What is it about?

Robots need software that helps their sensors, motors, computers, and decision-making systems work together. ROS 2, short for Robot Operating System 2, is one of the main open-source software platforms used to build modern robots. This survey explains why ROS 2 was created, how it improves on the older ROS 1 system, and what challenges still remain. It reviews research on communication, real-time performance, security, safety, multi-robot systems, simulation tools, and open-source packages. It also maps how ROS 2 is being used in areas such as self-driving cars, healthcare, agriculture, warehouses, aerospace, and public safety. To help researchers and developers, the work includes an open-access database that brings together ROS-related papers, tools, packages, and resources in one searchable place.

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Why is it important?

ROS 2 is becoming a central technology for building reliable, connected, and intelligent robots, but its research and tools are spread across many papers, packages, and communities. This work brings that scattered knowledge together in a clear and systematic way. It helps readers understand what ROS 2 does well, where it still struggles, and which tools are mature enough to support real deployments. This is timely because many robotics teams are moving from ROS 1 to ROS 2 and need guidance on performance, security, real-time control, simulation, and large-scale robot fleets. By organizing the literature and providing a public database, the survey can save time for researchers, support better system design, and point the community toward the most important open problems.

Perspectives

As a heavy user of ROS 2, I wrote this survey from both a researcher’s and a practitioner’s perspective. I use ROS 2 regularly, I genuinely enjoy working with it, and I have a deep appreciation for the community that continues to build, improve, and support it. That personal connection was the main motivation behind this work. ROS 2 is a powerful ecosystem, but it can also feel overwhelming because of its size, complexity, and fast growth. I wanted this survey to help researchers, developers, and students see the bigger picture more clearly: how ROS 2 has evolved, what problems it solves, which tools are available, and where important challenges remain. A key aim of this work was also to create an open index or database that can continue evolving over time. I hope it will become a living resource for the community: a place where people can regularly track the maturity of ROS 2 research and tools, identify gaps in the ecosystem, and better understand where future contributions are most needed.

Abdulrahman Al-Batati
Prince Sultan University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: ROS 2 in a Nutshell: A Survey, ACM Computing Surveys, May 2026, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3815113.
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