Robot Operating System 2 (ROS2)-Based Frameworks for Increasing Robot Autonomy: A Survey

Featured Application This work aims to review the use of ROS2 as middleware to integrate heterogeneous hardware and software components in order to enable fixed-base robots to perform complex tasks by increasing their autonomy and flexibility. It shows how the open-source framework can be used in industry to overcome the limitations of commercially available cobots. An extensive review of the features and tools currently provided by ROS2, as well as its main fields of application, is provided. Moreover, as a proof of concept, a high-level modular architecture to increase autonomy in industrial operations is first proposed and then applied to one of the various commercially available industrial cobots.Abstract Future challenges in manufacturing will require automation systems with robots that are increasingly autonomous, flexible, and hopefully equipped with learning capabilities. The flexibility of production processes can be increased by using a combination of a flexible human worker and intelligent automation systems. The adoption of middleware software such as ROS2, the second generation of the Robot Operating System, can enable robots, automation systems, and humans to work together on tasks that require greater autonomy and flexibility. This paper has a twofold objective. Firstly, it provides an extensive review of existing literature on the features and tools currently provided by ROS2 and its main fields of application, in order to highlight the enabling aspects for the implementation of modular architectures to increase autonomy in industrial operations. Secondly, it shows how this is currently potentially feasible in ROS2 by proposing a possible high-level and modular architecture to increase autonomy in industrial operations. A proof of concept is also provided, where the ROS2-based framework is used to enable a cobot equipped with an external depth camera to perform a flexible pick-and-place task.