DevOps Dojo: ROS Node Launch - Pain Points and Improvements

[kaspermeck-arm]

The Open AD Kit WG is working on improving the process of how to launch ROS nodes. We're currently trying to understand deficiencies in how ROS nodes currently are launched and create a standard way of doing this. The goal is to verbalize the motivation behind this dojo.

Thanks in advance for your contribution!

[maxime-clem]

To me the main pain point is that the launch system of Autoware is very complex with many launch files located in many different directories and with references to many parameter files that are also spread in different directories and repositories.
I am not sure if this system can be simplified. Autoware is very complex so it is to be expected that the launch system is complex as well.

What I believe could be very helpful is a GUI tool to visualize and edit launch files. This would probably require a significant engineering effort but may be worth it to make Autoware easier to use.

[maxime-clem]

To make the idea more clear, here is what I imagine the GUI would allow:

• Visualize the nodes launched and how their topics connect to other nodes.
  • This could be visualized nicely with a node graph.
• Select the parameter files used by a node (or group of nodes).
• Once launched, a node turns red in the GUI when it crashes and clicking on it opens its log to easily see its error message.

[doganulus]

I think we must first count parameter file duplication in node directories and the autoware_launch repo as a pain point. This issue has come up several times during the previous dojo when we are studying parameters. And I have listed some issues I am aware of about the topic:

• Parameter management autoware_launch#66
• Create a sync workflow from node parameter (autoware.universe) to launch parameter (autoware_launch) autoware_launch#201
• Some launch files are missing parameters autoware.universe#2695

I believe the current system can be simplified if we aim for a mechanism to override parameter values across node, component, (hopefully container), and system levels. Such a hierarchy is very much needed to cope with the complexity of the task.

So I want to bring up the lack of hierarchical parameter loading at launch as an important deficiency for the ROS ecosystem.