OFERA · Project

Plug Tiny Sensors and Micro-Controllers Into Your Robot Network Using Standard Software

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Imagine your factory robot speaks one language, but all the little sensors and micro-controllers around it speak another — they just can't talk to each other. OFERA built a lightweight version of the standard robot software (ROS 2.0) that runs on tiny, battery-powered devices with almost no computing power. Think of it like creating a "lite" app version so even the cheapest phone can run it. Now a $5 sensor on a warehouse shelf can join the same network as a $50,000 industrial arm, all using the same tools and commands.

By the numbers

EUR 2,940,920

EU funding for development

consortium partners

countries represented

total project deliverables

open-source demo releases

71%

industry partners in consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies building robotic systems today face a painful split: their main robots run on ROS 2.0, but their small sensors, micro-controllers, and battery-powered devices cannot — they lack the computing power. This forces engineers to build and maintain separate communication layers, doubling development effort and creating fragile, hard-to-debug systems. Every new sensor type means another custom integration project.

The solution

What was built

The project built Micro-ROS, a lightweight version of the Robot Operating System (ROS 2.0) that runs on embedded devices with minimal resources. Concrete outputs include open-source tracing tooling for the client library, two rounds of community demos (all released as open-source with documentation), and a total of 96 deliverables covering the full software stack.

Audience

Who needs this

Robotics companies integrating IoT sensors into robot fleetsWarehouse automation providers connecting mobile robots with building sensorsAgricultural drone and field robot manufacturersSmart building companies combining cleaning/security robots with IoT infrastructureEmbedded systems integrators working on ROS-based products

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Warehouse and logistics automation

mid-size

Target: Companies operating automated warehouses or distribution centers

If you are a logistics operator dealing with dozens of small autonomous robots and hundreds of sensors that each run on separate, incompatible software — OFERA developed Micro-ROS, a lightweight robot operating layer that lets battery-powered devices and micro-controllers join your main robot network directly. With 7 partners across 5 countries contributing 96 deliverables and open-source community demos, this means fewer integration headaches and one unified control system instead of many.

Agricultural robotics

SME

Target: Precision agriculture companies building field robots and drone swarms

If you are an agri-tech company trying to connect low-cost field sensors, drones, and small weeding robots into a coordinated system — OFERA's Micro-ROS lets those tiny battery-powered devices communicate using the same ROS 2.0 standard as your main control station. The project delivered open-source tracing tools and community demos, meaning your engineering team can prototype faster without building custom communication layers from scratch.

Smart building and facility management

enterprise

Target: Companies developing building automation with cleaning or security robots

If you are a facility management technology provider struggling to integrate IoT sensors, cleaning robots, and security drones into one monitoring dashboard — OFERA created a way for constrained devices with wireless, low-bandwidth connections to become first-class participants in a ROS 2.0 ecosystem. The 71% industry ratio in the consortium means the solution was built with commercial deployment in mind, not just academic research.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

How much would it cost to adopt Micro-ROS in our products?

Micro-ROS was released as open-source software, so there are no licensing fees for the core technology. Your main costs would be engineering time to integrate it into your existing embedded hardware. With 96 deliverables including code, documentation, and community demos, the onboarding curve is significantly reduced compared to building a custom solution.

Can this scale to hundreds or thousands of devices in a real deployment?

Micro-ROS was specifically designed for distributed robotic systems with many constrained devices — battery-powered, wireless, low-bandwidth, and intermittently sleeping. The architecture builds on ROS 2.0, which is already the industry standard for large-scale robot deployments, so scaling follows proven patterns.

What is the IP and licensing situation?

All 3 demo deliverables were explicitly released as open-source software with documentation. This means you can use, modify, and integrate Micro-ROS into commercial products without royalty payments. Check the specific open-source license on the project repository for any attribution requirements.

How long would integration take for an existing ROS-based system?

Since Micro-ROS is designed to be compatible with ROS 2.0, integration into an existing ROS ecosystem should be straightforward — your current tools and workflows carry over. The project ran from 2018 to 2021 and produced tracing tooling and multiple community demos to accelerate adoption.

Does this work with our existing hardware and sensors?

Micro-ROS targets embedded and deep embedded components — devices running a minimum real-time operating system or even no operating system at all. It bridges IoT sensors and devices with traditional robots, so it is designed to work with the kind of constrained hardware already common in industrial IoT setups.

Is there ongoing support or a community behind this?

The project produced community demos and open-source releases, building on the global ROS ecosystem which has thousands of active contributors. The consortium included 5 industry partners across 5 countries (Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, UK), and the micro-ROS project continues as part of the broader ROS 2 community.

Are there any regulatory concerns with using this in safety-critical applications?

Based on available project data, no specific safety certifications are mentioned. If you plan to use Micro-ROS in safety-critical applications (medical robots, autonomous vehicles), you would need to conduct your own certification process. The real-time operating system compatibility does suggest suitability for time-sensitive applications.

Consortium

Who built it

The OFERA consortium is strongly industry-driven: 5 out of 7 partners (71%) are from the private sector, with 2 SMEs bringing agility and 1 research organization providing scientific grounding. The coordinator is a Spanish SME (Proyectos y Sistemas de Mantenimiento SL), which signals that the project was led by a company with direct commercial interest in the results rather than an academic institution. The 5-country spread (Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, UK) covers major European robotics markets. The absence of universities is unusual and suggests this was deliberately structured as an engineering and commercialization effort, not a basic research project. For a potential business partner, this consortium composition means the technology was built by people who understand product development and market needs.

PROYECTOS Y SISTEMAS DE MANTENIMIENTO SLCoordinator · ES
ROBERT BOSCH GMBHparticipant · DE
FIWARE FOUNDATION EVparticipant · DE
SIEC BADAWCZA LUKASIEWICZ - PRZEMYSLOWY INSTYTUT AUTOMATYKI I POMIAROW PIAPparticipant · PL

How to reach the team

The coordinator is Proyectos y Sistemas de Mantenimiento SL, a Spanish SME. SciTransfer can facilitate a direct introduction to the technical team.

Order a report on this consortium See PROYECTOS Y SISTEMAS DE MANTENIMIENTO SL profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how Micro-ROS could reduce your embedded robotics integration costs? SciTransfer can connect you with the development team and prepare a tailored technical brief for your use case.

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