ROSBLOCKS: A Visual Programming Interface for ROS2 Robots

Fernando Costa Nogueira, Dieisson Martinelli, Dieisson Martinelli, Lucas Alexandre Zick, Lucas Alexandre Zick, André Schneider de Oliveira, Vivian Kalempa

2025

Abstract

This work presents the development of a visual programming interface for robots compatible with ROS2, called ROSBLOCKS, using a modern architecture based on React, Blockly, Node.js, and Electron. The proposal aims to make robot programming more accessible, especially in educational contexts, by allowing users to create complex robotic behaviors through visual blocks, without the need for prior knowledge in programming languages such as Python or C++. The system is cross-platform and flexible, working with both simulated and physical robots that use ROS2, and allows for automatic code generation and execution from the visual assembly. Additionally, the system was designed to facilitate integration with different types of ROS2 topics, services, and actions. The system was tested in the classroom with undergraduate students who already have practical experience with ROS, enabling an assessment of its applicability in real teaching scenarios and allowing the observation of gains in productivity, engagement, and clarity in the construction of robotic behaviors. The complete source code and all validation materials from this study are openly available on GitHub at https://github.com/ferssor/rosblocks.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Nogueira F., Martinelli D., Zick L., Schneider de Oliveira A. and Kalempa V. (2025). ROSBLOCKS: A Visual Programming Interface for ROS2 Robots. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO; ISBN 978-989-758-770-2, SciTePress, pages 267-274. DOI: 10.5220/0013714000003982

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icinco25,
author={Fernando Nogueira and Dieisson Martinelli and Lucas Zick and André Schneider de Oliveira and Vivian Kalempa},
title={ROSBLOCKS: A Visual Programming Interface for ROS2 Robots},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO},
year={2025},
pages={267-274},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013714000003982},
isbn={978-989-758-770-2},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 2: ICINCO
TI - ROSBLOCKS: A Visual Programming Interface for ROS2 Robots
SN - 978-989-758-770-2
AU - Nogueira F.
AU - Martinelli D.
AU - Zick L.
AU - Schneider de Oliveira A.
AU - Kalempa V.
PY - 2025
SP - 267
EP - 274
DO - 10.5220/0013714000003982
PB - SciTePress