StepperBot – ROS 2 Control Stepper Motor Demo

StepperBot is a minimal, end-to-end demonstration of controlling a real stepper motor using ros2_control, an Arduino Nano, and a standard STEP/DIR driver.

This repository includes:

• custom ros2_control hardware plugin (stepperbot_controller)
• URDF + ros2_control description (stepperbot_description)
• Arduino firmware project (stepperbot_firmware)
• bringup launch to load the robot model, hardware interface, and controllers

Everything is designed to be simple, readable, and extendable.

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Requirements

• ROS 2 Jazzy (tested)
• PlatformIO (VS Code extension)
• Arduino Nano
• Stepper driver
• Stepper motor

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1. Clone the Workspace

git clone git@github.com:LevinTamir/ros2_control_stepper_demo.git stepperbot_ws
cd stepperbot_ws/

2. Flash the Arduino Firmware

The firmware for driving the stepper motor is located in:

stepperbot_ws/
├── src/
└── stepperbot_firmware/ #  <-- HERE

To flash the Arduino Nano, install the PlatformIO VS Code Extension.

After installing the extension:

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to File → Open Folder and select stepperbot_firmware/
3. In the PlatformIO toolbar, click Build (checkmark icon in the bottom bar)
4. Click Upload (right-arrow icon) to flash the firmware

And that's it.

3. Build the ROS 2 Packages

cd ~/<path-to-dir-location>/stepperbot_ws # Replace with your local directory location
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

Workspace structure:

stepperbot_ws/
├── src/
│   ├── stepperbot_controller/
│   └── stepperbot_description/
├── install/
├── log/
├── build/   
└── stepperbot_firmware/

4. Bringup

After connecting the Arduino and Motor, run:

cd ~/<path-to-dir-location>/stepperbot_ws # Replace with local directory location
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch stepperbot_controller stepperbot_controllers.launch.py

If your Arduino Nano is on another port:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch stepperbot_controller stepperbot_controllers.launch.py serial_port:=/dev/<USB-PORT>

To launch Rviz, run:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch stepperbot_description display.launch.py

To send commands to the motor, run:

ros2 topic pub /stepper_position_controller/commands \
std_msgs/msg/Float64MultiArray "data: [1.0]" # Change radians as wanted