Virtual Machine Setup

If you’re developing for the common platform robot on Windows or macOS, you’ll need to set up a virtual machine (VM) running Ubuntu 24.04. This is necessary because ROS2 runs natively on Ubuntu, and while you can SSH into the robot’s Raspberry Pi for many tasks, having a local development environment with RViz and other ROS2 tools is essential for SLAM visualization and real time camera feeds.

There are two recommended approaches:

Windows: Using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
macOS: Using Parallels Desktop

Both methods will allow you to run Ubuntu 24.04 with full ROS2 Kilted Desktop installation, including RViz for 3D visualization and all the tools you need for robot development.

Windows: WSL Setup

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is Microsoft’s solution for running a full Linux environment directly on Windows. It provides excellent performance and seamless integration with Windows, making it ideal for ROS2 development.

Windows Firewall Configuration

Important: Windows Defender Firewall can block ROS2 communication between WSL and Windows. If you experience connectivity issues with ROS2 nodes or RViz, you may need to temporarily disable the firewall.

Check Firewall Status

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Get-NetFirewallProfile | Format-Table Name, Enabled

This will show which firewall profiles are enabled.

Temporarily Disable Firewall (if needed)

If any profiles show Enabled = True and you’re experiencing ROS2 connectivity issues, disable them:

Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False

⚠️ Security Warning: Remember to re-enable the firewall after testing. We are working on creating specific firewall rules that allow ROS2 traffic without disabling the entire firewall.

Installing WSL with Ubuntu 24.04

Open PowerShell as Administrator and install WSL with Ubuntu 24.04:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

Restart your computer when prompted.

Launch Ubuntu from the Start menu and create your user account when prompted.

Update your system packages:

sudo apt update

macOS: Parallels Setup

Parallels Desktop is a powerful virtualization solution for macOS that provides excellent performance for running Ubuntu alongside macOS.

Installing Parallels and Ubuntu

Download and install Parallels Desktop from parallels.com

Create a new virtual machine:

Open Parallels Desktop
Click “+” to create a new VM
Select “Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file”
Download Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop ISO from ubuntu.com
Follow the installation wizard to complete setup

Configure VM resources (recommended settings):

Memory: At least 4GB RAM (8GB recommended)
Processors: 2-4 CPU cores
Disk space: 40GB or more
Graphics: Enable 3D acceleration for better RViz performance

Install Parallels Tools for better integration:

In Parallels menu, select “Install Parallels Tools”
Follow the on-screen instructions
Restart the VM when complete

Optimizing Performance

For the best ROS2 and RViz experience on Parallels:

Enable “Use Mac GPU for Windows” in VM configuration
Set graphics to “Better performance” mode
Allocate sufficient RAM for visualization tasks

Alternative Options

While WSL and Parallels are our recommended solutions, other virtualization options include:

VirtualBox: Free and open-source, works on both Windows and macOS
VMware: Commercial virtualization software with good performance
UTM: Free virtualization for macOS (especially for Apple Silicon Macs)

Note: These alternatives are not officially documented or tested with this platform, but may work for your needs.

Installing ROS2 Kilted

Once you have Ubuntu 24.04 running (via WSL, Parallels, or another method), you’ll need to install ROS2 Kilted Desktop, which includes RViz and all the visualization tools you’ll need.

ROS2 Kilted Desktop Installation

Follow the official ROS2 installation instructions for Ubuntu:

🔗 Installation Guide: https://docs.ros.org/en/kilted/Installation/Ubuntu-Install-Debs.html

Verifying Your Installation

Check for ROS2

which ros2

Should return /opt/ros/kilted/bin/ros2

Test RViz

rviz2

This should open up RViz tool GUI, if it does you can close this for now and continue setting up the config.

After Installing ROS

On the VM you will need to set up a few configuration files and environment variables.

Edit the .profile

sudo nano ~/.profile

Add the following to the bottom of the .profile, then save and exit the file

source /opt/ros/kilted/setup.bash
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_fastrtps_cpp
export ROS_SUPER_CLIENT=true
export FASTDDS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/home/${USER}/ros2_ws/super_client_configuration_file_rcr.xml
ros2 daemon stop; ros2 daemon start

source .profile so the changes take effect in your current session

source ~/.profile

Set up the Discovery Server

Now that you have ROS2 on your VM, you will need to point it to the proper discovery server so it can communicate with your robot via ROS. To do this, first create the directory if it doesn’t already exist:

mkdir ~/ros2_ws

Then edit or create the discovery server config file referenced in the environment variable above.

nano ~/ros2_ws/super_client_configuration_file_rcr.xml

The config file should look something like this, if not paste the code below into your config file.

<profiles xmlns="http://www.eprosima.com/XMLSchemas/fastRTPS_Profiles">
  <participant profile_name="super_client_profile" is_default_profile="true">
    <rtps>
      <builtin>
        <discovery_config>
          <discoveryProtocol>SUPER_CLIENT</discoveryProtocol>
          <discoveryServersList>
            <locator>
              <udpv4>
                <address>127.0.0.1</address>
                <port>11811</port>
              </udpv4>
            </locator>
          </discoveryServersList>
        </discovery_config>
      </builtin>
    </rtps>
  </participant>
</profiles>

Edit line 11 to set the proper discovery server IP address. If you are running the discovery server on your own Pi, then it should work as is. If you are at the RCR lab, change it to Joe’s IP which is 192.168.1.125. If neither work, figure out what IP address you can ping the discovery server at and use that. See more troubleshooting tips here.

Save the file above, then stop and start the ros2 daemon

ros2 daemon stop
ros2 daemon start

Testing - check for ROS topics

ros2 topic list

You should now see the full list of ROS topics publishing from the discovery server.

Troubleshooting VM connectivity to discovery server

If you’re having trouble connecting your VM to the discovery server, follow these troubleshooting steps:

Network Configuration

Your VM must be configured to use the same network and IP address as your host computer. This requires specific network settings:

For WSL (Windows): Configure mirrored networking so your VM shares the same IP address as Windows

📖 WSL Networking Documentation

For Parallels (macOS): Set up bridged networking mode

📖 Parallels Network Settings Documentation

Connectivity Tests

Test internet connectivity:

ping google.com

Test connection to your robot (replace n with your robot’s IP):

ping 192.168.1.n

Test connection to the discovery server:

ping 192.168.1.125 # for Joe's computer

Other Common Issues:

check firewalls - see Firewall Configuration
check your IP address on both your laptop and your VM - they should match. If not, see

Troubleshooting Graphics Issues

If you encounter graphics or rendering issues when running RViz or other GUI applications in your VM, you may need to enable software rendering.

Enable Software Rendering

Set this environment variable to force software rendering:

export LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1

When to use this:

RViz crashes on startup with OpenGL errors
You see graphics driver warnings
3D visualization is not working properly
Running in a VM without proper GPU acceleration

Note: Software rendering will be slower than hardware acceleration, but it ensures compatibility across different VM configurations.

Next Steps

Now that you have your development environment set up, you can: