This is a series of OpenEmbedded layers designed to add support for the Robot Operating System (ROS) for embedded Linux releases by the Yocto Project.

It enables developers to create custom, Linux-based robotic systems, taking advantage of capabilities of ROS and the flexibility of the Yocto Project.

The following table shows the end-of-life dates for combinations of Yocto Releases and ROS Distros. Releases and distros not shown in the table above can be presumed unsupported.

The easiest way to get started with ROS with OpenEmbedded is to build the combination of Kirkstone (Yocto Project) with Humble (ROS 2).

You may use the kas tool to clone the necessary git repositories and kick off the build.

Instructions can be found here: https://github.com/ros/meta-ros/tree/build/kas/README.md

The master branch follows the Yocto Project release series currently under development.

The branches named after Yocto releases track updates during their support lifecycle. The commit history on these branches is linear.

The -next branches contain commits that are pending being merged into their corresponding unsuffixed branches. The commit history on these branches may get rewritten as patches are tested and revised.

The build branch contains the mcf tool which can be used for creating an environment using the .mcf configuration files. These files may be found in the files, files-contrib, and files-unsupported directories in the build branch.

Information on past meta-ros milestone releases can be found on the meta-ros GitHub wiki: https://github.com/ros/meta-ros/wiki/Superflore-OE-Recipe-Generation-Scheme#milestones

The last official milestone was Milestone 17 on 2022-06-05.

Milestones provide updates for all supported combinations of OpenEmbedded releases and ROS Distributions. They follow the format <BRANCH>/milestones/<N>.

The meta-ros-common layer provides recipes that are common to all ROS distributions. This typically includes 3rd party libraries and tools needed by ROS as well as ROS-specific image and package group recipes.

The ROS distros each have their own sub-directory containing a layer inside each branch. This contains bitbake configuration files that describe the ROS distro including which packages from ROS may be built. The recipes generated by the superflore tool may be found in the recipes-* directories. When changes are required against the generated recipes, the bbappend files are created in recipes-bbappends.

The original implementation of meta-ros for ROS 1 Indigo Igloo (https://github.com/bmwcarit/meta-ros) was transferred here on 2019-06-25.

The initial port of ROS 2 port was undertaken by Erle Robotics. Their work was shared at this repository and integrated upstream into meta-ros.

It has been converted to use recipes generated by superflore. Please see this wiki page for details of what was done and the current development milestones.

The original implementation has been retained in the legacy branch.

There are many ways to contribute back to meta-ros. This includes helping report build errors, writing documentation, adding support for ROS packages that are currently skipped, and adding build-time and run-time tests for ROS packages.

• To find details of how meta-ros is being developed, you may find detailed information at the meta-ros wiki.

• To report a bug with meta-ros, we encourage you to file an issue. We also welcome pull requests.

• See CONTRIBUTING.md for additional information about ROS contribution policies.

To join the conversation about meta-ros you may find us on the forum or at our bi-weekly working group meeting:

• OpenEmbedded category on the ROS Discourse forum
• ROS OpenEmbedded Working Group (minutes, meeting invites)