How to join the ROS and Ubuntu community

ROS exists because of contributions from tens of thousands of developers. It started in Stanford, went on to be used in Universities around the world and is now a global community of roboticists who talk, code and meet-up every year.

ROS Discourse Ubuntu Discourse

Read the whitepaper “Docker & ROS: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

Keep up on the State of Robotics

Every week the Ubuntu robotics team contributes to the future of security in robotics. And every week there are countless new projects started and improved by the community that go under the radar. The State of Robotics is a monthly blog series produced by the Canonical team to highlight the work and advancements happening in the robotics ecosystem. Why not have a read or get in touch to talk about your project?

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Where to start with ROS?

The best place to start is in the ROS Discourse where thousands of roboticists go to talk. If you have specific questions there's the Robotics Stack Exchange with over 13,000 questions to date. And for more context, you can read the ROS Wiki or the ROS 2 docs that have been worked on by almost 3,500 people.

Get started on ROS Discourse

Why join the community?

Shape the future of robotics

Your contributions will help make robotics better and more accessible to developers and non-developers alike.

Work with the best in the world

Thousands of roboticists from across the world use ROS. Contribute code to projects that change the future of robotics.


Grow your skills and help others

Whatever your level, working on open-source software is a great way to learn and give back to the community.

Join the revolution

Everyday more robots are finding their way out of the warehouse, into everyday life and the growing majority are built, in some part, using ROS

ROSCon

ROS is not just an online community. ROSCon is an annual global meetup where the entire community is invited to join in a few days of talks, workshops and exhibitions. Every year the event is held in a different location to encourage members of the community from across the globe to participate. No matter your level of experience with ROS, ROSCon is the place to network and learn from the community.

Learn more about ROSCon2020

The ROS 2 technical steering committee

Ubuntu is playing a significant role in the future of ROS. Canonical sits on the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) for ROS 2, to guide the future of robotics towards staying on the collaborative, accessible path it is on today. To aid in this, Canonical is also the Chair of the ROS 2 Security working group. Just as we ensure Ubuntu's security and reliability for users, we are instilling the same ideals into ROS 2.

Learn more

More info about the TSC

What the community can do for the enterprise

Connect with the largest pool of talent

Developers love Ubuntu. By adopting the most popular Linux distribution, you can leverage the strong community of developers and roboticists using Ubuntu. Start new projects with like-minded developers or speak and work with passionate potential hires before they are looking for a job.

Read the Small Robot Company case study ›

Ubuntu is used so much everywhere that you can get drivers for everything, and there's a great community. It's ease-of-use makes everything faster, and not just for those of us who are already familiar with it. Even engineers without a software background can work on Ubuntu without issue.

Sam Watson Jones - CEO, Small Robot Company

Leverage open-source software

Complex software is increasingly collaborative and open source. This has been our philosophy and Open Robotics' philosophy from the beginning. Harness the power of our open-source software and build on top of contributions from both communities. Build on your own, or seek our help. The community will support you.

Read the Northstar Robotics case study ›

We needed an operating system that was open, easy to modify, and reliable.

CEO, Northstar Robotics

Become part of the future

The robotics industry is predicted to be worth tens of billions of dollars in the next five years. ROS is the only robotics platform agile enough and big enough to scale at the rate the market is growing. Becoming part of the community and contributing to ROS now will mean you are part of developing the future of robotics, today.

Talk to us about your robotics