rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

Build the workspace:

$ source /opt/ros/$ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash
$ cd ~/interbotix_ws
$ colcon build

Running the Driver

Turn on the SLATE and connect it to your computer via USB. Configure your terminal environment and run the driver:

$ source /opt/ros/$ROS_DISTRO/setup.bash
$ source ~/interbotix_ws/install/setup.bash
$ ros2 run interbotix_slate_driver slate_base_node

If successful, you should see output similar to the following:

[INFO] [1738186633.956689812] [slate_base]: Using Trossen SLATE Driver Version: 'v1.0.0'.
Initialized base at port: '/dev/ttyUSB0'.
Base version: 'v1.0.0'.

For more detailed usage of the driver, please refer to ROS 2 Interface Operation. See Troubleshooting for common issues and solutions.