VIKI—More Than a GUI for ROS

Abstract

This chapter introduces the open-source software VIKI. VIKI is a software package that eases the configuration of complex robotic systems and behavior by providing an easy way to collect existing ROS packages and nodes into modules that provide coherent functionalities. This abstraction layer allows users to develop behaviors in the form of a collection of interconnected modules. A GUI allows the user to develop ROS-based software architectures by simple drag-and-drop of VIKI modules, thus providing a visual overview of the setup as well as ease of reconfiguration. When a setup has been created, VIKI generates a roslaunch file by using the information of this configuration, as well as the information from the module definitions, which is then launched automatically. Distributed capabilities are also guaranteed as VIKI enables the explicit configuration of roslaunch features in its interface. In order to show the potential of VIKI, the chapter is organised in the form of a tutorial which provides a technical overview of the software, installation instructions as well as three use-cases with increased difficulty. VIKI functions alongside your ROS installation, and only uses ROS as a runtime dependency.