Autonomous Mobile Robot: RRT*, ROS & Navigation

About this course

Are you looking to build your own autonomous robot from scratch, but don’t know where to start?This course is a complete, hands-on guide to robot navigation using affordable hardware, ROS, and real-world robotics algorithms. Whether you want to build delivery robots, indoor service robots, or autonomous vehicles for your research, this course will walk you step-by-step through every essential component of a working navigation system.You will begin by learning the core hardware setup: Jetson Nano (or Raspberry Pi), Arduino controllers, wheel encoders, BNO055 IMU, and RPLIDAR. You will see exactly how each component connects, how power is managed, and how to verify that every sensor is publishing data correctly.Next, you will learn how to build the complete navigation pipeline. We will cover ROS communication, TF frames, odometry generation, sensor fusion using an Extended Kalman Filter, and 2D mapping using Hector SLAM. You will also learn how to publish motion commands, tune a controller module, and integrate your robot’s hardware with high-level navigation logic.A full section is dedicated to path planning, where we implement the RRT* algorithm and explain how sampling-based planners work in real navigation systems. You will see how to generate a collision-free path and then execute it using your robot’s motor control module.By the end of this course, you will have a fully functioning robot navigation system capable of sensing, mapping, planning, and moving autonomously. All code, diagrams, and wiring references are included so you can reproduce the entire project on your own.If you want practical robotics skills that let you build a real working robot—this is the course for you.