CMU-led study seeks ROS devs to reveal tooling gaps and AI needs

A cross-institutional research team from Carnegie Mellon University, VORTEX Collab, and the University of Lisbon is actively recruiting participants for a study on ROS (Robot Operating System) developer experiences. The survey targets information needs, tooling gaps, and how AI is currently used—or could be used—within the ROS development process. The anonymous questionnaire takes approximately 15–20 minutes and is open to ROS developers who are at least 18 years old and have one year of experience. The study (STUDY2026_00000158) is led by professors Claire Le Goues and Christopher Timperley at CMU. Interested participants can contact PhD student Andrea Miller at andreami@andrew.cmu.edu.

With ROS continuing to dominate robotics development, understanding the real-world pain points of its community is critical. Tooling gaps—such as debugging, simulation, and code generation—are often cited as major bottlenecks. This study explicitly examines where AI and large language models might fill those gaps, offering a chance for developers to shape the next generation of robotics tools. The research also aligns with broader efforts to integrate AI assistants into specialized engineering domains. By participating, developers can directly influence academic findings and potentially industry tooling priorities, ensuring that future AI-powered features address actual needs rather than theoretical use cases.