In the previous chapters, we discussed the visualization and debugging tools that are used in ROS during development. In this chapter, we will learn about interfacing hardware components, such as sensors and actuators, to the ROS framework. First, we will look at interfacing sensors using I/O boards, such as Arduino, and interfacing the 9DoF Razor IMU. Similarly, we will also discuss interfacing actuators, Dynamixel, the laser rangefinder – Hokuyo, a GPS system – Ublox, and the RGB-D – Kinect Sensor for viewing objects in 3D.

Since it is impossible to explain all the types of available sensors and actuators in one chapter, we have selected some of the most commonly used sensors and actuators found in robotics laboratories to start learning. These sensors and actuators can be organized into different categories: rangefinders, perception, pose estimation devices, and so on.