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Appendix B: Software Installation Guide

Complete step-by-step installation instructions for all software dependencies.

Prerequisites​

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS installed (native, not VM)
  • Internet connection
  • Administrator (sudo) access
  • 50GB+ free disk space

Part 1: ROS 2 Humble Installation​

Step 1: Set Locale​

locale  # Check UTF-8
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

Step 2: Add ROS 2 Repository​

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

Step 3: Install ROS 2 Humble​

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop

Step 4: Install Development Tools​

sudo apt install ros-dev-tools
sudo apt install python3-colcon-common-extensions
sudo apt install python3-rosdep

Step 5: Initialize rosdep​

sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

Step 6: Source Setup Script​

echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Step 7: Verify Installation​

ros2 --help
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

Expected: Talker node publishes "Hello World" messages.

Part 2: Gazebo Harmonic Installation​

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lsb-release gnupg

sudo curl https://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo.gpg --output /usr/share/keyrings/pkgs-osrf-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/pkgs-osrf-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo/ubuntu-stable $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gazebo-stable.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gz-harmonic

Option B: Source Build (Advanced)​

See: https://gazebosim.org/docs/harmonic/install_ubuntu_src

Install ROS 2 - Gazebo Bridge​

sudo apt install ros-humble-ros-gz

Verify Installation​

gz sim -v4 shapes.sdf

Expected: Gazebo GUI opens with shapes world.

Part 3: NVIDIA Isaac Installation​

Prerequisites​

  • NVIDIA GPU with driver 525.60.13+
  • CUDA 12.x installed (see Appendix A)

Install Isaac ROS​

# Install Docker
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker.io
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Install NVIDIA Container Toolkit
distribution=$(. /etc/os-release;echo $ID$VERSION_ID)
curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-docker/gpgkey | sudo apt-key add -
curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-docker/$distribution/nvidia-docker.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-docker.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y nvidia-container-toolkit
sudo systemctl restart docker

# Clone Isaac ROS Common
cd ~/workspaces
git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-ISAAC-ROS/isaac_ros_common.git
cd isaac_ros_common
./scripts/run_dev.sh

Install Isaac Sim (Optional)​

  1. Download from: https://developer.nvidia.com/isaac-sim
  2. Extract to ~/isaac-sim
  3. Run: ./isaac-sim.sh

Requires: NVIDIA GPU with 12GB+ VRAM

Part 4: Unity Installation​

Install Unity Hub​

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://hub.unity3d.com/linux/repos/deb stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unityhub.list'
wget -qO - https://hub.unity3d.com/linux/keys/public | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install unityhub

Install Unity Editor​

  1. Open Unity Hub
  2. Install Unity 2022.3 LTS
  3. Add Linux Build Support module

Install Unity Robotics Hub​

  1. Create new Unity project (3D template)
  2. Window → Package Manager
  3. Add package from git URL:
    • https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/ROS-TCP-Connector.git?path=/com.unity.robotics.ros-tcp-connector
    • https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/URDF-Importer.git?path=/com.unity.robotics.urdf-importer

Part 5: Python Dependencies​

Install Python 3.10+​

python3 --version  # Should be 3.10+
sudo apt install python3-pip

Install Key Libraries​

pip3 install --upgrade pip

# Deep Learning
pip3 install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121

# Computer Vision
pip3 install opencv-python opencv-contrib-python

# Isaac / TensorRT
pip3 install tensorrt

# Robotics Utilities
pip3 install numpy scipy matplotlib
pip3 install transforms3d

# VLA / LLM
pip3 install openai anthropic
pip3 install openai-whisper

# Development
pip3 install jupyter ipython

Part 6: Additional Tools​

Install Git​

sudo apt install git
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Install VS Code​

sudo snap install code --classic

Extensions to install:

  • ROS (Microsoft)
  • Python (Microsoft)
  • C/C++ (Microsoft)
  • CMake Tools

Install Terminator (Terminal Multiplexer)​

sudo apt install terminator

Verification Checklist​

Run these commands to verify installations:

# ROS 2
ros2 --version
# Expected: ros2 cli version 0.25.x

# Gazebo
gz sim --version
# Expected: Gazebo Harmonic

# CUDA
nvcc --version
nvidia-smi
# Expected: CUDA 12.x, GPU listed

# Python
python3 --version
pip3 list | grep torch
pip3 list | grep opencv
# Expected: torch, opencv-python

# Git
git --version

Troubleshooting Common Issues​

ROS 2: "Package not found"​

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

Gazebo: "gz command not found"​

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
source ~/.bashrc

CUDA: "CUDA driver version is insufficient"​

  • Update NVIDIA drivers
  • Reboot

Docker Permission Denied​

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Python Import Errors​

pip3 install --upgrade <package-name>

Workspace Setup​

Create ROS 2 Workspace​

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build
echo "source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

Clone Textbook Examples​

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/physical-ai-textbook/examples.git
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build

Installation Complete! Proceed to Chapter 1.1 to start learning.

See Also:

  • Appendix A: Hardware Setup Guide
  • Appendix F: Troubleshooting Guide