What is Robot Operating System (ROS)?

The Robot Operating System (ROS) is not an operating system in the traditional sense, but rather a flexible framework for writing robot software. It is a collection of tools, libraries, and conventions that aim to simplify the task of creating complex and robust robot behavior across a wide variety of robotic platforms. ROS is widely used in robotics research and development, enabling developers to reuse code, share ideas, and build upon existing work. It provides functionalities such as hardware abstraction, device drivers, communication between processes, package management, and visualization tools.