ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group 2022 dissemination report

[vmayoral]

Follows from #19. Summarizing easily measurable dissemination efforts that happened as part of the HAWG:

New projects during 2022

• RobotPerf, RobotPerf provides an open reference benchmarking suite that is used to evaluate robotics computing performance fairly with ROS 2 as its common baseline, so that robotic architects can make informed decisions about the hardware and software components of their robotic systems.
• Robotics MCU: an open source software and hardware ROS 2 microcontroller unit (MCU) powered by RISC-V. The project's goal is to design and develop an open source software and hardware robotics microcontroller unit (Robotics MCU) powered by RISC-V that delivers lower latency and additional real-time capabilities in ROS 2 MCU interactions. The ultimate objective of the project is to design an MCU that contains a native ROS 2 hardware implementation.
• Robotics Processing Unit: a robot-specific processing unit that uses hardware acceleration and maps robotics computations efficiently to its CPUs, FPGAs and GPUs to obtain best performance. In particular, it specializes in improving the Robot Operating System (ROS 2) related robot computational graphs on underlying compute resources.

Tracking progress

Key milestones

Year	Objective
21	✅ 1) Design tools and conventions to seamlessly integrate acceleration kernels and related embedded binaries into the ROS 2 computational graphs leveraging its existing build system (ament_acceleration extensions) 1, meta build tools (colcon-acceleration extension) and a new firmware layer (acceleration_firmware) 2.
21	✅ 2) Provide reference examples and blueprints for acceleration architectures used in ROS 2 and Gazebo.
21	✅ 3) REP-2008 (ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Architecture and Conventions) first draft proposed PR
22	✅ 4) Facilitate testing environments that allow to benchmark accelerators with special focus on power consumption and time spent on computations (see HAWG benchmarking approach, community#9, tracetools_acceleration, ros2_kria)
22	✅ 5) Survey the community interests on acceleration for ROS 2 and Gazebo (see discourse announcement, survey, result).
22	✅ 6) Produce demonstrators with robot components, real robots and fleets that include acceleration to meet their targets (see acceleration_examples).
22	✅ 7) Acceleration of complete ROS 2 computational graphs #20
22	❌3 8) Merge first hardware accelerators (kernels) into upstream packages (candidate: image_pipeline, see image_pipeline instrumented at #717 )
22	✅ 9) Documentation and a "methodology to hardware accelerate a ROS 2 package" (see #20)
22	❌4 10) Organize workshops on robotics and ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration
22	🚧 11) Robotic Processing Unit, first demonstrators #25
22	✅ 12) REP-2008 (ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Architecture and Conventions) accepted as an official standard
22	✅ 13) REP-2014 (Benchmarking performance in ROS 2) first draft proposed PR
23	🚧 11) REP-2014 (Benchmarking performance in ROS 2)
23	🚧 14) More vendor support. Will work to enable new silicon solutions
23	🚧 15) Robotics MCU #31 milestone 1
23	🚧 16) RobotPerf benchmarks
23	🚧 17) Robotic Processing Unit, first demonstrators #25

Key articles and posts in traceable digital media

Publication (date & link)	views	reactions
January
LinkedIn - Reconfigurable computing for robots, an open source approach (surprisingly similar 😂 to this other paper 😆)	10K views	67 reactions
LinkedIn - Join the #hardware #acceleration (re)evolution in #robotics	5K views	41 reactions
LinkedIn - Learn "how #ROS 2 is easing #hardware #acceleration for #robotics" with an open and vendor-agnostic architecture	27K views	295 reactions
LinkedIn - ReconROS Executor: Event-Driven Programming of FPGA-accelerated ROS 2 Applications	10K views	99 reactions
February
LinkedIn - HAWG#6 - A methodology for ROS 2 #hardware #acceleration that allows speeding up #ROS computational graph dataflows a 20% up	7K views	96 reactions
LinkedIn - Call for HAWG#7	4K views	40 reactions
LinkedIn - PiCAS, a #ROS2 Priority-Driven Chain-Aware Scheduling	15K views	130 reactions
March
LinkedIn - We compare #FPGA and #GPU performance in ROS 2 perception graphs and propose the Robotic Processing Unit (#RPU), robot-specific #processors that aim to obtain best #ROS peformance.	32K views	400 reactions
LinkedIn - Meet REP-2008, ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Architecture and Conventions	8K views	75 reactions
April
LinkedIn - #Robots moving faster require faster #perception computations. We show how #ROS 2 Nodes in AMD's FPGAs are up to #500x faster than in NVIDIA's GPUs	12K views	107 reactions
LinkedIn - RobotCore: An Open Architecture for Hardware Acceleration in ROS 2	25K views	263 reactions
LinkedIn - Message Flow Analysis with Complex Casual Links for Distributed ROS 2 Systems	7K views	61 reactions
LinkedIn - #Yocto and #ROS 2 allow you to build a #production-grade custom operating system for #robots	9K views	93 reactions
May
LinkedIn - FogROS 2: An Adaptive and Extensible Platform for Cloud and Fog Robotics Using ROS 2	17K views	180 reactions
LinkedIn - Nominated in the #ROS #Awards 2022 as best developer	7K views	82 reactions
LinkedIn - Robotic Computing on FPGAs: Current Progress Research Challenges, and Opportunities	15K views	152 reactions
LinkedIn - Is Modular Architecture Enough?	8K views	51 reactions
LinkedIn - ROBOTCORE to speed-up ROS robots with hardware acceleration	6K views	71 reactions
June
LinkedIn - The #ROS 2 #Hardware #Acceleration #Stack	11K views	129 reactions
LinkedIn - #ROS 2 Type Negotiation (REP 2009)	6K views	76 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics anuncia #ROBOTCORE, un framework para crear #chips robóticos	15K views	156 reactions
LinkedIn - HAWG#6 recording	5K views	55 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics Launch ROBOTCORE™ to Speed-up ROS 2 Robots	58K views	59 reactions
July
LinkedIn - #Robots are #deterministic machines	10K views	110 reactions
August
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics es una firma de #semiconductores para la #robótica	6K views	50 reactions
LinkedIn - ROS Robotics companies, a list of for profit robotics companies using ROS	45K views	487 reactions
September
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics is collaborating with AMD to design next-generation robotic compute architectures with #ROS	15K views	184 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics and PlanV are collaborating to create a #robotics #microcontroller unit (MCU) powered by RISC-V and ROS 2	15K views	253 reactions
LinkedIn - ROBOTCORE® is a #processing #unit for the #robotics architect	10K views	115 reactions
LinkedIn - ROBOTCORE®, así es el 'cerebro' robótico español diseñado por Acceleration Robotics	7K views	72 reactions
LinkedIn - The #computer #architecture of Tesla's robot brain underwhelms	12K views	82 reactions
LinkedIn - ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #11	14K views	91 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics announce and open sources ROBOTCORE®	11K views	232 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics, AMD partner to design robotic compute architectures with ROS - The Robot Report	5K views	120 reactions
October
LinkedIn - Vijay joins as an advisor Acceleration Robotics	10K views	105 reactions
LinkedIn - Join me at #ROSCon2022 in #Japan to speak about hardware acceleration in robotics and #systems #architecture	6K views	110 reactions
LinkedIn - #Hardware #acceleration can revolutionize #robotics	5K views	45 reactions
LinkedIn - speaking at #ROSCon2022 about #hardware #acceleration and the #ROBOTCORE Framework	8K views	156 reactions
LinkedIn - An open architecture for Hardware Acceleration in robotics and ROS 2	11K views	140 reactions
LinkedIn - My company Acceleration Robotics is acquiring Technoyantra to serve hardware acceleration in Asia	6K views	70 reactions
LinkedIn - ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #12	82K views	292 reactions
LinkedIn - Tesla's Optimus brain hardware and software architecture	7K views	142 reactions
November
LinkedIn - El cerebro robótico 'made in Spain' cuatro veces más potente que el piloto automático de Tesla	42K views	350 reactions
LinkedIn - final vote on REP 2008 is happening in two weeks	8K views	93 reactions
LinkedIn - ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group #13	112K views	384 reactions
LinkedIn - Acceleration Robotics expands to India and takes over TechnoYantra to grow in Asia	38K views	153 reactions
December
LinkedIn - Meet #RobotPerf, the benchmarking suite to evaluate #robotics #computing #performance	12K views	140 reactions
LinkedIn - Is Open Robotics acquisition by Intrinsic a good thing? Yes, I believe it is	22K views	259 reactions
Other digital media
Reddit - Multiple posts over the year	311K views	N/A
TOTALS 2021 (roughly)	1.1M+ VIEWS (==4x== growth 2021)	7490+ REACTIONS (==3x== growth 2021)

Meeting recordings (YouTube channel)

Publication (date & link)	views	reactions
April
HAWG#1	887 views (0.55x growth)	24 reactions
HAWG#2	445 views (0.72x growth)	15 reactions
HAWG#3	399 views (0.32x growth)	15 reactions
HAWG#4	171 views (0.94x growth)	8 reactions
HAWG#5	158 views	3 reactions
HAWG#6	348 views	15 reactions
HAWG#7	217 views	2 reactions
HAWG#8	194 views	9 reactions
HAWG#9	335 views	6 reactions
HAWG#10	339 views	5 reactions
HAWG#11	202 views	2 reactions
HAWG#12	172 views	4 reactions
HAWG#13	131 views	1 reaction

Goals for 2023

The Hardware Acceleration Working Group has grown significantly over 2022. The working group has several key objectives for 2023. The first objective is to develop and publish a comprehensive set of benchmarking tools packed in a suite (RobotPerf) for measuring the performance and efficiency of various software components (ROS packages) and hardware solutions commonly used in robotics. This will enable members of the working group to accurately compare and evaluate the performance of different hardware options and make informed decisions about which components to use in their own projects.

The second objective is to increase the number of vendors participating in the working group. By engaging in targeted outreach and engagement efforts, the group aims to bring more vendors on board, which will provide more options for members and increase the overall diversity of hardware components available for testing and evaluation.

The third objective is to increase the number of collaborations with industry partners. This will gather practical experience and feedback on the performance of hardware acceleration techniques in real-world robotics applications and will also increase the working group's visibility and impact.

The fourth objective is to continue investing resources in the ongoing strategic projects announced during 2022. In particular RobotPerf, Robotics MCU and the Robotics Processing Unit.

Altogether, the objectives for the coming year look as follows:

Year	Objective
23	🚧 11) REP-2014 (Benchmarking performance in ROS 2)
23	🚧 14) More vendor support. Will work to enable new silicon solutions
23	🚧 15) Robotics MCU #31 milestone 1
23	🚧 16) RobotPerf benchmarks
23	🚧 17) Robotic Processing Unit, first demonstrators #25

Footnotes

1. See ament_vitis ↩

2. See acceleration_firmware_kv260 for an exemplary vendor extension of the acceleration_firmware package ↩

3. Did not get buy-in from maintainers. Stopped the effort. ↩

4. Discarded for ROSCon and IROS. Lots of work. ↩