An Experience Report on Challenges in Learning the Robot Operating System

The Robot Operating System (ROS) was initially introduced to lower the barriers to robots software development by reducing the need for extensive domain knowledge. ROS allows developers to build valuable robots by configuring and reusing off-the-shelf components while writing little, if any, code through its modular design, loosely coupled architecture, and rich package ecosystem. However, despite the advantages of this approach, the lack of documentation can present a challenge to novice users. In this work, we discuss the challenges and experience of learning and using ROS from the perspective of three novice users with little to no prior experience in robotics. We report on the experiences in learning ROS through a popular commercial training course provided by The Construct Sim. Through our analysis, we identify several common misunderstandings, mistakes, and bugs, and we outline possible improvements to ROS to overcome these challenges. Our findings motivate further studies on the development of robotic systems in ROS by novice users and promote the improvement of the ROS ecosystem, on educational and training materials of ROS, and on tooling development to help novices identify and correct simple mistakes.