ROS 2 Robots

RosFit supports any ROS 2 robot out of the box. Choose between a rosbridge WebSocket connection for quick prototyping or the MQTT bridge for production deployments that need to traverse NATs, VPNs, and unreliable networks.

Connection via rosbridge

The fastest way to connect a ROS 2 robot is through rosbridge. RosFit's cloud agent subscribes to the rosbridge WebSocket endpoint on your robot and automatically discovers published topics.

Install rosbridge on your robot:

sudo apt install ros-humble-rosbridge-suite

Launch the rosbridge server:

ros2 launch rosbridge_server rosbridge_websocket_launch.xml

Then configure RosFit to connect to the robot by adding an entry to fleet.yaml:

fleet:
  - device_id: turtlebot-01
    connection: rosbridge
    host: 192.168.1.42
    port: 9090
    discover_topics: true
    topic_allowlist:
      - /odom
      - /scan
      - /cmd_vel
      - /battery_state
      - /camera/image_raw/compressed

When discover_topics is enabled, RosFit queries the rosbridge /rosapi/topics service on startup and periodically thereafter. Any new topic that appears on the robot is automatically registered in the cloud. Use topic_allowlist or topic_denylist to control which topics are forwarded.

Connection via MQTT bridge

Use the MQTT bridge when your robots operate across multiple sites, sit behind NAT or corporate firewalls, or need store-and-forward reliability over intermittent connections.

Install the RosFit MQTT bridge node:

pip install rosfit-bridge

Create a bridge.yaml with explicit topic mapping:

device_id: turtlebot-01
mqtt:
  host: cloud.rosfit.io
  port: 8883
  tls: true
  token: mqtt_tok_xxxxx

bridges:
  # Telemetry — robot → cloud
  - ros_topic: /odom
    mqtt_topic: rosfit/turtlebot-01/telemetry/odom
    direction: ros_to_mqtt
    qos: 1
  - ros_topic: /scan
    mqtt_topic: rosfit/turtlebot-01/telemetry/scan
    direction: ros_to_mqtt
    qos: 0
  - ros_topic: /battery_state
    mqtt_topic: rosfit/turtlebot-01/telemetry/battery
    direction: ros_to_mqtt
    qos: 1

  # Commands — cloud → robot
  - ros_topic: /cmd_vel
    mqtt_topic: rosfit/turtlebot-01/command/cmd_vel
    direction: mqtt_to_ros
    qos: 1
  - ros_topic: /navigate_to_pose
    mqtt_topic: rosfit/turtlebot-01/command/navigate
    direction: mqtt_to_ros
    qos: 1

Start the bridge as a ROS 2 node:

rosfit bridge start --config bridge.yaml

The bridge reconnects automatically on network interruptions and queues messages locally until the connection is restored.

Supported platforms

RosFit has been tested with a wide range of ROS 2 robots. If your platform runs ROS 2, it will work — the tables below list robots with verified integration tests.

AMR / mobile robots

Robot	Vendor	Connection	Tested topics
TurtleBot 3 (Burger / Waffle Pi)	ROBOTIS	rosbridge, MQTT	`/odom`, `/scan`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`
TurtleBot 4 (Lite / Standard)	Clearpath	rosbridge, MQTT	`/odom`, `/scan`, `/cmd_vel`, `/oakd/rgb/preview/image_raw`
ROSbot XL	Husarion	MQTT	`/odom`, `/scan`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`, `/battery`
Panther	Husarion	MQTT	`/odom`, `/scan`, `/cmd_vel`, `/e_stop`
Jackal UGV	Clearpath	rosbridge, MQTT	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`, `/navsat/fix`
Husky UGV	Clearpath	rosbridge, MQTT	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`
NVIDIA Carter	NVIDIA	MQTT	`/odom`, `/scan`, `/cmd_vel`, `/rgb_left`
Custom diff-drive	Any	rosbridge, MQTT	Any standard ROS 2 topics

Robot arms

Robot	Vendor	Connection	Tested topics
UR3 / UR5 / UR10 / UR16	Universal Robots	MQTT	`/joint_states`, `/scaled_joint_trajectory_controller/follow_joint_trajectory`
OpenManipulator-X	ROBOTIS	rosbridge	`/joint_states`, `/gripper_position`
Franka Panda (FR3)	Franka Emika	MQTT	`/joint_states`, `/franka/robot_state`
Kinova Gen3	Kinova	MQTT	`/joint_states`, `/kortex_driver/base/play_cartesian_trajectory`
xArm 5/6/7	UFACTORY	MQTT	`/joint_states`, `/xarm/set_position`

Legged robots

Robot	Vendor	Connection	Tested topics
Go2	Unitree	MQTT	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`, `/sport_mode`
B2	Unitree	MQTT	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/imu`
Spot	Boston Dynamics	MQTT (via Spot ROS 2 driver)	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/status/battery`, `/camera/frontleft`
ROSpider	Community	rosbridge	`/joint_states`, `/cmd_vel`

Aerial robots

Robot	Vendor	Connection	Tested topics
PX4 Autopilot	PX4	MQTT (via px4_ros_com)	`/fmu/out/vehicle_odometry`, `/fmu/in/offboard_control_mode`
Crazyflie 2.x	Bitcraze	rosbridge	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/battery`
ArduPilot SITL / Copter	ArduPilot	MQTT (via ardupilot_ros)	`/odom`, `/cmd_vel`, `/mavros/state`

Simulation

You can develop and test RosFit integrations without physical hardware by using a simulator. RosFit treats simulated robots identically to real ones — the same bridge.yaml configuration works in both cases.

Simulator	Versions	Notes
Gazebo Fortress (Classic)	Ignition Fortress	Ships with TurtleBot 3/4 worlds. Use `ros_gz_bridge` for topic bridging.
Gazebo Harmonic	Harmonic (latest LTS)	Recommended for new projects. Native ROS 2 integration via `ros_gz`.
NVIDIA Isaac Sim	2023.1+	High-fidelity rendering, synthetic data generation. ROS 2 bridge built in.
Webots	R2023b+	Lightweight, cross-platform. Official ROS 2 packages available.

To connect a Gazebo simulation to RosFit, launch the simulation and the RosFit bridge side by side:

# Terminal 1 — launch Gazebo with a TurtleBot 3
ros2 launch turtlebot3_gazebo turtlebot3_world.launch.py

# Terminal 2 — start the RosFit bridge
rosfit bridge start --config bridge.yaml

The simulated robot's telemetry will appear in your RosFit dashboard within seconds.