For robotics teachers: ROS2 Manual Map Building — Teleoperated SLAM with Cartographer | #10

A reliable map is the foundation of every autonomous navigation stack — without one, a robot can't plan paths or localise itself in a warehouse. This robotics project demo shows you how to bring up a complete Cartographer SLAM stack inside a cartographer_slam ROS 2 package, then has the student teleoperate a robot (fastbot) through the warehouse while the occupancy grid grows live in RViz2 as LiDAR scans on /fastbot_1/scan fuse with odometry through the TF tree.

The finished map is then saved to disk and reloaded through a second map_server package whose lifecycle-managed launch file serves the static map for reuse — all of it switchable between simulation and the real robot by flipping a single use_sim_time argument.

You will learn:

✅ Structuring a ROS 2 package with launch, config, and rviz folders and a launch file that brings up cartographer_node and occupancy_grid_node together
✅ Configuring Cartographer via a Lua parameter file, matching tracking_frame, published_frame, and odom_frame to the robot's actual TF tree
✅ Teleoperating with teleop_twist_keyboard on the correct cmd_vel topic and saving the finished occupancy grid with nav2_map_server
✅ Building a lifecycle-managed map_server launch file parameterised by map_file and use_sim_time so the same stack runs on both sim and real hardware

📁 *ROS project link: https://app.theconstruct.ai/l/72e6b057/
🤖️ *Robot & Warehouse Environment Used: BotBot Robot Lab https://www.theconstruct.ai/botbox-warehouse-lab/

Related courses:
* C++ for Robotics (Free): https://app.theconstruct.ai/courses/c-for-robotics-59/
* ROS2 Basics in 5 Days (C++): https://app.theconstruct.ai/courses/ros2-basics-in-5-days-c-325/
* Advanced Modern C++ for Robotics: https://app.theconstruct.ai/courses/advanced-modern-c-for-robotics-94/


============================

[For Robotics Teachers Open Class], a weekly series of videos by The Construct Robotics Institute, aims to make robotics education easier by helping teachers teach a wide range of robotics topics through hands-on practice.

Each session provides a ROS-based project (referred to as ROSJECTs 🦾 📁) for all attendees, including notebooks, code, and robot simulations. Led by ROS expert Desire, you'll see how robotics teaching and hands-on practice come together in real time.

*Missed a session? Find recordings & ROSJECTs on https://app.theconstruct.ai/open-classes/*

We're excited to share this series with you! If you have questions or want to explore new topics, drop us a comment below.

Cheers.

*The Construct Robotics Institute | Where Your Robotics Career Happens*

============================

👨‍🏫 Class Creator: Desire (ROS Tutor @The Construct Robotics Institute )
👩‍💻 Class cover designer: Sonia/Ruojun Wang (Marketing @The Construct Robotics Institute )

--
#ai #Robotics #ros #robot #ros2