The ROS Meetup SG group hosted a successful post-ROSCON hackathon on October 31st at Google Singapore’s Developer Space to encourage open-source contributions. With food sponsored by ROS-Industrial, the primary goal was to guide newcomers in making their very first contributions to ROS and its associated projects.
The event began with a colcon and git workshop led by Saurabh Kamat from ROS-Industrial. Attendees were then tasked with compiling and building ros2, gazebo, and open-rmf from source. We curated a set of ‘good first issues’ and ensured maintainers from the respective repositories were present to assist beginners. Although the Friday, during office hours, timing meant an attendance of around 30 people—fewer than the usual 100+ crowd—it allowed us to deliver a much more tailored and focused experience. Impressively, almost all 30 attendees were able to successfully compile the source code, and the intense six-hour session resulted in 8 pull requests across the three projects.
I want to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who attended and made this event possible. Special appreciation goes to Akash, Xi Yu Oh, Luca Della Vedova, Marco Guttierez and John Tan for orchestrating things on short notice. Furthermore, thanks to our mentors and reviewers—Michael Carrol, Christophe Bedard, Cristobal Arroyo, Shane Loretz, Luca, and Scott Logan—for their support in guiding attendees and reviewing the incoming pull requests.
About ROS Meetup SG
ROS Meetup SG is a local interest group in Singapore focused on robotics. It brings together hobbyists, students, and professionals who meet regularly to discuss and share ideas about open-source robotics. We typically host events every few months, featuring guest speakers who share insights into robotics software and hardware. We have successfully held three events in the last six months. The last two events drew over 200+ attendees.