Last month, we announced integrated support for the latest (and final) release of the ROS1 framework, ROS Noetic, on Jackal UGV. Now, we are excited to announce expanded support for Jackal’s older brother, Husky UGV! ROS Noetic uses the same basic package structure as ROS Melodic, but runs on Ubuntu 20.04 and will be supported until May 2025.
One of the biggest benefits of ROS Noetic is that it is the first ROS release to officially support Python3. Melodic and older ROS releases still rely on Python2 libraries, despite Python2 hitting its end-of-life date in early 2020. This new release gives users the ability to use the latest version of ROS on their robot, as well as develop software that can leverage more recent libraries and kernels. It also extends the software support lifetime of their robot to 2025, when Ubuntu 20.04 and ROS Noetic reach their end-of-life date.
Husky UGV in Gazebo
Installing ROS Noetic
To install Noetic on your Husky UGV, you will need to reformat its drive and install Ubuntu 20.04. In order to get your Husky UGV up and running quickly, check out our installation and configuration guide here. You can access the ISO download here. If you find yourself struggling, you can always check out the ROS Wiki or feel free to contact our customer support team with any questions or problems about upgrading.
Husky UGV is the second of our platforms to get updated to Noetic. We’re planning on releasing Noetic support for Dingo, Ridgeback, and Warthog by early 2022. We’re also working on adding Noetic support for our Autonomy Research Kit 2 (ARK2), as well as our outdoor GPS Autonomy software. And of course, we haven’t forgotten about ROS2 users. We’re busy working on getting ROS2 support ready for release on Husky UGV and Jackal UGV initially, followed by Dingo, Ridgeback, and Warthog UGV in the following months. Stay tuned for our ROS2 announcement!
To access our Noetic tutorials for Husky UGV, check out our wiki here.
To learn more about Husky UGV, visit our website here.