ROS Otto

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ROS Otto is a remix of the Otto educational robot by HP Robots supporting the hardware and electronics of the Otto Starter Builder or Creator Kits!

The design itself is inspired by the HP ZGX Nano AI Station, which is a great value NVIDIA GB10 platform for entry level AI research, development and education!

This remix works with the original firmware and has the same features as the original model but I wanted to try something a little different for fun as an alternative.

Learning about AI and robotics has been one of my hobbies for a while now, and when considering what to do for the HP Robots competition here on Printables, I thought I would try and bring these things together along with the theme of education and Hewlett Packard.

The environment provided by HP Robots and Otto is an excellent doorway for students looking to gain an introduction to robotics. But what if we start to think beyond that?

micro-ROS for Otto

Otto ships with an ESP32 based microcontroller unit (MCU), which is ubiquitous and well supported by various frameworks due to its low cost and availability. This includes the Robot Operating System (ROS) via micro-ROS, which provides an SDK to build out support for MCU based platforms.

It seems like a natural evolution to bring micro-ROS to HP Otto, as the platform can easily be used to teach ROS basics. Also, it can easily be extended with extra sensors, accessories and modifications to bring ROS and your personal Otto to life!

This project supports the latest ROS2 release, Jazzy Jalisco!

The software supporting this project is available free on github here, and is MIT licensed and can so be forked, adapted and extended for your needs, perhaps to add support for parts included in the expansion kits from HP Robots.

As it's nice to have a functional starting point, the project includes teleoperation (being able to control the robot) and being able to see it in the simulator at the same time, with the data also visualised in the simulator. It is possible to run natively or via docker.

Additionally, there is a mapping activity that allows you to remotely control the robot and map an area out using the ultrasound sensors in 3D in the simulator.

There are many educational possibilities for this project in using it and extending it:

• An easy introduction to ROS via micro-ROS

• Robot and sensors already configured, fun to add more!

• Functional examples and starting point

• One Otto is fun, how about more?

• The line sensors are present, what can we do with them?

If you like my designs or find them useful it would be great if you can support me by joining my club on Printables for at least a month, which gives you access to various extra models for the duration of membership. Another alternative is to buy me a coffee over at ko-fi via this link. Thank you!

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