Install RoboStack packages with micromamba

First, Install Micromamba

"${SHELL}" <(curl -L micro.mamba.pm/install.sh)

For details, see the official Micromamba Installation instructions.

By default, the installer will set up conda-forge, the prefix location at ~/micromamba, and initialise shell variables in your ~/.bashrc.

Once installed, you can update micromamba with:

micromamba self-update

Do not install ROS packages in the base environment

Make sure to not install the ROS packages in your base environment as this leads to issues down the track. On the other hand, conda and mamba must not be installed in the ros_env, they should only be installed in base.

Do not source the system ROS environment

When there is an installation available of ROS on the system, in non-conda environments, there will be interference with the environments as the PYTHONPATH set in the setup script conflicts with the conda environment.

Installing ROS

There are different channels depending on the version of ROS that you wish to install, to add these channels and install your desired version, you can run the following:

ROS 1 Noetic

# Create a ros-noetic desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-noetic ros-noetic-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-noetic --env

ROS 2 Humble

# Create a ros-humble desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-humble ros-humble-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-humble --env

ROS 2 Jazzy

# Create a ros-jazzy desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-jazzy ros-jazzy-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-jazzy --env

ROS 2 Kilted

# Create a ros-kilted desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-kilted ros-kilted-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-kilted --env

ROS 2 Lyrical

# Create a ros-lyrical desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-lyrical ros-lyrical-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-lyrical --env

ROS 2 Rolling

# Create a ros-rolling desktop environment
micromamba create -n ros_env -c conda-forge -c robostack-rolling ros-rolling-desktop
# Activate the environment
micromamba activate ros_env
# Add the robostack channel to the environment
micromamba config append channels robostack-rolling --env

Installing tools for local development

Default tools to help with local development of ROS packages

micromamba activate ros_env
micromamba install -c conda-forge ros-dev-tools

Developing on Windows

• Windows users also need Visual Studio 2022 with C++ support
• You can download them here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/vscpp-step-0-installation?view=msvc-170

Testing installation

After installation, you should test if you are able to run rviz/rviz2 and other ROS tools.

Reminder

The ROS environment activation is included automatically. There is no need to add a source command in the ~/.bashrc

ROS 1

First terminal

micromamba activate ros_env
roscore

Second terminal

micromamba activate ros_env
rviz

ROS 2

Note

ROS 2 has the benefit of not needing a roscore, so only a single terminal is needed to run a tool.

Terminal

micromamba activate ros_env
rviz2

If you run into any issues or for any frequently asked questions, you can check the FAQ page

Updating

Updating all packages in your environment is as easy as:

micromamba update --all

Deactivating

The (de)activation of the ros workspace goes in together with the conda environment. So running the corresponding (de)activation command will also (un)source the ros environment.

micromamba deactivate