Education and Tutorials

Resources for learning maritime robotics with ROS, from beginner tutorials to advanced topics.

Absolute Beginner?

Never used ROS before? Start with the Getting Started Guide for a complete beginner introduction. The tutorials on this page assume you have basic familiarity with ROS concepts.

Need to understand the terms? Check the Glossary for explanations of acronyms and concepts.

Getting Started with Maritime Robotics

Introduction to Marine Vehicles

Prerequisites: - Basic ROS knowledge - Understand topics, nodes, and launch files - Basic Linux/command-line - Can navigate directories, edit files - Python or C++ - Know basic programming concepts

New to ROS? Start with: - ROS 2 Tutorials - Official beginner tutorials - ROS 2 Basics - Understand what ROS is - Getting Started Guide - Maritime robotics introduction

Maritime-Specific Concepts: 1. Vehicle Dynamics: Understanding marine vehicle motion (6-DOF) 2. Coordinate Frames: NED (North-East-Down), ENU (East-North-Up), body frame 3. Environmental Forces: Currents, waves, buoyancy, drag 4. Sensor Limitations: GPS unavailable underwater, acoustic vs. RF communication

  1. Simulation First: Start with simulators (VRX, DAVE) before real hardware
  2. Simple Vehicles: Begin with surface vehicles (easier to test and debug)
  3. Sensor Integration: Add sensors incrementally (IMU → GPS → Sonar)
  4. Control Basics: Understand PID control before advanced techniques
  5. Real Hardware: Progress to physical platforms after simulation success

Tutorials

Tutorial 1: Setting Up VRX Simulation

Goal: Get the Virtual RobotX simulation running with a basic surface vehicle.

Steps:

  1. Follow the VRX README: Install dependencies, build the workspace, and launch a sample world using the current VRX instructions.
  2. Confirm the vehicle spawns: Ensure you see the model in the simulator before proceeding.
  3. Publish simple commands: Use ros2 topic pub to command the thrusters (see the VRX docs for topic names and message types).

Next Steps: - Explore sensor topics with ros2 topic list - Write a simple controller node - Try competition tasks

Resources: - VRX Wiki - VRX Tutorials

Tutorial 2: Understanding Thrust Allocation

Goal: Learn how multi-thruster vehicles distribute forces.

Concept:

A vehicle with multiple thrusters needs to determine how to command each thruster to achieve desired forces and torques. This is the thrust allocation problem.

Example - 4-Thruster Configuration:

Consider a 4-thruster configuration with horizontal thrusters:

     T1    T2
     ↓      ↓
    ┌────────┐
    │  ROV   │
    └────────┘
     ↑      ↑
     T3    T4

Allocation Matrix T:

Each thruster contributes to surge (X), sway (Y), and yaw (N). The allocation matrix relates thruster forces to vehicle forces:

[X]   [T_matrix] [F1]
[Y] = [  ....  ] [F2]
[N]   [  ....  ] [F3]
                 [F4]

Implementation:

  1. Define Configuration in URDF (see thrust allocation packages)
  2. Use an existing package (MVP-Control, thruster_manager)
  3. Or implement your own:
import numpy as np

# Pseudo-inverse solution
T = np.array([[1, 1, 1, 1],      # Surge
              [0, 0, 0, 0],       # Sway (simplified)
              [0.1, -0.1, -0.1, 0.1]])  # Yaw (moment arms)

T_inv = np.linalg.pinv(T)  # Pseudo-inverse

desired_forces = np.array([10, 0, 1])  # Example values
thruster_forces = T_inv @ desired_forces

Gotchas: - Thruster saturation - Dead zones - Optimal vs. feasible solutions

Tutorial 3: Integrating a DVL with ROS 2

Goal: Set up a Doppler Velocity Log for underwater navigation.

Hardware: Various DVL manufacturers (Teledyne RDI, Nortek, LinkQuest)

⚠️ Note: The Water Linked DVL A50 ROS driver repository (waterlinked/dvl-a50-ros-driver) is archived (last push 2024-02-26). For current DVL driver options, see the WHOI Deep Submergence Lab drivers which support Teledyne RDI DVLs, or check the Drivers page for other options.

Steps:

  1. Install Driver:
  2. Clone the appropriate DVL driver for your hardware.

  3. For WHOI drivers, see the WHOI Bitbucket workspace (repo access may require approval): https://bitbucket.org/whoidsl/workspace/repositories/

  4. Configure Connection: Edit the config file for your serial port, baud rate, and frame ID per the device manual.

  5. Launch the DVL node: Use your driver package's launch file.

  6. Verify Data: Use ros2 topic echo to confirm the driver publishes velocity and altitude.

  7. Integrate with robot_localization:

yaml # ekf_config.yaml ekf_filter_node: ros__parameters: odom0: /dvl/velocity odom0_config: [false, false, false, # x, y, z position false, false, false, # roll, pitch, yaw true, true, true, # x_dot, y_dot, z_dot false, false, false, # roll_dot, pitch_dot, yaw_dot false, false, false] # x_ddot, y_ddot, z_ddot

Next Steps: - Add IMU for full state estimation - Tune EKF parameters - Test in water tank or simulation

Tutorial 4: Basic Acoustic Localization

Goal: Understand USBL positioning for underwater vehicles.

Concept:

USBL (Ultra-Short Baseline) uses a surface transceiver to track an underwater beacon: - Measures range (time-of-flight) - Measures bearing (phase difference on transducer array) - Computes 3D position relative to surface unit

Simulation Setup:

  1. Use a simulator with acoustic positioning (DAVE, custom Gazebo)
  2. Configure USBL beacon on vehicle
  3. Configure surface transceiver

ROS Integration:

# Simplified USBL position update
class USBLLocalizer:
    def __init__(self):
        self.sub = self.create_subscription(
            USBLFix, '/usbl/fix', self.usbl_callback, 10)

    def usbl_callback(self, msg):
        # msg contains: range, bearing, elevation
        # Convert to Cartesian coordinates
        x = msg.range * cos(msg.elevation) * cos(msg.bearing)
        y = msg.range * cos(msg.elevation) * sin(msg.bearing)
        z = msg.range * sin(msg.elevation)

        # Publish as NavSatFix or PoseWithCovariance
        # Integrate with EKF

Challenges: - Outlier rejection (multipath, noise) - Time synchronization - Covariance estimation

Workshops and Courses

REMARO Summer School

REMARO Underwater Robotics Hackathon

Educational materials from TU Delft underwater robotics workshop.

Contents: - Hands-on exercises - Simulation scenarios - Team challenges - Real robot demonstrations

Topics Covered: - AUV basics - Sensor integration - Path planning - Object detection

Academic Courses

Universities offering maritime robotics courses (often with public materials):

  • MIT: Autonomous Marine Vehicles
  • NTNU (Norway): Marine Cybernetics
  • University of Porto: Underwater Robotics
  • TU Delft: Marine Robotics

Many publish: - Lecture slides - Lab assignments - Project descriptions - Code repositories

Documentation Resources

Key Package Documentation

Maritime-Specific Docs

  • VRX Wiki: Virtual RobotX competition and simulation
  • UUV Simulator Docs: Classic underwater simulator (ROS 1)
  • DAVE Wiki: DAVE simulator documentation

Video Tutorials

YouTube Channels

Channels with maritime robotics content:

  • WHOI Video: Research vessel and AUV operations, deep submergence vehicle deployments
  • Blue Robotics: ROV setup and operation, component tutorials
  • ROS Developers: General ROS tutorials applicable to maritime

WHOI Deep Submergence Lab Resources

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been a pioneer in underwater robotics for decades. Their Deep Submergence Lab has contributed significantly to the field through:

Historical Contributions: - Development of iconic vehicles: Alvin, Jason, ABE, Sentry - Pioneering acoustic communication and positioning systems - Advanced sensor integration for deep ocean exploration - Real-world operational experience from thousands of dives

Educational Impact: - ros_acomms: Acoustic communication stack with extensive documentation - whoi_ds: Sensor driver package (repo access may require approval) - ds_sim: Simulation environment for deep submergence vehicles - Field-tested code from real ocean deployments

Why Learn from WHOI: - Proven in Practice: Code has thousands of hours of operational sea time - Real-World Focus: Addresses actual challenges faced in ocean robotics - Comprehensive Documentation: Built for operational use, not just research - Industry Standard: WHOI Micro-Modem and acoustic communication protocols are widely adopted

Learning Resources: - WHOI GitLab: Active development repositories - WHOI Bitbucket: Legacy packages and deep submergence lab code - Research publications documenting vehicle operations and sensor systems

Conference Presentations

  • OCEANS Conference: Technical presentations on marine robotics
  • ICRA/IROS: Robotics conferences with maritime tracks
  • ROSCon: ROS conference with maritime applications

Books and Publications

  • "Handbook of Marine Craft Hydrodynamics and Motion Control" by Thor I. Fossen
  • Definitive text on marine vehicle dynamics

  • Mathematical foundations for control

  • "Underwater Robotics: Science, Design & Fabrication" by Steven W. Moore

  • Practical guide to ROV design

  • Hands-on projects

  • "Autonomous Underwater Vehicles" by Gwyn Griffiths

  • AUV systems and design
  • Operational considerations

Key Papers

  • Control allocation methods
  • Marine SLAM techniques
  • Underwater communication protocols
  • Path planning for marine vehicles

Community Resources

Forums and Discussion

  • ROS Discourse - Maritime Category: Ask questions, share projects
  • Zulip Chat: Real-time discussion with community members
  • GitHub Discussions: Package-specific questions

Example Projects

Learning from others' work:

  • Browse repositories in ros-maritime organization
  • Study competition code (VRX participants)
  • Academic research code releases

This page was last updated: January 7, 2026