First of 2026 ROS-I Developers' Meeting Looks at Upcoming Releases and Collaboration

The ROS-Industrial Developers’ Meeting provided updates on open-source robotics tools, with a focus on advancements in Tesseract, Helping developers still using MoveIt2, and Trajopt. These updates underscore the global push to innovate motion planning, perception, and tooling systems for industrial automation. Key developments revolved around stabilizing existing frameworks, improving performance, and leveraging modern technologies like GPUs for acceleration.

The Tesseract project, designed to address traditional motion planning tools' limitations, is moving steadily toward a 1.0 release. With about half of the work complete, remaining tasks include API polishing, unit test enhancements, and transitioning the motion planning pipeline to a plugin-based architecture. Tesseract is also integrating improved collision checkers and tools like the Task Composer, which supports modular backends, making it more adaptable for high-complexity manufacturing tasks.

On the MoveIt 2 front, ongoing community support will be critical as the prior suppor team shifts to supporting the commercial MoveItPro. To ensured Tesseract maintainability, updates include the migration of documentation directly into repositories via GitHub. This step simplifies synchronization between code and documentation, helping developers maintain robust, open-source solutions. There are plans to provide migration tutorials for those wanting to investigate Tesseract if MoveIt2 is not meeting development needs and not ready to move to MoveItPro. Ability to utilize MoveIt2 components within Tesseract are being investigated.

Trajopt, another critical component of the Tesseract ecosystem, is undergoing a rewrite to better handle complex trajectories and cost constraints. The new version, expected within weeks, will enable better time parameterization and overall performance improvements. Discussions also explored GPU acceleration, focusing on opportunities to optimize constraint and cost calculations using emerging GPU libraries, though some modifications will be needed to fully realize this potential.

Toolpath optimization also gained attention, with updates on the noether repository, which supports industrial toolpath generation and reconstruction. While still a work in progress, noether is set to play a pivotal role in enabling advanced workflows once the planned updates are implemented.

As the meeting concluded, contributors emphasized the importance of community engagement to further modernize and refine these tools. Upcoming events across Europe and Asia will foster collaboration and showcase advancements in the ROS-Industrial ecosystem. This collective effort promises to drive a smarter, more adaptable industrial automation landscape, ensuring open-source solutions stay at the forefront of global manufacturing innovation.

The next Developers' Meeting is slated to be hosted by the ROS-I Consortium EU. You can find all the info for Developers' Meetings over at the Developer Meeting page.