Robot Framework ROS2 Library

A comprehensive Robot Framework library for testing and automating ROS2 applications.

Features

Core ROS2 Operations

• Topic Operations: List topics, get topic info, echo messages, publish messages, wait for topics
• Service Operations: List services, call services, get service info, wait for services
• Node Operations: List nodes, get node info, wait for nodes
• Parameter Operations: List, get, set parameters, check parameter existence
• Launch Operations: Launch files and packages, find launch files, manage launch processes
• Run Operations: Run nodes directly, run with remapping, find executables, manage node processes

Native ROS2 Python Node Operations (NEW!)

• Native Topic Operations: Direct publishing/subscribing using ROS2 Python nodes
• Native Service Operations: Direct service calls using ROS2 Python service clients
• Native Parameter Operations: Direct parameter access using ROS2 Python parameter clients
• Native TF2 Operations: Direct transform operations using ROS2 Python TF2
• Message Storage: Automatic message buffering and retrieval
• Real-time Communication: Low-latency, high-performance ROS2 communication

Advanced Features

• Process Management: Start, monitor, and terminate ROS2 processes
• Discovery: Find launch files and executables in packages
• Remapping: Topic and service remapping for node execution
• Timeout Support: Configurable timeouts for all operations
• Hybrid Mode: Automatic fallback from native to CLI operations when needed

Installation

pip install -e .

Quick Start

Basic Usage

*** Settings ***
Library    ROS2ClientLibrary    use_native_node=True

*** Test Cases ***
Test Basic ROS2 Operations
    # List available topics
    ${topics}=    List Topics
    Log    Available topics: ${topics}
    
    # Check if a specific topic exists
    ${exists}=    Topic Exists    /chatter
    Should Be True    ${exists}
    
    # Get topic information
    ${info}=    Get Topic Info    /chatter
    Log    Topic info: ${info}

Test Native ROS2 Operations
    # Subscribe to a topic using native ROS2 node
    ${success}=    Native Subscribe Topic    /chatter    std_msgs/msg/String
    Should Be True    ${success}
    
    # Publish a message using native ROS2 node
    ${success}=    Native Publish String    /chatter    "Hello World!"
    Should Be True    ${success}
    
    # Wait for and get the message
    ${message}=    Native Wait For Message    /chatter    timeout=5.0
    Should Not Be None    ${message}
    Log    Received: ${message}[data]

Launch and Run Operations

*** Settings ***
Library    ROS2ClientLibrary

*** Test Cases ***
Test Launch File
    # Launch a ROS2 launch file
    ${process}=    Launch Package    demo_nodes_cpp    talker_listener.launch.py
    Should Not Be Equal    ${process}    ${None}
    
    # Wait for topics to appear
    ${available}=    Wait For Topic    /chatter    timeout=10.0
    Should Be True    ${available}
    
    # Echo some messages
    ${messages}=    Echo Topic    /chatter    count=3
    
    # Clean up
    ${terminated}=    Terminate Launch Process    ${process}
    Should Be True    ${terminated}

Test Run Node
    # Run a node directly
    ${process}=    Run Node    demo_nodes_cpp    talker
    Should Not Be Equal    ${process}    ${None}
    
    # Wait for the node to start
    Sleep    2s
    
    # Check if process is running
    ${running}=    Is Process Running    ${process}
    Should Be True    ${running}
    
    # Terminate the process
    ${terminated}=    Terminate Node Process    ${process}
    Should Be True    ${terminated}

Running Examples

# Run the basic test
robot examples/basics/ros2_basic_test.robot

# Run the Nav2 monitoring test
robot examples/medium/nav2_simple_monitoring_test.robot

Tested with Navigation2

This library has been extensively tested with Navigation2 applications. For testing and validation purposes, we used the following repository:

Test Repository: navigation2_ignition_gazebo_turtlebot3

Test Coverage

The library has been validated with:

• ✅ Basic Navigation: Point-to-point navigation tasks
• ✅ Obstacle Avoidance: Dynamic obstacle detection and avoidance
• ✅ Path Planning: Global and local path planning algorithms
• ✅ Recovery Behaviors: Navigation recovery and error handling
• ✅ Multi-robot Scenarios: Testing with multiple robot instances

Note: While extensively tested with this specific repository, the library is designed to work with any ROS2 project and can be used with any ROS2-based robotic system, including custom robots, different navigation stacks, and various simulation environments.

Test Results

Here's an example of the test output and monitoring capabilities:

Documentation

See the docs/ directory for comprehensive documentation and examples.