RobotPerf, RobotPerf provides an open reference benchmarking suite that is used to evaluate robotics computing performance fairly with ROS 2 as its common baseline, so that robotic architects can make informed decisions about the hardware and software components of their robotic systems.
Robotics MCU: an open source software and hardware ROS 2 microcontroller unit (MCU) powered by RISC-V. The project's goal is to design and develop an open source software and hardware robotics microcontroller unit (Robotics MCU) powered by RISC-V that delivers lower latency and additional real-time capabilities in ROS 2 MCU interactions. The ultimate objective of the project is to design an MCU that contains a native ROS 2 hardware implementation.
Robotics Processing Unit: a robot-specific processing unit that uses hardware acceleration and maps robotics computations efficiently to its CPUs, FPGAs and GPUs to obtain best performance. In particular, it specializes in improving the Robot Operating System (ROS 2) related robot computational graphs on underlying compute resources.
Tracking progress
Key milestones
Year
Objective
21
✅ 1) Design tools and conventions to seamlessly integrate acceleration kernels and related embedded binaries into the ROS 2 computational graphs leveraging its existing build system (ament_acceleration extensions) [^1], meta build tools (colcon-acceleration extension) and a new firmware layer (acceleration_firmware) [^3].
21
✅ 2) Provide reference examples and blueprints for acceleration architectures used in ROS 2 and Gazebo.
21
✅ 3) REP-2008 (ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Architecture and Conventions) first draft proposed PR
🚧 17) Robotic Processing Unit, first demonstrators #25
[^1]: See ament_vitis
[^3]: See acceleration_firmware_kv260 for an exemplary vendor extension of the acceleration_firmware package
[^4]: Did not get buy-in from maintainers. Stopped the effort.
[^5]: Discarded for ROSCon and IROS. Lots of work.
The Hardware Acceleration Working Group has grown significantly over 2022. The working group has several key objectives for 2023. The first objective is to develop and publish a comprehensive set of benchmarking tools packed in a suite (RobotPerf) for measuring the performance and efficiency of various software components (ROS packages) and hardware solutions commonly used in robotics. This will enable members of the working group to accurately compare and evaluate the performance of different hardware options and make informed decisions about which components to use in their own projects.
The second objective is to increase the number of vendors participating in the working group. By engaging in targeted outreach and engagement efforts, the group aims to bring more vendors on board, which will provide more options for members and increase the overall diversity of hardware components available for testing and evaluation.
The third objective is to increase the number of collaborations with industry partners. This will gather practical experience and feedback on the performance of hardware acceleration techniques in real-world robotics applications and will also increase the working group's visibility and impact.
The fourth objective is to continue investing resources in the ongoing strategic projects announced during 2022. In particular RobotPerf, Robotics MCU and the Robotics Processing Unit.
Altogether, the objectives for the coming year look as follows:
Year
Objective
23
🚧 11) REP-2014 (Benchmarking performance in ROS 2)
23
🚧 14) More vendor support. Will work to enable new silicon solutions
Follows from https://github.com/ros-acceleration/community/issues/19. Summarizing easily measurable dissemination efforts that happened as part of the HAWG:
New projects during 2022
Tracking progress
Key milestones
2121212222222222image_pipelineinstrumented at #717 )22222222222323232323[^1]: See ament_vitis [^3]: See acceleration_firmware_kv260 for an exemplary vendor extension of the
acceleration_firmwarepackage [^4]: Did not get buy-in from maintainers. Stopped the effort. [^5]: Discarded for ROSCon and IROS. Lots of work.Key
articles and postsin traceable digital mediaLinkedIn- Reconfigurable computing for robots, an open source approach (surprisingly similar 😂 to this other paper 😆)LinkedIn- Join the #hardware #acceleration (re)evolution in #roboticsLinkedIn- Learn "how #ROS 2 is easing #hardware #acceleration for #robotics" with an open and vendor-agnostic architectureLinkedIn- ReconROS Executor: Event-Driven Programming of FPGA-accelerated ROS 2 ApplicationsLinkedIn- HAWG#6 - A methodology for ROS 2 #hardware #acceleration that allows speeding up #ROS computational graph dataflows a 20% upLinkedIn- Call for HAWG#7LinkedIn- PiCAS, a #ROS2 Priority-Driven Chain-Aware SchedulingLinkedIn- We compare #FPGA and #GPU performance in ROS 2 perception graphs and propose the Robotic Processing Unit (#RPU), robot-specific #processors that aim to obtain best #ROS peformance.LinkedIn- Meet REP-2008, ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Architecture and ConventionsLinkedIn- #Robots moving faster require faster #perception computations. We show how #ROS 2 Nodes in AMD's FPGAs are up to #500x faster than in NVIDIA's GPUsLinkedIn- RobotCore: An Open Architecture for Hardware Acceleration in ROS 2LinkedIn- Message Flow Analysis with Complex Casual Links for Distributed ROS 2 SystemsLinkedIn- #Yocto and #ROS 2 allow you to build a #production-grade custom operating system for #robotsLinkedIn- FogROS 2: An Adaptive and Extensible Platform for Cloud and Fog Robotics Using ROS 2LinkedIn- Nominated in the #ROS #Awards 2022 as best developerLinkedIn- Robotic Computing on FPGAs: Current Progress Research Challenges, and OpportunitiesLinkedIn- Is Modular Architecture Enough?LinkedIn- ROBOTCORE to speed-up ROS robots with hardware accelerationLinkedIn- The #ROS 2 #Hardware #Acceleration #StackLinkedIn- #ROS 2 Type Negotiation (REP 2009)LinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics anuncia #ROBOTCORE, un framework para crear #chips robóticosLinkedIn- HAWG#6 recordingLinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics Launch ROBOTCORE™ to Speed-up ROS 2 RobotsLinkedIn- #Robots are #deterministic machinesLinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics es una firma de #semiconductores para la #robóticaLinkedIn- ROS Robotics companies, a list of for profit robotics companies using ROSLinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics is collaborating with AMD to design next-generation robotic compute architectures with #ROSLinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics and PlanV are collaborating to create a #robotics #microcontroller unit (MCU) powered by RISC-V and ROS 2LinkedIn- ROBOTCORE® is a #processing #unit for the #robotics architectLinkedIn- ROBOTCORE®, así es el 'cerebro' robótico español diseñado por Acceleration RoboticsLinkedIn- The #computer #architecture of Tesla's robot brain underwhelmsLinkedIn- ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #11LinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics announce and open sources ROBOTCORE®LinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics, AMD partner to design robotic compute architectures with ROS - The Robot ReportLinkedIn- Vijay joins as an advisor Acceleration RoboticsLinkedIn- Join me at #ROSCon2022 in #Japan to speak about hardware acceleration in robotics and #systems #architectureLinkedIn- #Hardware #acceleration can revolutionize #roboticsLinkedIn- speaking at #ROSCon2022 about #hardware #acceleration and the #ROBOTCORE FrameworkLinkedIn- An open architecture for Hardware Acceleration in robotics and ROS 2LinkedIn- My company Acceleration Robotics is acquiring Technoyantra to serve hardware acceleration in AsiaLinkedIn- ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #12LinkedIn- Tesla's Optimus brain hardware and software architectureLinkedIn- El cerebro robótico 'made in Spain' cuatro veces más potente que el piloto automático de TeslaLinkedIn- final vote on REP 2008 is happening in two weeksLinkedIn- ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #13LinkedIn- Acceleration Robotics expands to India and takes over TechnoYantra to grow in AsiaLinkedIn- Meet #RobotPerf, the benchmarking suite to evaluate #robotics #computing #performanceLinkedIn- Is Open Robotics acquisition by Intrinsic a good thing? Yes, I believe it isReddit- Multiple posts over the yearTOTALS 2021(roughly)VIEWS(==4x== growth 2021)REACTIONS(==3x== growth 2021)Meeting recordings(YouTube channel)0.55xgrowth)0.72xgrowth)0.32xgrowth)0.94xgrowth)Goals for 2023
The Hardware Acceleration Working Group has grown significantly over 2022. The working group has several key objectives for 2023. The first objective is to develop and publish a comprehensive set of benchmarking tools packed in a suite (RobotPerf) for measuring the performance and efficiency of various software components (ROS packages) and hardware solutions commonly used in robotics. This will enable members of the working group to accurately compare and evaluate the performance of different hardware options and make informed decisions about which components to use in their own projects.
The second objective is to increase the number of vendors participating in the working group. By engaging in targeted outreach and engagement efforts, the group aims to bring more vendors on board, which will provide more options for members and increase the overall diversity of hardware components available for testing and evaluation.
The third objective is to increase the number of collaborations with industry partners. This will gather practical experience and feedback on the performance of hardware acceleration techniques in real-world robotics applications and will also increase the working group's visibility and impact.
The fourth objective is to continue investing resources in the ongoing strategic projects announced during 2022. In particular RobotPerf, Robotics MCU and the Robotics Processing Unit.
Altogether, the objectives for the coming year look as follows:
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