Skip to main content

ROSbot 3 / 3 PRO - quick start

ROSbot 3 / ROSbot 3 PRO is an indoor mobile robot platform built for research and education. It's powered by a Raspberry Pi 5, with a 1.5mm alloy chassis. The ROSbot 3 features a SLAMTEC C1 LIDAR and Luxonis OAK-D Lite camera, while the ROSbot 3 PRO is equipped with an enhanced SLAMTEC S2 LIDAR and OAK-D Pro camera for improved perception and SLAM.

The open-source ROS 2 drivers are pre-installed and configured, so the robot works out of the box. You can drive it through a web interface or a gamepad without writing any code. Four DC motors, each with independent quadrature encoders, give ROSbot 3 precise motion control for navigating complex indoor environments.

ROSbot 3 preview


This guide takes you from box to driving around in about 15-20 minutes:

  1. Unbox & power up: batteries, antenna, and you're ready to go.
  2. Access the robot: HDMI, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi, whichever's easiest for you.
  3. Get it on your Wi-Fi: a one-time wizard.
  4. Drive it: from your phone, a gamepad, or the terminal.
Helpful links
OS version

This guide describes Husarion OS, the image shipped on ROSbot 3 / 3 PRO units. ROSbot 3 and ROSbot XL now run from the same unified image and driver snap (rosbot); the robot variant is picked once, during production. It reflects image 2026.09.30; check what you're running from the banner shown right after you log in (the Version: line), or run:

echo $IMAGE_NAME

Most of this guide applies regardless of version; a few steps that changed recently are marked ⚠️ since 2026.09.30. To pick up the latest image, see OS reinstallation.

Preparation​

Unboxing​

What's in the box:

  • carrying case
  • ROSbot 3 with 3D camera and LiDAR already assembled
  • Wi-Fi 2.4GHz / 5GHz antenna
  • 3x 18650 Li-Ion rechargeable batteries
  • a universal charger with power adapter
  • charging cable
  • microSD card with the OS system image
  • USB to Ethernet adapter

Additionally, to launch the robot for the first time, you will need:

  • a screwdriver
  • USB-HDMI cable, mouse and keyboard OR Ethernet cable

Connect Batteries and Antenna​

Your ROSbot is assembled, but to get it ready to work, you need to provide a power supply and attach the antenna.

To mount the batteries:

  • turn ROSbot upside down
  • unscrew the battery cover mounted with two screws
  • remove the battery cover
  • place the batteries accordingly to the symbols, keeping the black strip under the batteries
  • place the battery cover back in position and mount it with screws.

To charge the batteries, follow this guide.

To attach the antenna, simply screw it to the SMA antenna connector on the rear panel of ROSbot.

Access the Robot​

For first-time setup, we recommend the HDMI tab: plug in a display, mouse, and keyboard. Once ROSbot is on your LAN, Ethernet/Wi-Fi (LAN) is the easiest way back in. Whichever way you connect, the login is husarion / husarion.

ROSbot is basically a computer running Ubuntu, so let's open it like a standard PC.

  1. Plug in a display with HDMI, mouse and keyboard into the USB port on the rear panel of the ROSbot.
  2. Turn on the robot and wait until it boots.

Wi-Fi Setup​

It's worth connecting ROSbot to Wi-Fi at this point. Once it's online, you can leave the cable behind, and the rest of this guide (Cockpit, driving over the network, autonomous navigation) just works.

Right after logging in, you'll see a prompt asking to connect to Wi-Fi. Follow it:

  1. Confirm you want to connect (choose Yes).
  2. Wait a few seconds while it scans for nearby networks.
  3. Pick your network from the list and enter the password if asked.
  4. Once connected, the wizard shows the robot's IP address:

ROSbot 3 terminal

Operating the Robot​

Start Driver​

By default the robot driver is automatically launched during system boot. However, you can manually enable/disable the rosbot service.

husarion@rosbot3:/home/husarion$
sudo rosbot.start
# sudo rosbot.stop # to disable

Robot Control​

The robot is controlled by sending a cmd_vel topic with information about the desired speed. This can be done in many ways, including:

The web-based user interface is Husarion Cockpit, ready to use out-of-the-box. Open the following URL in your web browser:

http://<ROSBOT_IP> or http://rosbot-<SERIAL_NUMBER>.local

HTTP or HTTPS?

Start with http://. It opens straight away, with no browser warnings.

The same Cockpit also works over https:// (for example https://rosbot-<SERIAL_NUMBER>.local). Over https, your computer's graphics hardware can decode the camera video, so the robot sends a much lighter video stream and uses less of your Wi-Fi. The downside is that the robot signs its own security certificate, so your browser shows a security warning that you have to accept to continue. The warning comes back from time to time, usually after a few hours.

Which one to use:

  • http: everyday use, the quickest way in.
  • https: when the camera picture is choppy or the Wi-Fi is weak or busy, or when Cockpit shows a link to https instead of the camera picture (some camera modes only work over https).

If logging in over https suddenly stops working, switch back to the http address.

Log in with the default credentials husarion / husarion.

Cockpit: Operate view

Robot Management​

Husarion Cockpit's Manage tab is the primary way to change the robot's ROS 2 configuration (domain ID, namespace, RMW implementation, DDS/Zenoh profiles) from the same address as above.

Cockpit: Configuration view

ROS 2 Interface​

The ROS 2 driver is already launched on the system. You can find the available ROS 2 topics with:

husarion@rosbot3:/home/husarion$
ros2 topic list

ROS2 topic list

Topic namespace

By default, all topics live under a per-unit namespace /rosbot_<SERIAL_NUMBER>/... rather than flat at the root; this keeps multiple robots on the same network from colliding. Change it from Robot Management above.

For more info about topics, check the ROS 2 API. Want to modify the driver itself? The source is on GitHub: rosbot_ros.

Helpful Resources​

ROS 2 Tutorials​

warning

Our ROS 2 tutorials were initially created for ROSbot 2 that had Orbbec Astra camera instead of Luxonis OAK-D like in ROSbot 3. ROS 2 camera topics will have different names

ROS 2 (Robot Operating System 2) provides libraries and tools to help software developers create robotic applications. We've put together a series of ROS 2 Tutorials dedicated for this platform that serve as a practical introduction to ROS 2. You can run them on any of our ROSbots, either on a physical robot or in the simulation environment. These step-by-step guides are tailored to accommodate both beginners embarking on their ROS 2 journey and experienced users looking to deepen their understanding of robot navigation.

Snap Cheatsheet​

ROSbot operates on Ubuntu 24.04 with ROS 2 Jazzy preinstalled. Three snaps come preinstalled: rosbot (the driver), husarion-depthai (camera), and husarion-rplidar (LiDAR); browse them on the Snapcraft Store. Husarion Cockpit is not a snap: it's a Docker Compose bundle at /opt/husarion-rosbot/, managed with docker compose rather than snap.

Stopping a sensor's snap frees up the CPU and USB bandwidth it was using, which helps if you don't need that sensor right now:

husarion@rosbot3:/home/husarion$
sudo husarion-depthai.stop
sudo husarion-rplidar.stop
# ...and to bring them back:
sudo husarion-depthai.start
sudo husarion-rplidar.start

The driver itself works the same way (sudo rosbot.start / sudo rosbot.stop, see Start Driver above).