Software and middleware

ROS 2 (Robot Operating System 2)

Name: ROS 2 (Robot Operating System 2)
Brand: Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) / Open Robotics (OSRF)

United States

ROS 2 is the de facto standard middleware of robotics: it carries messages between a robot's processes (sensor drivers, perception, planning, motor control) over a DDS or Zenoh transport layer. Since April 2024 its technical governance sits with the Open Source Robotics Alliance rather than a single company.

Updated 2026-10-11 · Last verified 2026-10-10

OrganizationOpen Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) / Open Robotics (OSRF)

CategoryMiddleware

LicenseApache-2.0

Open sourceyes

ROSyes

First release2017

GovernanceComité technique de l'OSRA depuis avril 2024, supervisant le Project Management Committee de ROS sous l'autorité du conseil d'Open Robotics (OSRF).

Current versionLyrical Luth (22 mai 2026, LTS jusqu'en mai 2031)

Used byNASA VIPER (rover lunaire)declaredAuterion (pile logicielle drones PX4)declaredOTTO Motors (robots mobiles autonomes industriels)declaredMission Robotics (véhicule sous-marin)declared

Trajectory

The dated, sourced shifts in this project's life: licence, governance, archival, a component opening up. What the brick did, not what it announces.

December 2017 First release Neutral

First ROS 2 distribution, Ardent Apalone.
15 December 2022 Governance Neutral

Intrinsic, an Alphabet company, acquires the for-profit arms of Open Robotics. The nonprofit foundation continues separately and keeps the intellectual property of ROS, Gazebo and Open-RMF.

Source: Open Robotics (official blog)
18 March 2024 Governance Opening

Open Robotics announces the Open Source Robotics Alliance, a mixed-membership body giving companies and community a formal role in the technical direction of ROS, Gazebo and Open-RMF. It starts on 15 April 2024, fifteen months after the Alphabet acquisition : two moves in opposite directions.

Source: Open Robotics
31 May 2025 Archived Neutral

ROS 1 reaches end of life with its last distribution, Noetic Ninjemys, aligned on Ubuntu Focal losing standard support.

Sources: GitHub, official ros2/ros2cli repository (2026-08-27)ROS 2 documentation (official repository) (2026-08-27)Open Robotics (2024-03-18)Open Robotics (2026-08-27)ROS 2 documentation (official repository) (2026-08-27)Open Robotics Discourse (team ROS 2) (2017-12-08)Open Robotics (2022-05-12)Open Robotics (official blog) (2022-12-15)Open Robotics Discourse (ROS PMC) (2025-04-10)

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Trajectory

Bringing a physical AI solution into European industry?