ROS2 bindings

[renzo-sie]

Why do we need this improvement?

We need this improvement to seamlessly integrate ROS2, a widely-used framework in robotics, with AsyncAPI. This integration will enhance the capabilities of ROS2 by providing a standardized way to document and communicate its event-driven architecture. By including ROS2 bindings, we can ensure that ROS2 developers can leverage AsyncAPI's benefits for better interoperability, documentation, and tooling.

How will this change help?

This change will help by providing a standardized approach to describing ROS2 communication interfaces, enabling better tooling support, improved collaboration, and more efficient development processes. It will facilitate the generation of documentation, code, and other artifacts, thus reducing the manual effort required and minimizing the risk of errors.

Screenshots

No response

How could it be implemented/designed?

We will implement the ROS2 bindings similarly to other existing bindings in AsyncAPI. This involves:

• Defining the ROS2-specific protocol and message type bindings.
• Creating documentation and examples to guide users in applying these bindings.

🚧 Breaking changes

No

👀 Have you checked for similar open issues?

• I checked and didn't find a similar issue

🏢 Have you read the Contributing Guidelines?

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines

Are you willing to work on this issue?

Yes I am willing to submit a PR!

[github-actions]

Welcome to AsyncAPI. Thanks a lot for reporting your first issue. Please check out our contributors guide and the instructions about a basic recommended setup useful for opening a pull request.
Keep in mind there are also other channels you can use to interact with AsyncAPI community. For more details check out this issue.

[renzo-sie]

Hi, is there any news on this issue? :) If I understand correctly, I still need to wait for a branch to be created to submit my code

[renzo-sie]

Hi @derberg or @fmvilas , could you help with this issue?

[derberg]

@renzo-sie hey, sorry for the delay. Can you provide some example AsyncAPI document with these new binding included, with comments what these binding properties are for, so it is easier to understand what you need. It will also clear out where these bindings be located, in what AsyncAPI objects, like channel or others.

Are you aware that in case of bindings, it is not enough to contribute binding, you also have to become a maintainer of it?

[renzo-sie]

Hi @derberg , thanks for the response!
Yes, I will you attached the ROS 2 bindings README that explains what does each property do. Let me know if you have any questions.
README.md

You can set @gramss (https://github.com/gramss) as the main mantainer for this binding, and me as the second contact.

Would be nice to show this binding in the next ROS event in germany next week :) (https://roscon2024.de/)

[renzo-sie]

Hi @derberg,

Here is the new version of the ROS 2 bindings:
README (1).md

Did you had a chance to review the document ? :)

[fmvilas]

Apologies for the delay folks. I'm getting into it with @gramss now. Let's push it forward!

[renzo-sie]

@fmvilas , sorry for the late reponse and thank for the support! I was checking with our legal team to check our open-source contribution before moving forward, but now our main contact is on sick leave. I will back to you when everything is cleared from our side :).

[fmvilas]

No problem. Let me know if I can help convincing them, in case it's needed.

[Achllle]

Happy to assist (and maintain) this effort as well. @renzo-sie is this realistically going to make progress in the next few weeks? Otherwise I'm happy to submit a PR. This has seemingly been in limbo for a while now.

There's a similar initiative in the ROS 2 world that lost steam a few years back but would be useful as a reference: https://github.com/ubuntu-robotics/nodl
I'm considering just rallying around that effort instead.

One thing I believe is missing from @renzo-sie 's proposal document is support for ROS 2 parameters, which is a core part of ROS 2. Nodes are able to set parameters on different nodes and are essential for a node's documentation.

[renzo-sie]

hi @Achllle , yes, this is this should be submitted the next weeks. Our legal represant was long sick for almost 2 months... just got back this week.

But when I submit the PR feel free to review it. Maybe you have some ideas hoe to do it better.

There is also a README attachment here that you could check how we are planing to do it :)

Hi @derberg,

Here is the new version of the ROS 2 bindings: README (1).md

Did you had a chance to review the document ? :)

And yes, it is true, that we do not consider parameters yet.

[Ryanf55]

Nice work @renzo-sie ! I took a look through your README. Overall, it looks great. A few suggestions

• Can you make QOS lifespan, deadline, and leaseDuration a double so we can do <1s time resolution. This is handy for high-rate data. comms. These use a rclcpp::Time object under the hood which has nanosecond resolution.
• liveliness
• How are you planning to handle constants in message files?
• Should we add a ROS_DISTRO attribute to the API to show which ROS version you need to use? This would imply which version of DDS or zenoh