ROS hardware for industrial applications

[vmayoral]

@marticres

With all that in mind, I’d like to know how or even if it is possible to substitute a PLC with any other hardware that can use ROS 2. Ideally, I’d like a device:

1. That can be reliable for industrial applications.
2. Where ROS 2 is used for software development.

If you think this is not possible yet, or worse, that getting rid of PLCs is a bad idea, I’d appreciate if you could explain your reasons as well.

Hope I’m not asking for a dream. Software development in PLCs really sucks, and using it to power your robots is probably a serious disadvantage against your competitors.

Disclaimer: I work for Xilinx.

Shortly:

• For 1., have a look at Xilinx’s Kria Adaptive SOM portfolio. It answers specifically this demand with industrial-grade hardware that leverages both CPUs and FPGAs giving you flexibility to build different compute architectures to deliver low latency, determinism, real-time, security and high throughput to industrial robotic setups.

• Regarding 2., look at the Kria Robotics Stack, a ROS 2 superset for industry. Currently in alpha, it is based in Foxy and looking to continue providing support around ROS 2 LTS releases.

In case lead time for Kria SOMs is an issue for you, there’re other Xilinx’s based SOMs that the community is bringing up as community-supported (e.g. Ultra96v2). We’re meeting every few weeks in the Hardware Acceleration Working Group. Learn more about community progress, objectives and contributions in past WG meetings and posts (e.g. proposal for HAWG, meeting #1, meeting #2).