rosrun

rosrun is a command-line tool in the Robot Operating System (ROS) used to execute nodes. Nodes are the fundamental computational units in ROS, each responsible for a specific task such as sensor data acquisition, motor control, or path planning. The rosrun command allows users to launch these nodes directly from their source files or installed packages.

The basic syntax for rosrun is rosrun package_name node_name. The package_name refers to the ROS package that contains the desired node, and node_name is the name of the executable node within that package. For instance, rosrun turtlesim turtlesim_node would launch the turtlesim node, a simple graphical simulation environment.

Using rosrun is particularly useful during development. It enables developers to quickly test and debug individual nodes without needing to build the entire ROS workspace. When a node is executed with rosrun, it is launched in a new terminal window by default, allowing for independent monitoring of its output and diagnostics. It's important that the ROS environment is sourced in the terminal where rosrun is invoked for it to find the specified package and node.