Set up behaviors for a small ROS2 robot
A builder used an onboard agentic OS to program a compact robot through behaviors, code tools, and ROS2 topics.
- What they did
- They introduced MARS, a general-purpose robot with a Jetson Orin Nano, a five-degree-of-freedom arm, cameras, LiDAR, and speakers. Rather than only writing low-level robot code, they use a BASIC SDK to define behaviors that run the machine like an AI agent. Skills can be added by training the arm or by creating code tools, and ROS2 topics expose direct control when needed.
- How it went
- The post is a launch announcement, so it does not show benchmark results or a finished project outcome. It does say the robot can start up in about a minute and be operated from a phone or programmed from a computer. A temporary Hacker News code drops the price to $1,799.
- Tips
- This is aimed at hobbyists and schools, so keep the first project small and check what already works in the SDK before writing custom code. If you want to move from simulation to hardware, pause and confirm each step before anything irreversible.
Try it yourself with Claude Code
I’m working with [robot model] in a folder that contains a ROS2 project and an agentic control SDK. First, inspect the project layout and explain the main pieces in plain language. Then help me create one simple behavior that makes the robot [simple task]. Show me the code, the build steps, and the exact command to test it in simulation. Before you do anything that would send commands to real hardware, delete files, submit changes, or make payments, stop and ask for my approval.
Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.
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