ROS / ROS2
The middleware that glues real robots together.
Why it matters in robotics
ROS/ROS2 is the de facto middleware for real robots, so most robotics software roles expect you to reason fluently about its pub/sub graph, the nodes/topics/services/actions model, and tooling like tf2, launch files, and rqt. Interviewers probe it both conceptually (when to use a topic vs service vs action, how QoS and tf2 work) and practically (debugging a node graph, writing a publisher/subscriber). Strong ROS fundamentals signal you can actually ship and integrate code on a robot, not just prototype algorithms in isolation.
Application focus
The same topic, tailored to the robot you're building. Your choice is remembered across the roadmap and every topic.
At a glance
The core ROS pub/sub graph: nodes are independent processes that exchange typed messages over named topics, decoupled by the discovery/DDS layer.
What to study
- ✓The computation graph: nodes, topics + messages, services, and actions — and when to choose each
- ✓Workspaces and packages: colcon build, package layout, launch files, and parameters
- ✓The tf2 transform system: coordinate frames, the transform tree, and looking up transforms over time
- ✓DDS underpinnings and QoS settings, plus core CLI/visualization tools (ros2 CLI, rqt, RViz, rosbag)
Study by time budget
Pick the path that fits the time you have before your interview.