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Setup

This section describes how to prepare the PI Plus robot software environment for the ROS2-based deployment workflow.

It focuses on:

  • Robot-side system preparation
  • ROS2 environment setup
  • Workspace preparation
  • Required runtime environments for deployment

This page does not include internal repository links or private development resources.

Overview

The ROS2 deployment workflow on PI Plus requires preparation on the robot side before bringup and policy execution.

The target robot configuration used in this setup is:

  • Robot: PI Plus
  • Platform: Orin NX
  • Camera: RealSense D435i

A complete setup typically includes:

  • SSH access to the robot
  • Network and proxy configuration, if required
  • Miniconda installation
  • ROS2 Foxy installation
  • Shell environment setup
  • ROS2 workspace preparation
  • Deployment runtime environment

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

  • A PI Plus robot powered on and reachable over the network
  • SSH access to the robot
  • Administrator privileges on the robot
  • Required deployment packages prepared locally

1. Connect to the Robot

Connect to the robot over SSH:

ssh <username>@<robot_ip>

Verify that:

  • The robot is reachable
  • Login is successful
  • You have permission to install software and edit shell configuration files

2. Configure Network Access (Optional)

If the robot requires internet access through the host machine, configure proxy settings on the robot.

Typical proxy variables:

export http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890
export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890

Note

This step is only required when the robot cannot directly access the external network.

3. Install Miniconda

Install Miniconda on the robot to manage Python environments.

Example workflow:

wget <miniconda_installer_for_aarch64>
bash ~/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-aarch64.sh
source ~/.bashrc
conda deactivate
conda config --set auto_activate_base false

After installation, verify that conda is available:

conda --version

4. Install ROS2 Foxy

4.1 Locale Setup

sudo apt update && sudo apt install locales
sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

4.2 Add ROS2 Sources

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key \
 -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" \
 | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null

4.3 Install ROS2 Base

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install ros-foxy-ros-base python3-argcomplete -y
sudo apt install ros-dev-tools -y

4.4 Install Extra Dependencies

sudo apt install \
 ros-foxy-joy-linux \
 ros-foxy-example-interfaces \
 ros-foxy-map-msgs \
 ros-foxy-turtlesim \
 ros-foxy-pcl-msgs \
 ros-foxy-gazebo-msgs \
 ros-foxy-rosbag2-storage-mcap \
 nlohmann-json3-dev \
 -y

After installation, verify the ROS2 environment:

source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash
ros2 --help

5. Configure the Shell Environment

5.1 Disable Automatic ROS1 Sourcing

Comment out any automatic ROS1 sourcing line in ~/.bashrc.

5.2 Add a ROS Environment Switch Helper

rosenv() {
 unset -v $(env | grep -o '^ROS[^=]*' | tr '\n' ' ')
 unset PYTHONPATH
 unset CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
 unset AMENT_PREFIX_PATH
 unset COLCON_PREFIX_PATH
 unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH

 case $1 in
 foxy)
 source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash
 echo "Switched to ROS2 Foxy"
 ;;
 noetic)
 source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
 echo "Switched to ROS1 Noetic"
 ;;
 *)
 echo "Usage: rosenv [foxy|noetic]"
 echo "Current ROS_DISTRO: $ROS_DISTRO"
 ;;
 esac
}

Reload the shell:

source ~/.bashrc

Test:

rosenv foxy

6. Install Required System Libraries

Extract:

tar -zxvf ros2_env.tar.gz

Build:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../
make -j
sudo make install

Warning

Use the provided deployment package that matches your robot system.

7. Prepare the ROS2 Workspace

mkdir -p ~/your_name/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/your_name/ros2_ws

Build:

rosenv foxy
colcon build

Source:

source install/setup.bash

8. Prepare the instinct_onboard Runtime Environment

Copy project to:

~/your_name/instinct_onboard

Clone dependency:

git clone https://github.com/nitesh-subedi/ros2_numpy

9. Create Python Environment

conda create -n instinct_venv python=3.8
conda activate instinct_venv

10. Install ONNX Runtime GPU

pip install onnxruntime_gpu-<version>-cp38-cp38-linux_aarch64.whl

Install project:

cd ~/your_name/instinct_onboard
pip install -e .

11. Prepare Policy Files

mkdir -p ~/your_name/policy

12. Verification Checklist

System-Level Checks

  • SSH connection to the robot works
  • Network access is available if required
  • Miniconda is installed
  • ROS2 Foxy is installed
  • rosenv foxy works correctly

Workspace Checks

  • ROS2 workspace is created
  • Workspace builds successfully with colcon build
  • source install/setup.bash works correctly

Onboard Runtime Checks

  • instinct_onboard is present on the robot
  • ros2_numpy is available under the project directory
  • instinct_venv Conda environment is created
  • ONNX Runtime GPU wheel is installed
  • pip install -e . completes successfully
  • Policy files are uploaded to the policy directory

13. Next Steps

  1. Start the ROS2 bringup pipeline
  2. Move the robot to zero position
  3. Launch the onboard policy runtime

See:

  • tutorials/bringup/
  • tutorials/first-run/
  • tutorials/safety-and-teleop/

Summary

This setup prepares the robot for ROS2-based onboard deployment.

It includes:

  • Base system preparation
  • ROS2 installation
  • Workspace build
  • Onboard runtime environment
  • Policy runtime dependencies

Once all setup steps are complete, the robot is ready for bringup and policy execution.