ROS-Industrial Consortium Europe

What is ROS-Industrial

ROS-Industrial is a consortium of ROS and ROS 2 contributors and stakeholders.

ROS-Industrial consiortium consists of three research-led consortia united by a Memorandum of Understanding:

SwRI (Southwest Research Institute), leading the Consortium North-America (RIC-NA), in San Antonio USA
Fraunhofer IPA, leading the Consortium Europe (RIC-EU), in Stuttgart Germany
A*ARTC (Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre), leading the Consortium Asia-Pacific (RIC-AP), in Singapore

The three research institutes maintain ongoing collaboration with a shared mission to:

Align priorities across three independent consortia through collaboration and shared infrastructure
Promote dialogue and coordinate capability development via a joint roadmap
Reduce duplication by sharing tools and focusing on complementary software functions

What is the ROS-Industrial Europe branch

ROS-Industrial Consortium Europe (RIC-EU) is the european branch of the consortium of industrials and research institutes that contributes to the ROS and ROS 2 framework from an industrial-friendly perspective.

It is led since 2013 by Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart, Germany.

About Fraunhofer IPA

Fraunhofer IPA is a leading research institute in Germany specializing in technology transfer. Our research division in Automation and Robotics comprises approximately 70 engineers dedicated to various robotic domains, including:

Bin Picking
Outdoor Navigation
Robot Programming
Software Engineering
Robot Welding
Mobile Manipulation

Within this division, the Software Engineering Group serves as the primary contact for activities related to the ROS-Industrial Consortium.

The RIC-EU initiative supports the robotics industry and community across Europe by providing essential resources such as robotic tools, workshops, events, and training sessions focused on ROS and ROS2.

Membership benefit

Technical Support for consortium members

As the Robot Operating System is open-source software, there is no owning organization that provides support or help for the software. If you are working with ROS 2 and are stuck with a problem that you seem to not be able to solve on your own. Call our experts and they will try to support you in finding a solution.

Training and workshops

One important service the Consortium offers is training for your employees. Full and associate members have free seats in our physical training sessions.

In case there are any roadblocks or open questions, your employees can check back with our experts at any time.

Joint Projects

Joint projects are the basis for building a joint software infrastructure for robotics. Within the ROS-Industrial Consortium, we try to bring together organizations that require common infrastructure. With the framework of focused technical projects, we enable our members to collaborate and create great open-source software for robotics.

Visibility of Consortium Technologies

Fraunhofer IPA actively promotes the ROS-Industrial Consortium by showcasing its technologies and project outcomes at major trade fairs and industry events. These demonstrations provide visibility to the consortium’s work, highlight real-world applications, and engage a broader audience—from industrial end-users to potential new members—helping to drive adoption and collaboration across the robotics community.

Leverage public funded projects

Publicly funded projects play a key role by providing resources to accelerate development, de-risk innovation, and align efforts across industry, research, and government—amplifying the impact of the consortium's initiatives.

Events in Europe mid-2024 to beginning of 2026

The ROS-Industrial Consortium organises different events to enable networking between our members. This includes the ROS-Industrial Conference, the ROS-Industrial Developer Meeting and ROS-Industrial Workshops and various ROS Meet-ups. As a member, you have reduced or free access to all events.

All European ROS-Industrial Consortium events are listed under the the events page as well as advertised through our blog.

Upcoming events