Doosan Robotics Inc. announced the release of the Doosan ROS 2 package, compatible with the latest ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy. Releasing the package in early 2021, Doosan Robotics positions itself as the first to operate collaborative robots driven by the newest version of ROS 2.

Doosan Robotics strategically designed its ROS 2 Foxy package to provide both convenience and accessibility. As the package is compatible with Doosan Robot Language (DRL), operators of Doosan robots with only standard ROS knowledge can easily create intelligent robotics application. The package is expected to accelerate the development of robot applications in various fields, including gripper, mobile robot integration, and multi-robot control in addition to existing controls. The company plans to support ROS 2 on various platforms such as Windows and Amazon AWS RoboMakers from the second half of 2021 and anticipates more robot applications incorporating cloud and AI to be deployed.

To familiarize users to ROS 2 and expose its new features to operators, the company will be supplying tutorial packages on creating robot functions via its partner supporting site, Doosan Robot LAB. Video tutorials on ROS application will also be made available on the site.

Doosan Robotics has been supporting ROS Kinetic and ROS Melodic since 2019, and additionally distributed the ROS Noetic package in March this year. To date, Doosan Robotics officially supports four versions of ROS.

"To meet the growing trend of robots using ROS, Doosan Robotics developed the ROS 2 Foxy package to allow more local and global customers build robot applications more conveniently and at a faster speed," said Doosan Robotics CEO Chae Dong-hwi. "We will continue to enhance the functionality of ROS 2 and improve accessibility for our customers, while expanding the supported fields," he said.