Notes from ROSCon 2024 in Odense, Denmark

PlotJuggler

PlotJuggler is a tool I discovered many people use for visualizing ROSBags. I recently tried using it for MQTT visualization, which is also supported, although I didn’t get it working immediately. It definitely seems like a good addition to my toolkit.

ROS2 Cookbook

Another cool GitHub repository I found is the ROS2 Cookbook by Mike Ferguson. It provides excellent explanations and code snippets for most ROS concepts. Topics covered include:

• Client Libraries
• rclcpp API
• Logging
• Nodes and Components
• Parameters
• Point Clouds
• Time
• TF2
• Workarounds
• rclpy API
• ros2launch
• rosbag2
• Networking (DDS & CycloneDDS)
• Documenting with rosdoc2
• CMake
• QoS
• Command Line Tools
• Packaging
• Limitations/Bugs

RAI Framework

I came across RAI, a flexible AI agent framework for developing and deploying Embodied AI features for robots. It includes features like voice interaction, customizable robot identity, camera access utilizing VLMs, summarizing state through ROS logs, and integration with LangChain. While I added it to my list, I’m not entirely sure why, so I’ll keep this point brief.

ROS4HRI

ROS4HRI is a GitHub organization that includes many useful human-robot interaction packages. It offers:

• hri_msgs: Base ROS messages for HRI perception.
• hri_actions_msgs: Base ROS messages for HRI actions.
• human_description: A parametric kinematic model of a human in URDF format.
• libhri: A C++ library to easily access human-related topics.
• pyhri: A Python library for the same purpose.
• hri_rviz: RViz plugins to visualize faces, landmarks, and 3D models.
• rqt_human_radar: An rqt plugin providing a top-down view of the robot’s social surroundings.

Specialized packages cover face detection, body tracking, voice processing, and more.

ROS2 Deliberation Technologies Workshop

On Day 1, I attended a full-day workshop called “Hands-On with ROS 2 Deliberation Technologies.” We learned about deliberation in robotics, which involves technologies necessary for high-level decision-making in autonomous robots. We covered several tools:

• BehaviorTree.CPP: Models behaviors as behavior trees.
• ros_bt_py: A Python alternative with a ReactJS-based web GUI.
• SkiROS2: An amazing framework where you define a world model, set goals, and it plans the actions needed to achieve those goals.
• FlexBE: Uses hierarchical state machines (HFSM) to model behaviors, offering good operator integration and an intuitive user interface.
• CONVINCE: A model-checking toolchain for autonomous systems.

microROS-on-the-cloud

I found an interesting project called microROS-on-the-cloud, showcasing micro-ROS on an ESP32-CAM publishing images. Although I’m not sure about its current status, it’s an intriguing concept.

O3DE Game Engine and Robotics Simulator

One of the biggest highlights was O3DE, an open-source game engine and robotics simulator. It has impressive ROS integrations, including tools for generating synthetic data for machine learning algorithms and sensor data simulation. I’m excited to explore it further!

BuildKit and ROS2 Docker Containers

They introduced BuildKit for improving the containerization of ROS2 Docker containers. I need to fact-check this point, but it seems promising for enhancing the build process.

Zenoh Middleware

A significant topic was the introduction of rmw_zenoh, an alternative to the current DDS middleware. It promises reliable and high-frequency image messaging and demonstrated controlling a robot in Germany from the convention in Odense with impressive response times. Zenoh seems to solve many issues associated with DDS and large messages.

Robotics Library (RL)

I discovered the Robotics Library (RL), a self-contained C++ library for rigid body kinematics and dynamics, motion planning, and control. It covers spatial vector algebra, multibody systems, hardware abstraction, path planning, collision detection, and visualization.

Other Notable Tools

• r2s: A Text User Interface (TUI) for interacting with various aspects of a ROS2 system. It’s intended as a supplement to the ros2cli suite of command-line tools. GitHub Link
• Micro-ROS Zephyr Module: A project aiming to port micro-ROS onto Zephyr for the Teensy, using CAN-FD as a transport layer. GitHub Link