Tutorial 3 - Intro to Docker for Robotics

🎯 Learning Objectives

• Understand what Docker is and why it's useful in robotics
• Identify key Docker concepts (images, containers, Dockerfiles)
• Learn the benefits of using Docker for reproducibility and isolation

What is Docker?

Imagine your laptop is a kitchen. Docker is like having a bunch of meal kits — everything you need to cook a specific meal (or run a software project) is packed neatly together. No missing ingredients, no mess.

Docker allows you to package an application and all its dependencies into a container. This container can run on any computer with Docker installed, regardless of the operating system.

📘 Learn more: Docker Overview

Why Use Docker in Robotics?

• ✅ Reproducibility: Everyone on your team runs the same setup.
• ✅ Isolation: No conflicts between projects.
• ✅ Portability: Move between laptops, labs, or robots with no reinstallation.

Core Docker Concepts (with Visual Aid)

+--------------------------+
|         Image            | <-- Recipe for your container (like a blueprint)
+--------------------------+
|       Dockerfile         | <-- Instructions to build the image
+--------------------------+
|       Container          | <-- A running instance of the image
+--------------------------+

📘 Learn more: Docker Images vs Containers

✅ Good Habits Checklist

• Use Dockerfile instead of installing software manually
• Document what each command does using comments
• Never hardcode credentials in Dockerfiles
• Always mount volumes to avoid losing work

🎥 Coming Soon: Visual terminal demo — docker build and run

2. Getting Hands-On with Docker

🎥 Visual: docker run in action (Insert terminal recording GIF)

Installation

• Install Docker for your OS

Core Commands

# Download an existing image from Docker Hub
docker pull ubuntu

# Build a custom image from a Dockerfile
docker build -t my_image .

# Run an interactive container
docker run -it my_image

# List running containers
docker ps

# Start a container
docker start -ai <container-id>

# Stop a container
docker stop <container-id>

# Remove a container
docker rm <container-id>

📘 Learn more: Docker CLI Reference

✅ Good Habits Checklist

• Use --rm to clean up containers automatically when testing
• Clean up regularly using docker system prune
• Use --name to identify containers more easily