Robotics for Software Engineers (MEAP)

Master the skills you need to program robots and other mechanical systems. Interesting examples and clear explanations guide you through programming robot arms, robots that drive and fly, and mobile manipulators.

In Robotics for Software Engineers you will learn how to:

Design robot software systems using standard software engineering skills
Control real and simulated robots using the Robot Operating System framework (ROS2)
Apply universal robotics principles to ROS and other frameworks
Develop software for robot arms, driving and flying robots, and mobile manipulators
Work with a robot’s sensors, sensing, planning, acting, and actuators
Build for all layers of a robot software stack from low-level close to the hardware, to core robot algorithms and services to application software
No special hardware or mechanical engineering skills are required to complete the examples


Robotics for Software Engineers introduces the unique aspects of programming robotic systems using examples and terminology familiar to software engineers. In this enlightening and entertaining book, you’ll learn to combine software components into working solutions for jobs like automated assembly and environmental sensing. As you go, you’ll master robot programming techniques that will upgrade your software engineering skills for complex architectures and related areas like embedded real-time systems.
about the technology
It’s thrilling to see your code make a real, physical connection with the world. Programming robots no longer requires sophisticated electronics knowledge and low-level languages. Using standard tools like Python along with open source frameworks like ROS2—the Robot Operating System framework—you can control a wide range of mechanical systems. You just need to learn how robots differ from other software applications.