Zenoh emerges as lightweight ROS 2 communication layer alternative to DDS
Promises lower latency and bandwidth for resource-constrained robots like Raspberry Pi.
A ROS 2 developer known as bengokaysaglam has begun documenting their exploration of Zenoh as an alternative communication layer for ROS 2. Most ROS 2 applications rely on DDS (Data Distribution Service) for intra- and inter-process communication, but Zenoh offers a more lightweight approach designed to reduce latency, minimize bandwidth usage, and simplify communication across distributed systems. These characteristics make Zenoh particularly attractive for robots running on resource-constrained hardware, such as the Raspberry Pi, or for systems that need to communicate across different networks.
To test these claims, the developer is building a mobile robot called Pavlov Mini Wheel based on ROS 2 Humble. They plan to integrate Zenoh for communication between the onboard Raspberry Pi and an external laptop handling perception and navigation workloads. Over the coming weeks, they will document the installation process, integration into an existing ROS 2 project, and direct performance comparisons between Zenoh and the default DDS setup using real hardware. The community has responded with enthusiasm, with ZettaScale's JEnoch pointing to existing workshop materials and encouraging benchmarks and feedback. This hands-on evaluation could provide valuable insights for robotics engineers considering a move away from DDS.
- Zenoh is positioned as a lower-latency, lower-bandwidth alternative to DDS for ROS 2 communication.
- The developer will test Zenoh on a Raspberry Pi-based mobile robot running ROS 2 Humble.
- Upcoming benchmarks will compare Zenoh vs. DDS in real robotic perception and navigation scenarios.
Why It Matters
Zenoh could enable more efficient ROS 2 communication on edge devices, expanding robotics deployment possibilities.