Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2) Overview
For ROS 2 Humble and beyond, the software structure of Clearpath
robots has changed significantly. Rather than having individual sets of packages for each robot, we have opted to
create common clearpath packages which are used by all supported platforms. Additionally, we are moving away from
using environment variables to customize the robot, and instead using a YAML configuration file to describe the
robot. We have also defined a ROS 2 API common to all of our supported platforms. As a result,
our platforms are now more customizable, more modular, and more unified.
Terminology
Clearpath Platform: The platform refers to the vehicle that makes up the base of the robot. The platform may be referred to by the platform code to indicate the revision.
Clearpath Robot: The robot refers to the entire robotic system, including the platform, sensors, and additional accessories.
Clearpath Config: The config refers to the robot.yaml configuration file that defines the Clearpath robot.
Clearpath API: The API refers to the ROS 2 application programming interface. This is a set of ROS 2 topics and services defined by Clearpath which are used by all supported Clearpath platforms.
Supported Platforms
| Platform | Platform code | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Husky | A200 | Yes (as of 0.1) | No | Yes (as of 2.0) | Coming Soon |
| A300 | No | No | Yes (as of 2.0) | Coming Soon | |
| Jackal | J100 | Yes (as of 0.1) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon |
| Warthog | W200 | Yes (as of 0.2) | No | Coming Soon | Coming Soon |
| Dingo | DD100 | Yes (as of 0.3) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon |
| DO100 | Yes (as of 1.0) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon | |
| DD150 | Yes (as of 0.3) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon | |
| DO150 | Yes (as of 1.0) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon | |
| Ridgeback | R100 | Yes (as of 0.3) | No | Yes (as of 2.3) | Coming Soon |
| Boxer | B250 | No | No | No | No |
Supported ROS 2 Middleware
Most Clearpath platforms use Micro ROS in their MCU firmware, which limits the ability to use
middleware implementations other than Fast DDS.
If you need your Clearpath robot to interact with systems that rely on unsupported middleware, please refer to ROS' middleware documentation for information on cross-vendor commuication.
| Platform | Platform code | Fast DDS | CycloneDDS | Connext DDS | GurumDDS | Zenoh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Husky | A200 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| A300 | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| Jackal | J100 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Warthog | W200 | Coming Soon | No | No | No | No |
| Dingo | DD100 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| DO100 | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| DD150 | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| DO150 | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| Ridgeback | R100 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Boxer | B250 | No | No | No | No | No |
Supported Sensors
While some sensor drivers may support other sensor models, the table below represents the sensors that have been validated by Clearpath.
Debian drivers are automatically installed on robots as part of the Clearpath Robot Metapackage.
2D Lidars
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SICK LMS-111/LMS-151 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | LMS1xx |
| Hokuyo UST10-LX | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | urg_node |
| Hokuyo UST20-LX | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | urg_node |
| Hokuyo UST30-LX | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | urg_node |
3D Lidars
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velodyne Puck | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Velodyne |
| Ouster OS-1 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Ouster |
| Seyond Robin | Source | Source | Source | Source | Seyond |
IMUs
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MicroStrain 3DM-GX5 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | LORD Inertial |
| MicroStrain 3DM-GQ7 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | LORD Inertial |
| Redshift Labs UM7 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | UM7 |
| CH Robotics UM6 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | UM7 |
GPS
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MicroStrain 3DM-GQ7 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | LORD Inertial |
| Garmin GPS 18x | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | NMEA Navsat Driver |
| Swift Navigation Duro | Source | Source | Source | Source | Duro GPS Driver |
| NovAtel SMART6 and SMART7 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | NMEA Navsat Driver |
Inertial Navigation Sensors
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixposition Vision-RTK 2 | Source | Source | Source | Source | Fixposition Driver |
Optical Cameras
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axis F1035-E | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | axis_camera |
| Axis M5525-E | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | axis_camera |
| Axis Q6225-LE-E | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | axis_camera |
| Flir Blackfly S | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | flir_camera_driver |
Depth Cameras
| Sensor | Humble (amd64) | Humble (arm64) | Jazzy (amd64) | Jazzy (arm64) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Realsense D435 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Realsense |
| Intel Realsense D435i | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Realsense |
| Intel Realsense D415 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Realsense |
| Intel Realsense D455 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Realsense |
| Intel Realsense D456 | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | Realsense |
| Luxonis OAK-D | Debian | Debian | Debian | Debian | depthai-ros |
| Stereolabs Zed 2 | Source | Source | Source | Source | zed-ros2-wrapper |