Connect ROS 2 Robots to the Cloud in 10 Minutes
Native ROS 2 agent for Humble, Iron, Jazzy, and Rolling. Monitor nodes, topics, parameters, and custom metrics from any ROS 2 robot β no middleware, no bridges, no YAML hell.
Works with ROS 2 on Ubuntu 22.04+, Jetson Orin, Raspberry Pi 4/5, and x86 robots
A ROS 2 cloud tool built by engineers who use ROS 2
Every other robot cloud tool either requires a custom bridge, a proprietary MQTT schema, or weeks of DevOps. VnRobo ships a Python package that imports rclpy directly β your ROS 2 nodes stay yours, the agent just watches and reports. No middleware rewrites required.
What the ROS 2 agent does
Designed for production ROS 2 deployments, not demos.
Auto Node Discovery
The agent detects every running ROS 2 node, publisher, and subscriber automatically. No config files, no manual registration β matches whatever ros2 node list shows.
Custom Metrics in 3 Lines
from vnrobo import Heartbeat; hb.send({"battery": 0.72}) β send any key-value pair, appears in dashboard instantly. No schema changes, no migrations.
Topic Health Monitoring
Alert when /cmd_vel stops publishing, when /scan drops below expected Hz, or when a critical topic has no subscribers. Catch integration bugs in production.
Works Across Distributions
Same agent runs on Humble (Ubuntu 22.04), Iron (Ubuntu 22.04), Jazzy (Ubuntu 24.04), and Rolling. Mixed fleets supported β no lock-in to one distro.
Jetson & Edge Ready
Optimized for Jetson Orin, Nano, and Raspberry Pi ARM builds. Agent uses < 50MB RAM and < 2% CPU even on constrained edge hardware.
Offline Buffering
Agent queues heartbeats locally when internet drops. Automatically flushes to cloud when connection returns β no missing data during network hiccups.
From apt install to cloud dashboard
1. pip install
Single Python package, no apt repos. Works on any ROS 2 install from source or binary.
2. vnrobo init
One command to link the robot to your org. Config stored in ~/.vnrobo/config.yaml.
3. systemctl start
Daemon runs in background, survives reboots. Dashboard shows robot live within 30 seconds.
ROS 2 tool comparison
Not every cloud tool plays nicely with ROS 2.
| Capability | VnRobo | Foxglove | AWS IoT Greengrass | Custom (MQTT + Grafana) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROS 2 native | ||||
| Setup time | 10 min | 1 hour | Days | Weeks |
| Auto node discovery | ||||
| Fleet dashboard | ||||
| Cloud hosted | ||||
| Free tier | 3 robots | Limited | Complex pricing | Your time |
ROS 2 integration FAQ
Which ROS 2 distributions are supported?βΌ
Humble Hawksbill, Iron Irwini, Jazzy Jalisco, and Rolling Ridley are officially supported. We test on every LTS release within 2 weeks of launch. ROS 2 Foxy (EOL May 2023) is not supported.
Does the agent slow down my real-time ROS 2 node?βΌ
The agent runs in its own process and uses rclpy in a background thread. On Jetson Orin, measured overhead is < 2% CPU and < 50MB RAM. It does not block your control loops.
Can I run this alongside rosbag recording?βΌ
Yes. The agent uses DDS subscriptions like any other ROS 2 node β rosbag record works unchanged. For heavy log offload, use the VnRobo API to upload specific topics rather than the full bag.
What about ROS 1?βΌ
ROS 1 Noetic reached end-of-life in May 2025. Our agent is ROS 2 first. For legacy ROS 1 fleets, a temporary ros1_bridge setup works, but we recommend planning the migration to ROS 2.
Does it work with DDS security enabled (SROS 2)?βΌ
Yes, the agent respects SROS 2 security policies. It authenticates like any other node. Make sure the agent's identity is included in your security enclave.
Start monitoring your ROS 2 fleet
Free for 3 robots. ROS 2 native. Setup in 10 minutes.