ROS 2 Robotic Demonstrator

THE MISSION During my internship at SCAILAB AB, I was tasked with the mechanical assembly, software validation, and physical integration of a unified robotics demonstration system. The goal was to deploy an open-source 6-axis robotic arm onto a fully standalone, mobile rig for both internal testing and external live demonstrations. MECHANICAL INTEGRATION & ASSEMBLY Rather than testing robotic code on a static workbench, the foundation of this project was a highly mobile workstation built directly into a repurposed flight case. - Robotic Assembly: Assembled the open-source 6-axis robotic arm, managing the physical build and ensuring proper joint alignment. - Flight Case Conversion: Redesigned a standard flight case into a self-contained rig, permanently integrating a central power supply and secure mounting points for the electronics. - Custom Camera Rig: Designed and implemented a robust rigging system for a computer vision (CV) camera to provide an optimal overhead view of the arm's workspace. DISTRIBUTED ARCHITECTURE (ROS 2) The computational brain of the rig utilizes a multi-tiered distributed architecture, bridging high-level ROS 2 orchestration with low-level, real-time hardware execution: - High-Level Control & Vision (2x RPi 5): One Raspberry Pi 5 acts as the primary ROS 2 host for motion planning and system orchestration. A dedicated secondary Pi 5 handles the computer vision (CV) payload. - Real-Time Kinematics (Teensy 4.1): High-frequency, deterministic execution of the arm's kinematic math and motor control is offloaded to a custom sketch running on a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller. - End-Effector Control (Arduino Nano): A dedicated Arduino Nano strictly manages the tool gripper logic and actuation. THE OUTCOME The completed flight case rig now serves a dual purpose. Internally, it acts as a flexible, highly capable testing platform for developers. Externally, its clean, all-in-one mobile design makes it the perfect live demonstrator.