Software & Middleware

ROS (Robot Operating System)

ROS (Robot Operating System) is an open-source robotics middleware, begun at Willow Garage in 2007, that structures robot software as a graph of nodes communicating through publish-subscribe topics, services, and actions, with standardized message types and a vast package ecosystem covering drivers, perception, and planning. Despite its name it is not an operating system, and the original ROS 1 line ended official support with Noetic's end of life in May 2025.

Why it matters for physical AI

ROS created the shared conventions and reusable components that let robotics teams avoid rebuilding infrastructure, and its interfaces remain the lingua franca for integrating sensors, arms, and learned modules.