ROS Summer School in Aachen 2022

The ROS Summer School takes place again after a two-year break

Prof. Dr. Stephan Kallweit gives the participants of the ROS Summer School 2022 an overview of the projects related to autonomous, mobile robots.

Whether autonomously driving cars or household robots: the fascination for autonomous, mobile systems has grown in recent years. After a two-year break, FH Aachen is offering the ROS Summer School for the ninth time this year, organised by the MASKOR Institute. Students from all over the world will take the opportunity to learn how to use the Robot Operating System (ROS), an open-source software platform for autonomous mobile robots, at the ROS Summer School at FH Aachen from 15 to 26 August.

One platform, numerous possibilities

This open software platform can be used to control numerous autonomous systems in different areas. The organiser of the Summer School Prof. Dr. Stephan Kallweit from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics and his team presented the range of projects of the Institute as well as the faculty on the first day in the rooms in Aachener-und-Münchener-Allee: from robots to unmanned autonomous aerial vehicles to self-driving vehicles. "Many future engineers are interested in robotics but don't know how to approach the subject. In our Summer School, they learn how to handle the software on our university-owned robots," says Prof. Kallweit who, together with Prof. Dr Alexander Ferrein, Director of the MASKOR Institute, launched the ROS Summer School ten years ago.

With the rover through the lecture hall

Over the course of the two weeks, the participants are introduced to mobile robotics, especially in the areas of perception, localisation, navigation and image processing. With the help of tutorials and practical programming work, they learn, for example, how to control rovers with a controller. Another challenge is to teach the robots autonomous behaviour. "The highlight in the second week is a competition in which the participants design a typical mobile robot application in small teams and can apply their learned knowledge in the field of ROS. They all use the same hardware," says Prof. Kallweit.

This year, a professor from France is also taking part in the event. Prof. Samer Al-Fayad, Professor of Robot Systems at the University of Paris-Saclay, is an expert in mechatronics design & robotics and is looking forward to gaining exciting insights from the colleagues from Aachen.

Excursions in the region

In addition to the official programme, excursions to nearby cities such as Cologne, Bonn or Maastricht as well as joint barbecue evenings will also take place during the two-week Summer School. A great opportunity for the students from all over the world and the professor from Paris to get to know the region, work together with like-minded people from other countries and gain exciting insights into many projects of FH Aachen at the ROS Summer School 2022.

17.8.2022 | by Sascha Halabut