This document defines the procedure required to establish deterministic, low-latency ROS2 communication with a Standard Bots robot. The runtime stack routes real-time commands across a direct Ethernet connection encapsulated within a Docker container. No prior Docker or ROS2 experience is required to complete this deployment.
This procedure requires Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04. It has been validated on 24.04.
Ubuntu’s current version is 26.04 but you can still download previous versions with the link below
Ubuntu 24.04 download: https://releases.ubuntu.com/noble/
Update the system package index and install the foundational dependencies:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
Install Docker via the terminal:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git docker.io docker-buildx -y
Grant the current user permission to manage Docker without elevated privileges:
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
Clone the Standard Bots ROS2 repository:
mkdir ~/robot_projects
cd ~/robot_projects
git clone <https://github.com/standardbots/ros2-realtime-api.git>
cd ros2-realtime-api
With the Ethernet cable connected between the host computer and the control box, identify the name of the active Ethernet interface: