If you are interested in developing software for robots, you may have heard of ROS, or Robot Operating System. But what is ROS, and how does it compare to other robotic middleware frameworks? In this article, we will explain what ROS is, what are its main features and benefits, and how it differs from some of the alternatives in the market.
ROS is an open-source framework that provides a set of tools, libraries, and conventions for creating and running robotic applications. ROS is not an operating system in the traditional sense, but rather a collection of software modules that communicate through a standardized interface. ROS allows developers to reuse and share code across different robots, sensors, and platforms, and to leverage the existing ROS community and resources.
--------------------- I'd say that in it's core ROS is a framework allowing multiple parts of a robot software work together.
ROS offers a distributed architecture that facilitates peer-to-peer communication between nodes, which are the basic units of computation. The modular design allows developers to select components and functionalities they need for their application, and to integrate them with external libraries and frameworks. ROS also provides a wide range of tools and libraries that aid in the development, testing, debugging, visualization, and simulation of robotic applications. Furthermore, the large and active community contributes to the development and maintenance of ROS, as well as to the creation and distribution of packages. These packages are available for various domains including manipulation, navigation, perception, planning, control, and learning.
Robotic Operating System (ROS) offers various advantages in robotic software development. It simplifies the complexity and cost of development by providing a common framework and infrastructure that hides away the low-level details and hardware dependencies. ROS also increases the productivity and efficiency of developers as they can reuse and modify existing code, while focusing on the high-level logic and functionality of their application. Moreover, ROS encourages innovation and collaboration as it gives developers access to state-of-the-art solutions and best practices, as well as the collective knowledge and experience of the ROS community.
A major advantage of using ROS is the community, there are hundreds of projects across a broad range of topics to explore. Many research projects culminate in a ROS Package; Seeing algorithms deployed is a great way to learn, and explore their strengths and weaknesses.
ROS is not the only robotic middleware framework available on the market. There are other frameworks with different features, advantages, and disadvantages, depending on the needs and preferences of developers and users. An alternative to ROS is YARP (Yet Another Robot Platform), which focuses on modularity, portability, and interoperability, as well as supporting multiple languages and operating systems. It is mainly used for humanoid robotics and cognitive systems. OROCOS (Open Robot Control Software) emphasizes real-time control, performance, and reliability, as well as supporting hard and soft real-time systems. It is mainly used for industrial robotics and automation. MOOS (Mission Oriented Operating Suite) has scalability, robustness, and autonomy in focus, while also supporting distributed and asynchronous systems. This framework is mainly used for marine robotics and underwater vehicles.
When selecting a framework for your project, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Factors such as the requirements, goals, constraints, preferences, and resources of your project should be taken into consideration. Some criteria to consider are the compatibility and integration of the framework with your hardware, software, and environment; the functionality and usability of the framework for your application domain and use case; the availability and quality of the documentation, tutorials, support, and community of the framework; the license and cost of the framework and its dependencies; and the maturity and stability of the framework and its development. Additionally, you may want to evaluate performance, scalability, modularity, extensibility, maintainability, future prospects, and updates when comparing frameworks.