What's next for ROS?
ROSCon JPTokyo, Japan
September, 2018

The Organization

Open Robotics
We support the development,
distribution, and adoption of open
software and hardware for use inrobotics research, education, andproduct development.

The TeamHistory: From lab to product20 December 2008
Navigation

10 February 2009First advertised release7 May 2009
Second advertised release1 June 2009
Navigation + manipulation

22 January 2010
ROS 1.0
PR2s offered to labs

17 September 2012
First ROS-based commercial(non-research) robot

(some of the) ROS-based products available today

Gazebo: Simulate your robot(s)Importance of Simulation
DesignTesting

Productivity

Prototype configurations
and sensor placement.

Simulation based CI

Reduce constraint onshared hardware

Experiment with different
scenarios.

Scale up with cloudcomputingTools to understand anddebug tests

Less overhead with
software-only system
Simulation is very safe

Simulation: Robots
for Disaster
Response
Virtual Robotics Challenge, 2013

Simulation: Robots
for Planetary
Exploration
Space Robotics Challenge, 2017

Simulation: Robots
for Industrial
Automation

Agile Robotics for Industrial
Automation Competition, 2018

Simulation: Boatsfor Ocean
Monitoring

Virtual Maritime Robotics Challenge,
2019

Metrics: Community size & healthDocumentation
The ROS wiki●

178K monthly users**○●●

35% annual increase*

1.49M annual users***
24.48M annual page views***●●●●

Source: Google Analytics* July 2018 vs. July 2017** Month ending July 31, 2018*** Year ending July 31, 2018

Documentation
The ROS wiki●●

Global impact: USA constitutes
19% of users***
Partial translations in 14 languages●●●●

Source: Google Analytics* July 2018 vs. July 2017** Month ending July 31, 2018*** Year ending July 31, 2018

Binary packaging
The ROS build farm●

327K monthly downloaders**○●

16.2M monthly binary packages
downloaded**○●

41% annual increase*

21% annual increase*

5.9TB monthly download traffic**○

25% annual increase*●●●

Source: awstats @ OSUOSL* July 2018 vs. July 2017** Month ending July 31, 2018

ROS 2: The next generation

Goals for ROS 2
product-readymission-critical...but also familiar

Use industry-standard
middleware (e.g., DDS)

Support real-time control

Keep the core concepts
from ROS 1Build in security from thebeginning
Support Linux, macOS,and Windows

Static analysis (e.g.,MISRA)

Distributed systems

Document design choices

Federated development

Support safety
certification

Permissive open sourcelicenseTimeline for ROS 2
March 2014
Work begins at
Open Robotics

August 2015
December 2016
Alpha 1: first ROS Beta 1
2 release

September 2014
First ROSCon talkon ROS 2

July 2016
Alpha 7: first
TurtleBot 2 demo

July 2018
Bouncy Bolson:
December 2018
first distro with
Crystal Clemmys
external packages

December 2017
Ardent Apalone:
first distro

September 2018
TurtleBot 3 runs
ROS 2(some of the)Companies
supporting ROS 2development

ROS 2 & Gazebo Use Case: Automotive

Open non-competitive features
Safety and security
do not differentiate.

Shared Engineering
Example: ROS Navigation

Goal: Reference implementations

A path planner and obstacle avoidance
library.

High quality, best in class implementation ofcommonly required components.

Forked and modified by numerous
companies, who contribute upstream.

Vendors customize as needed, but also
contribute upstream.
Anecdote: ABS Brakes●●Concept existed for many years
Companies modified and applied theirown features

Simulation:Automobiles
Autonomous vehicles require
hundreds of millions of miles (ormore) to prove reliability. [1]
1. Kalra, Nidhi and Susan M. Paddock. Driving to Safety: How Many
Miles of Driving Would It Take to Demonstrate Autonomous Vehicle
Reliability?. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2016.

https://github.com/ApolloAuto/apollo

https://github.com/CPFL/Autoware

Software Platforms“.. an open, reliable and secure software platform for its
partners to develop their own autonomous driving
systems …” -- http://apollo.auto“We use the latest technologies, such as ROS (Robot
Operating System), and are able to see the results
quickly and directly in the vehicle. It is extremely
exciting to be working on such an important area for thefuture.” -- André Müller, BMW

Autonomous Stuff
Supplies components and engineering
services for automotive autonomy.

HardwarePlatforms

https://github.com/astuff

Dataspeed ADAS Kit
Complete solution to control throttle,
brake, steering, and shifting.
https://bitbucket.org/DataspeedInc/

Mar 2014
HERE mapping fleet
running ROS

Successful Exit:
HEREDec 2015
Nokia Closes Its$2.8B Sale of HERE tothe Audi, BMW, And
Daimler CarConsortiumMar 2016

Successful Exit:
Cruise Automation“GM reportedly spentover $1 billion on atiny startup that
holds a key to the
future of driving” -Business Insider

Sep 2018“Cruise Automation’s
self driving car runs
on top on ROS” -ROSCon 2018
programPhilosophy: Be active in open sourceProvide Feedback
Let projects know about yourproblems and needs.
Private communication
ros@openrobotics.org | sim@openrobotics.org

Contribute
Upstream code when possible.
What?
●●Bug fixes and patches
Tools and applications that don’t
affect value proposition.

Why?
●
●
●

Less code for you to maintain.
More testing.
Build a user group.

Publicize
Share your experience.
Support publication of your usage.

http://www.ros.org/
http://gazebosim.org/

https://www.openrobotics.org

We’rehiring!