ROS (Robot Operating System) Fundamentals

The de facto standard middleware for robotics software — nodes, topics, and services that let components communicate.

What it is

ROS (Robot Operating System) is the de facto standard middleware framework for robotics software — not an OS in the traditional sense, but a communication and tooling layer that lets independent software components (nodes) work together.

Key points

Nodes: independent processes, each typically responsible for one function (a sensor driver, a planner, a controller) — this modularity lets components be developed, tested, and swapped independently.
Topics (pub/sub): nodes publish and subscribe to named topics for continuous data streams (e.g. sensor readings) — decoupled, many-to-many communication where publishers and subscribers don't need to know about each other directly.
Services (request/response): for one-off, synchronous request/response interactions (e.g. "reset this sensor") — a different communication pattern than topics, used when you specifically need a reply.
ROS's real value is the massive existing ecosystem — drivers, algorithms (navigation, perception, manipulation), and tooling that would otherwise need to be built from scratch for every new robotics project.