ROS Network Access in MATLAB

Access ROS networks and messages using MATLAB^®

ROS shares information using messages. Messages are a simple data structure for sharing data. To receive or subscribe to a message, use rossubscriber. To send or publish a message use rospublisher. See Exchange Data with ROS Publishers and Subscribers for more information on sending messages.

ROS services and actions enable users to perform tasks. Services use request-response communication to gather information and trigger callback functions in the ROS network. Actions can be used to trigger tasks or goals and receive feedback during operation of these tasks.

Functions

expand all

ROS Messages

`rosmessage`	Create ROS messages
`rosmsg`	Retrieve information about ROS messages and message types
`rosShowDetails`	Display all ROS message contents (Since R2021a)
`rostopic`	Retrieve information about ROS topics

ROS Publisher and Subscriber

`rospublisher`	Publish message on a topic
`rossubscriber`	Subscribe to messages on a topic
`receive`	Wait for new ROS message
`send`	Publish ROS message to topic

ROS Actions

`rosaction`	Retrieve information about ROS actions
`rosactionserver`	Create ROS Action Server (Since R2022a)
`getFeedbackMessage`	Create new action feedback message (Since R2022a)
`isPreemeptRequested`	Check if a goal has been preempted (Since R2022a)
`sendFeedback`	Send feedback to action client during goal execution (Since R2022a)
`rosActionServerExecuteGoalFcn`	Return function handle for ROS action server callback (Since R2022a)
`rosactionclient`	Create ROS action client
`cancelAllGoals`	Cancel all goals on action server
`cancelGoal`	Cancel last goal sent by client
`sendGoal`	Send goal message to action server
`sendGoalAndWait`	Send goal message and wait for result
`waitForServer`	Wait for action server to start

ROS Services

`call`	Call ROS or ROS 2 service server and receive a response
`isServerAvailable`	Determine if ROS or ROS 2 service server is available (Since R2021b)
`rosservice`	Retrieve information about services in ROS network
`rossvcclient`	Connect to ROS service server
`rossvcserver`	Create ROS service server
`waitForServer`	Wait for ROS or ROS 2 service server to start (Since R2021b)

ROS Rate Control

rosrate Execute loop at fixed frequency

Blocks

expand all

ROS

Blank Message	Create blank message using specified message type
Current Time	Retrieve current ROS time or system time
Publish	Send messages to ROS network
Subscribe	Receive messages from ROS network
Call Service	Call service in ROS network

Topics

ROS Publishers and Subscribers

Work with Basic ROS Messages
Create, explore, and populate ROS messages in MATLAB, that are commonly encountered in robotics applications.
Built-In Message Support
List of supported ROS message types in MATLAB.
Exchange Data with ROS Publishers and Subscribers
Publish and subscribe to topics in a ROS network.
Work with Specialized ROS Messages
Handle message types for laser scans, uncompressed and compressed images, point clouds, camera info, occupancy grid, and octomap messages.
Publish Variable-Length Nested ROS Messages and Deploy as ROS Node Using MATLAB
Work with complex ROS messages in MATLAB, such as messages with nested submessages and variable-length arrays.
Improve Performance of ROS Using Message Structures
Demonstrates the use of ROS message structures, and their benefits and differences from message objects.

ROS Services And Actions

Call and Provide ROS Services
Set up service servers to advertise a service to the ROS network.
ROS Actions Overview
ROS action workflow and communication protocols
Move a Turtlebot Robot Using ROS Actions
This example shows how to use the /turtlebot_move action with a Turtlebot robot.