Build an Arduino, ROS 2 Self-Driving Robot

Source for the PDF e-book that accompanies the Maker's Pet video course (YouTube playlist) for the BLD-120MM-PACK Arduino/ESP32/ROS 2 LiDAR robot.

The chapters are Markdown files in book/. The illustrations are frames from the course videos, referenced by YouTube ID and timestamp, e.g. ![Press the wheel on.](yt:6GtjAB19GP8@2:24), and extracted at build time. See book/AUTHORING.md for the conventions.

Build

Requirements: Python 3.10+, Google Chrome, Node.js (for yt-dlp).

pip install -r requirements.txt
python tools/fetch_videos.py        # once: downloads the videos into work/ (git-ignored)
python tools/build.py               # build/ebook-draft.pdf, with open questions
python tools/build.py --timestamps  # same, each figure labelled with its timestamp or file name
python tools/build.py --final       # build/ebook.pdf

Reviewing figures

Build with --timestamps to label every figure with an orange VIDEO_ID @ m:ss link that opens YouTube at that moment. To change a figure, edit the timestamp (and optional #crop=x,y,w,h) in the chapter's .md file and rebuild. !!! draft boxes are open questions; they only appear in the draft build.

Helpers: tools/peek.py grabs full-resolution frames, tools/contact_sheets.py makes timestamped thumbnail sheets for picking frames, and tools/preview.py renders PDF pages to PNG.