ROS1 Development Skill

ROS1 Development Skill

When to Use This Skill

• Building or maintaining ROS1 packages and nodes
• Writing launch files, message types, or services
• Debugging ROS1 communication (topics, services, actions)
• Configuring catkin workspaces and build systems
• Working with tf/tf2 transforms, URDF, or robot models
• Using actionlib for long-running tasks
• Optimizing nodelets for zero-copy transport
• Planning ROS1 → ROS2 migration

Core Architecture Principles

1. Node Design

Single Responsibility Nodes: Each node should do ONE thing well. Resist the temptation to build monolithic "do-everything" nodes.

# BAD: Monolithic node
class RobotNode:
    def __init__(self):
        self.sub_camera = rospy.Subscriber('/camera/image', Image, self.camera_cb)
        self.sub_lidar = rospy.Subscriber('/lidar/points', PointCloud2, self.lidar_cb)
        self.pub_cmd = rospy.Publisher('/cmd_vel', Twist, queue_size=10)
        self.pub_map = rospy.Publisher('/map', OccupancyGrid, queue_size=1)
        # This node does perception, planning, AND control

# GOOD: Decomposed nodes
class PerceptionNode:    # Fuses sensor data → publishes /obstacles
class PlannerNode:       # Subscribes /obstacles → publishes /path
class ControllerNode:    # Subscribes /path → publishes /cmd_vel

Node Initialization Pattern:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import rospy
from std_msgs.msg import String