ROS 1 Noetic Ninjemys (commonly "ROS Noetic") is the twelfth and final distribution of the first-generation Robot Operating System, released on 23 May 2020 by Open Robotics. It was the only ROS 1 distribution to officially support Python 3 (earlier releases relied on Python 2) and targeted Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa. Its LTS status gave it five years of support, ending on 31 May 2025 together with the end of life of Ubuntu 20.04.
The ROS 1 architecture is built around a central naming server (roscore / ROS Master), peer-to-peer TCPROS/UDPROS communication between nodes, and the concepts of topics (publish/subscribe), services (request/reply), and actions (long-running tasks). The system is built with catkin (a CMake-based meta-build), and packages are distributed via apt as ros-noetic-* on Ubuntu. The ecosystem includes hundreds of ready-made packages: navigation stack (move_base, AMCL, gmapping), MoveIt!, image_pipeline, robot_state_publisher, tf2, RViz, rqt.
Despite the formal end of support, ROS 1 Noetic is still actively used in tens of thousands of existing industrial deployments, in research robots (TIAGo, PR2, Baxter, TurtleBot 2/3 legacy), and in the ArduPilot/PX4 stack for drones. Open Robotics recommends migrating to ROS 2 Humble or Jazzy via ros1_bridge.
Middleware is a software layer that mediates between applications, services, sensors, drivers, and execution layers. In robotics, middleware is typically responsible for inter-process communication, message passing, hardware abstraction, and module integration within a single system. The most widely used robotics middleware is ROS (Robot Operating System), which provides a publish-subscribe message bus, service calls, and a rich ecosystem of packages.
A Runtime is the environment or execution layer used to run code, load libraries, manage dependencies, and operate applications or services — either in real time or during normal system operation. In robotics this includes real-time operating system (RTOS) runtimes, ROS 2 executor runtimes, containerised execution environments (Docker, podman), and embedded C++ runtimes on microcontrollers.
An API Library is a software package that exposes programmatic interfaces for communicating with a device, service, or system. In robotics it typically forms a lightweight integration layer built on top of the manufacturer's official API or an open-source project, abstracting low-level protocol details and providing language-native bindings (Python, C++, Java, etc.).
A Developer Tool is software designed to support the development workflow, including configuration, debugging, testing, monitoring, validation, and integration of robotic and embedded systems. Examples include IDE plugins, visual debuggers, log analysers, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test harnesses, and code-generation utilities specific to robotics platforms.
TIAGo (PAL Robotics), PR2 (legacy Willow Garage), Baxter (Rethink Robotics), TurtleBot 2/3, Clearpath Husky/Jackal (legacy), Fetch Robotics, ROS-Industrial consortium. Estimated 100k+ active installations worldwide in 2025.
ROS Discourse with 50k+ users, Stack Overflow ros tag with 40k+ questions, ROS Answers (legacy), annual ROSCon (~700 attendees). Main repo github.com/ros/ros 2.8k★.
Boston Dynamics bipedal humanoid robot. The fully electric generation unveiled in 2024 succeeds the hydraulic Atlas that was retired after more than a decade of research.
Tutor Intelligence industrial robot designed for palletizing, depalletizing and case-picking in warehouses and factories, offered as Robotics-as-a-Service from $14/hr.
Bipedal humanoid robot by Unitree Robotics, designed as a compact research, development, and developer platform.
Requires Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa. Support ended 31 May 2025 — use only to maintain legacy systems.
License family: Permissive
License family: Permissive
Official end of support — end of life of Ubuntu 20.04.
Last significant functional updates.
Security backports, additional community packages.
First Noetic release, Python 3 only, Ubuntu 20.04.
