Introduction
OpenRoIS is a community-driven open-source middleware that implements the OMG Robotic Interaction Service (RoIS) Framework 2.0. It lets service applications control physical robots, virtual avatars, and AI services through the standard RoIS interfaces, on a single machine, across a local network, or over the internet.
The Problem
Service applications for human-robot interaction are usually written against the hardware-specific interface of one platform. A change of hardware forces a rewrite of the application, which undermines reuse and slows the transfer of research into practice. The cost grows multiplicatively: integrating N applications with M platforms means N × M integrations, each built and maintained separately.
The Standard
RoIS 2.0, standardized by the Object Management Group (OMG), defines a platform-independent model for this interaction. Service applications talk to HRI Engines through five interfaces (System, Command, Query, Event, and Streaming) and exchange symbolic messages such as "a person was detected" or "navigate to the kitchen", never raw sensor data or motor commands. The specification leaves transport and implementation technology open.
A specification alone does not drive adoption. Researchers and engineers need a maintained implementation, usable SDKs, reference adapters, and a network gateway. OpenRoIS provides them, developed in the open under the Apache License 2.0.
What OpenRoIS Provides
| Contribution | Summary |
|---|---|
| Recursive engine | One Engine class realizes both the main and the sub HRI Engine roles of RoIS, so the gateway and every adapter share one dispatch implementation. |
| Component Contract | A five-method internal contract (discover, invoke, query, subscribe, unsubscribe) that keeps the engine independent of ROS 2, gRPC, game engines, or any other middleware. |
| Wire protocol | A mapping of the five RoIS interfaces onto JSON-RPC 2.0 over WebSocket, usable from browsers and across the internet. |
| Type pipeline | RoIS types authored once as Python models, exported to JSON Schema, and generated into TypeScript and C#. |
| SDKs | A TypeScript client SDK for web applications, a C# client SDK for Unity, and a Python adapter SDK (the component framework) with ROS 2 support. |
Project Status
OpenRoIS is alpha software with an unstable API. The interface types, the recursive engine, the adapter SDK, the TypeScript SDK, and reference components for a commercial robot are available and have been demonstrated with a physical robot. Media transport, published packages, and the full component library are on the roadmap.
Where to Go Next
- Try it: the quickstart runs an engine and a browser-based inspector in a few minutes.
- Understand it: start with the RoIS overview and the architecture.
- Build with it: write a service application or a component for your robot.