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Understanding Packages and Nodes in ROS 2
Learn how packages and nodes are organized in ROS 2! This post breaks down the building blocks of a ROS 2 application and explains how to structure your robotic software using packages and nodes.
If you're just getting started with ROS 2 (Robot Operating System 2), you’ll quickly run into two core terms: packages and nodes. Think of a package 📦 as a folder that contains everything needed for a part of your robot’s software—scripts, config files, dependencies, and more. It’s like a self-contained toolbox. A node 🤖 is a single running program (a process) that performs one specific function—like controlling a motor, publishing camera data, or processing sensor input. In ROS 2, you’ll often have multiple nodes inside a single package, or distribute nodes across different packages depending on your application’s complexity.
🧱 How Packages and Nodes Work Together
In a real-world robotics system, you wouldn’t cram everything into one massive script. Instead, you organize things like this:
- Camera package 📸
Contains acamera_drivernode that publishes image data. - Image processing package 🧠
Contains animage_processingnode that subscribes to camera data and applies filters or object detection. - Motion planning package 🦾
Contains nodes likemotion_planningandpath_correctionto compute trajectories and avoid obstacles. - Hardware control package ⚙️
Has nodes likestate_publisherandhardware_driverthat interface with the physical robot.
Each node uses ROS 2 communications—topics, services, and actions—to talk to each other.
🗂 Why This Matters
By splitting logic into nodes and organizing them into packages, you:
✅ Make your code modular
✅ Enable team collaboration
✅ Simplify debugging and reuse
✅ Support scalable systems with many components
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