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

TL;DR

The paper addresses the usability and manageability gap in ROS by introducing an open, reconfigurable web-based graphical user interface built on ROSBridge and roslibjs. It presents a Vue.js-based SPA architecture with modular features that can be selectively integrated to fit diverse industrial ROS deployments, validated through four REMODEL use cases. Key contributions include a comprehensive set of reconfigurable UI features, role-based access control, dynamic module management, sensor and video visualization, trajectory recording, alarms, and USB-based configuration updates, all supported by a reference ROS backend template. The work significantly lowers the industrial entry barrier for ROS by providing an accessible, configurable, and extensible platform for controlling, monitoring, and configuring complex robotic systems, with open-source repositories to encourage adoption and collaboration.

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.

Figures (12)

• Figure 1: UML sequence diagram depicting various communication examples between the UI and a ROS system using ROSBridge and roslibjs. To emphasize the communication between the UI and ROS, the communication between the ROS nodes and the ROS Master is not represented in the diagram.
• Figure 2: UI structure and common components.
• Figure 3: UI login menu.
• Figure 4: UI “Launchers” page. All the Launch and Stop buttons are disabled because the “Process control” module is being launched.
• Figure 5: UML state machine diagram of the module state transitions. The list of active ROS nodes is checked every second.