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AntoBrandi/Robotics-and-ROS-2-Learn-by-Doing-Manipulators
About 3D Printed robot arm powered by ROS 2 and Arduino and controlled via MoveIt! 2 and Amazon Alexa. It is developed and programmed in the online course named "Robotics and ROS 2 - Learn by Doing! Manipulators"
Course companion repo for a Udemy series on ROS 2 and robotic arm manipulation. It walks through building a 3D-printed servo arm (EEZYbotARM-style) controlled via MoveIt! 2, with Arduino firmware bridging ROS 2 to the hardware and an Alexa voice interface bolted on. Aimed squarely at beginners who want a concrete project rather than abstract tutorials.
The repo is structured per course section so you can check out the state of the code at any point in the curriculum without hunting through git history. Both Python and C++ implementations are provided in parallel for every ROS 2 node, which is genuinely useful for learners who want to compare idioms. The URDF/xacro models and STL meshes are included, so the Gazebo simulation is self-contained and runnable without buying hardware. The ros2_control integration is done properly — YAML controller config, hardware interface xacro, separate bringup launch files — which reflects actual production patterns rather than toy shortcuts.
The repo is not usable independently: it's a Udemy course supplement, so critical context (how joints map to servos, why certain kinematic assumptions are made, how the Alexa skill is configured) lives behind a paywall. The ngrok setup for Alexa is a development hack with no path to a stable deployment — anyone trying to use this outside the course will hit a dead end. The repo duplicates the entire workspace across every section folder, so it's roughly 10x the size it needs to be and diffs between sections are painful to read. No tests of any kind, and the Arduino firmware file has a `.inol` extension in the README that appears to be a typo for `.ino`, which is a small but telling sign of how course-first the maintenance priorities are.