Turtle Bot and ROS1

The TurtleBot is a pre-built ROS1 robot designed for autonomous navigation and object detection.

For this project, the robot had to navigate a maze and locate two doors — one marked with a green dot, the other with a red dot. Using OpenCV (CV2), the robot identified the correct door based on color.

Once inside, it had to search for a Cluedo character displayed on the wall. To identify the character, the system leveraged Harris Corner Detection, allowing accurate recognition even in a small-scale, cluttered environment.

🔧 Approach & Implementation

• Developed ROS1 nodes in Python for navigation, sensor handling, and vision processing.
• Implemented a maze exploration algorithm, combining sensor feedback with simple path planning.
• Integrated color detection and corner-based feature recognition for object identification.
• Debugged ROS1 topics, messages, and TF frames to ensure smooth communication between sensors and actuators.

💡 Key Takeaways

• Gained hands-on experience with ROS1 architecture, including nodes, topics, and message passing.
• Learned to integrate computer vision with real-time robotics control.
• Improved debugging and problem-solving skills in a multi-component system.
• Built confidence transitioning from ROS1 to ROS2 for more complex robotics projects later in my studies.

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