An Open and Reconfigurable User Interface to Manage Complex ROS-based Robotic Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible, web-based GUI for easier control and monitoring of complex ROS robotic systems, addressing usability and configurability issues in existing interfaces.

Contribution

It presents a reconfigurable, modular GUI leveraging ROSBridge and roslibjs, tailored for diverse robotic applications and demonstrated through four industrial case studies.

Findings

Successfully customized for four industrial use cases

Received positive feedback from users

Lowered entry barriers for ROS in industry

Abstract

The Robot Operating System (ROS) has significantly gained popularity among robotic engineers and researchers over the past five years, primarily due to its powerful infrastructure for node communication, which enables developers to build modular and large robotic applications. However, ROS presents a steep learning curve and lacks the intuitive usability of vendor-specific robotic Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). Moreover, its modular and distributed nature complicates the control and monitoring of extensive systems, even for advanced users. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a highly adaptable and reconfigurable web-based GUI for intuitively controlling, monitoring, and configuring complex ROS-based robotic systems. The GUI leverages ROSBridge and roslibjs to ensure seamless communication with ROS systems via topics and services. Designed as a versatile platform, the GUI allows for the selective incorporation of modular features to accommodate diverse robotic systems and applications. An initial set of commonly used features in robotic applications is presented. To demonstrate its reconfigurability, the GUI was customized and tested for four industrial use cases, receiving positive feedback. The project's repository has been made publicly available to support the robotics community and lower the entry barrier for ROS in industrial applications.