How to setup ROS on Pi Zero W

Raspberry Pi zero is ARMV6 and ROS is not available via apt as debian binaries for ARMV6. I used Arch Linux as base OS and built ROS Noetic from source.

​Arch Linux ARM V6 Setup

• Steps to install Arch Linux on armv6 is available hereOpen external link.
• Once arch is installed, you may either follow below steps on pi itself or by chrooting into the system.
• My steps for chrooting are available hereOpen external link.

​Building ROS from source for ARMV6

• Install Dependencies

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt install -y python-rosdep python-rosinstall-generator python-wstool python-rosinstall build-essential cmake

• Init Rosdep

export ROS_OS_OVERRIDE=debian:wheezy
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

• Init ROS Workspace

mkdir -p ~/ros_ws && cd ~/ros_ws

rosinstall_generator ros_comm --rosdistro noetic --deps --wet-only --tar > noetic.rosinstall
wstool init src noetic.rosinstall

• Resolve Dependencies

rosdep install -y --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro noetic -r

• Build ROS and Install to /opt/ros/noetic

sudo ./src/catkin/bin/catkin_make_isolated --install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --install-space /opt/ros/noetic

• To install additional packages

rosinstall_generator ros_comm package-name --rosdistro noetic --deps --wet-only --tar > noetic.rosinstall
wstool merge noetic.rosinstall
wstool update -t src
rosdep install -y --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro noetic -y -r
sudo ./src/catkin/bin/catkin_make_isolated --install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --install-space /opt/ros/noetic --pkg pkgname

• To install any other ROS distro, change noetic to preferred distro name.

Additional Resources: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1249708/connect-raspberry-pi-4-with-ubuntu-server-to-wifiOpen external link

Author: Mihir PatelOpen external link