Arpit Gupta

Best practices for Docker-based ROS2 development including multi-stage Dockerfiles, docker-compose for multi-container robotic systems, DDS discovery across containers, GPU passthrough for perception, and dev-vs-deploy container patterns. Use this skill when containerizing ROS2 workspaces, setting up docker-compose for robot software stacks, debugging DDS communication between containers, configuring NVIDIA Container Toolkit for GPU workloads, forwarding X11/Wayland for rviz2 and GUI tools, or managing USB device passthrough for cameras and serial devices. Trigger whenever the user mentions Docker with ROS2, docker-compose for robots, Dockerfile for colcon workspaces, container networking for DDS, devcontainer for ROS2, multi-stage builds for ROS2, or deploying ROS2 in containers. Also trigger for CI/CD with Docker-based ROS2 builds, CycloneDDS or FastDDS configuration in containers, or shared memory in Docker. Covers Humble, Jazzy, and Rolling distributions across Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 base images.

Bringing up a complete ROS2 system on a robot's onboard computer: systemd services, launch file composition, ordered startup, and production monitoring. Use this skill when configuring a robot to start ROS2 nodes on boot, writing systemd unit files for ROS2 launch, composing layered launch files for full robot stacks, setting up watchdog monitoring, configuring udev rules for deterministic device naming, or debugging boot-time race conditions. Trigger whenever the user mentions robot bringup, robot startup, systemd for ROS2, ROS2 on boot, launch file composition, robot boot sequence, udev rules for cameras or serial ports, automatic restart for ROS2 nodes, network configuration for multi-machine ROS2, log rotation for robots, graceful shutdown of robot stacks, or SSH-based remote debugging. Also trigger for sourcing workspaces in systemd, ordered startup with health checks, or running ROS2 systems as long-running production services. Covers systemd on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 with ROS2 Humble, Iron, and Jazzy.

Comprehensive best practices for robot perception systems covering cameras, LiDARs, depth sensors, IMUs, and multi-sensor setups. Use this skill when working with RGB image processing, depth maps, point clouds, sensor calibration (intrinsic, extrinsic, hand-eye), object detection, semantic segmentation, 3D reconstruction, visual servoing, or perception pipeline optimization. Trigger whenever the user mentions OpenCV, Open3D, PCL, RealSense, ZED, OAK-D, camera calibration, AprilTags, ArUco markers, stereo vision, RGBD, point cloud filtering, ICP registration, coordinate transforms, camera intrinsics, distortion correction, image undistortion, sensor streaming, frame synchronization, or any computer vision task in a robotics context. Also covers multi-camera rigs, time synchronization across sensors, perception latency budgets, and production deployment of perception pipelines.

Architecture patterns, design principles, and proven recipes for building robust robotics software. Use this skill when designing robot software architectures, choosing between behavioral frameworks, structuring perception-planning-control pipelines, implementing state machines, designing safety systems, or architecting multi-robot systems. Trigger whenever the user mentions behavior trees, finite state machines, subsumption architecture, sensor fusion, robot safety, watchdogs, heartbeats, graceful degradation, hardware abstraction layers, real-time constraints, or software architecture for robots. Also applies to sim-to-real transfer, digital twins, and robot fleet management.

Security hardening and best practices for robotic systems, covering SROS2 DDS security, network segmentation, secrets management, secure boot, and the physical-cyber safety intersection. Use this skill when securing ROS2 communications, configuring DDS encryption and access control, hardening robot onboard computers, managing certificates and credentials, setting up network segmentation for robot fleets, or addressing the unique security challenges where cyber vulnerabilities become physical safety risks. Trigger whenever the user mentions SROS2, DDS security, robot security, robot hardening, ROS2 encryption, ROS2 access control, robot network security, secure robot deployment, robot certificates, keystore generation, robot firewall, e-stop security, safety controller isolation, or IEC 62443 for robotics.

Foundational software design principles applied specifically to robotics module development. Use this skill when designing robot software modules, structuring codebases, making architecture decisions, reviewing robotics code, or building reusable robotics libraries. Trigger whenever the user mentions SOLID principles for robots, modular robotics software, clean architecture for robots, dependency injection in robotics, interface design for hardware, real-time design constraints, error handling strategies for robots, configuration management, separation of concerns in perception-planning- control, composability of robot behaviors, or any discussion of software craftsmanship in a robotics context. Also trigger for code reviews of robotics code, refactoring robot software, or designing APIs for robotics libraries.

Testing strategies, patterns, and tools for robotics software. Use this skill when writing unit tests, integration tests, simulation tests, or hardware-in-the-loop tests for robot systems. Trigger whenever the user mentions testing ROS nodes, pytest with ROS, launch_testing, simulation testing, CI/CD for robotics, test fixtures for sensors, mock hardware, deterministic replay, regression testing for robot behaviors, or validating perception/planning/control pipelines. Also covers property-based testing for kinematics, fuzz testing for message handlers, and golden-file testing for trajectories.

Best practices, design patterns, and common pitfalls for ROS1 (Robot Operating System 1) development. Use this skill when building ROS1 nodes, packages, launch files, or debugging ROS1 systems. Trigger whenever the user mentions ROS1, catkin, rospy, roscpp, roslaunch, roscore, rostopic, tf, actionlib, message types, services, or any ROS1-era robotics middleware. Also trigger for migrating ROS1 code to ROS2, maintaining legacy ROS1 systems, or building ROS1-ROS2 bridges. Covers catkin workspaces, nodelets, dynamic reconfigure, pluginlib, and the full ROS1 ecosystem.

Comprehensive best practices, design patterns, and common pitfalls for ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) development. Use this skill when building ROS2 nodes, packages, launch files, components, or debugging ROS2 systems. Trigger whenever the user mentions ROS2, colcon, rclpy, rclcpp, DDS, QoS, lifecycle nodes, managed nodes, ROS2 launch, ROS2 parameters, ROS2 actions, nav2, MoveIt2, micro-ROS, or any ROS2-era robotics middleware. Also trigger for ROS2 workspace setup, DDS tuning, intra-process communication, ROS2 security, or deploying ROS2 in production. Also trigger for colcon build issues, ament_cmake, ament_python, CMakeLists.txt for ROS2, package.xml dependencies, rosdep, workspace overlays, custom message generation, or ROS2 build troubleshooting. Covers Humble, Iron, Jazzy, and Rolling distributions.

Patterns and best practices for integrating ROS2 systems with web technologies including REST APIs, WebSocket bridges, and browser-based robot interfaces. Use this skill when building web dashboards for robots, streaming camera feeds to browsers, exposing ROS2 services as REST endpoints, or implementing bidirectional WebSocket communication between web UIs and ROS2 nodes. Trigger whenever the user mentions rosbridge, rosbridge_suite, roslibjs, FastAPI with ROS2, Flask with rclpy, WebSocket for robot telemetry, MJPEG streaming, WebRTC for robots, REST API wrapping ROS2 services, web-based robot control, browser robot interface, robot dashboard, CORS configuration for robots, or any web-to-ROS2 bridge pattern. Also trigger for authentication on robot web interfaces, rate limiting sensor streams, video streaming from robot cameras to browsers, or running async web frameworks alongside the ROS2 executor. Covers rosbridge_suite, FastAPI, Flask, WebSocket, and WebRTC approaches.