AMD Kria™ KR260 Robotics Starter Kit and Ubuntu: An exploration into future robotics development

The robotics field is constantly evolving, and with AMD and Canonical’s collaboration, the trajectory towards a more adaptable and efficient robotics framework is shaping up. Last year, AMD introduced the Kria™ KR260 Robotics Kit. The board embodies the spirit of seamless integration, ensuring developers face fewer barriers when developing robotics applications by getting Ubuntu and ROS 2 out of the box. Additionally, the board offers a wide variety of accelerated applications for developers to build customised pipelines in purely software environments. Now, we have made further progress with AMD by enabling Ubuntu Core on the KR260 and we are excited to showcase the live demo at ROSCon 2023!

Visit us at:

Canonical Booth No. 23, 24 & AMD Booth No. 1

Kria™ KR260 – a scalable robotics platform powered by Ubuntu

The Kria™ KR260 stands out as a remarkable example of hardware adaptability. The first highlight is the existing Kria™ K26 adaptive SOM. By accelerating the design cycle compared to chip-down design, the Kria™ SOM portfolio offers up to nine-month savings in time-to-deployment. For robotics companies, this means a quick and easy start for all developers with no FPGA expertise required. Second, it’s low cost. The Kria™ KR260 Robotics Starter Kit offers an affordable price, reducing the market entrance ticket for a platform that delivers great value.

In the software realm, the KR260’s alliance with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS brings compelling benefits for developers. The integration ensures consistent software behaviour across various platforms, reducing unforeseen glitches or compatibility issues due to continuous validation and testing at Canonical and AMD. The open-source nature of the KR260’s ecosystem, complete with native ROS 2 support, fosters a space for innovation. As developers, the ability to test and integrate with a wide range of ROS 2 suites ensures flexibility.

Furthermore, the distribution of robotics applications using snaps, prominent in both Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Core, builds upon and enhances this theme of software distribution consistency. Snaps are application containers that house both the software and its dependencies, ensuring that a particular application functions reliably across various environments. Their modular nature, particularly in multi-snap architectures, means that individual components can be updated without overhauling the entire system. Such an approach is not only efficient but also resonates with the core spirit of the KR260: adaptability and ease.

Optimised Ubuntu Core on KR260 is available for a developer preview

Optimised Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS images were published last year, powering the best development environment for robotics and offering secure and long-term support for commercial projects. With Ubuntu Desktop, the rich ecosystem of open-source robotics projects is available to KR260 developers. It offers native ROS 2 support, including ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill.

Now, Canonical has extended the enablement to Ubuntu Core on KR260, which will be available to download on ubuntu.com as a developer preview immediately at and after ROSCon (from 18 October 2023). Canonical will showcase the live demo at our booth No. 23 & 24 during ROScon. Stop by and check it out.

New to Ubuntu Core?

Ubuntu Core is an immutable operating system tailored for IoT and robotics. It provides a stable environment with features like transactional over-the-air updates, ensuring seamless software improvements. Using snaps, it adopts a containerised approach, isolating software components to enhance system stability and security. Its design offers a practical solution for developers building robotic applications, ensuring consistency and reliability.

This dual capability, between Ubuntu Desktop for and Ubuntu Core, ensures both robust development and deployment phases, bridging the best of both worlds to the KR260.

See you at ROSCon 2023

The collaboration between Canonical and AMD presented at ROSCon 2023 is a testament of what both organisations do for the robotics community. With innovations like the Kria™ KR260, and the stability of a reliable Ubuntu enablement, robotics developers can do more.

Join us in ROSCon 2023 and discover what you can build next with Canonical and AMD.

Download Ubuntu on AMD Kria™ family: https://ubuntu.com/download/amd