iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.5.1

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, this is a bugfix release.
For ROS 2² users, this is primarily a feature release.
See below for details.

Changelog (from G.4.5)

ROS 2

• Publications
  • Add /cliff_intensity topic (#320)
  • Add tf frame for the IMU (called imu), to which the /imu topic is now connected
• Middleware
  • Allow the use of ; characters in Fast-DDS Discovery Server configuration (#400)
  • Beta: Allow user to provide an XML configuration file for their preferred middleware (#407)

Core Robot

• Webserver / OS
  • Beta: Allow user full control to edit ntp.conf (#333)
  • Remove erroneous log messages about the robot's lost Wi-Fi connection when it had never been connected in the first place

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol mode

• Fix device number for stall event to match protocol document (#410)

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release H.1.2

This release is running ROS 2 Humble with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 2.1.0
• cyclonedds - 0.9.0
• Fast-DDS - 2.6.4

Release Overview

For ROS 2¹ users, this release fixes a few issues and adds a beta feature.
For iRobot® Education Bluetooth² users, there are no changes.
See below for details.

Changelog (from H.1.1)

ROS 2

• Publications
  • Corrected rate of /stop_status publication (at least 1 Hz)
  • Corrected rate of /battery_status publication (at least 0.1 Hz)
• Fast-DDS
  • Changed publication mode from synchronous to asynchronous (matches Galactic)

Core Robot

• Webserver / OS
  • Added beta feature: set wired subnet.

1. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

2. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.4.5

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, there are no changes.
For ROS 2² users, this release fixes a few issues and adds a beta feature.
See below for details.

Changelog (from G.4.4)

ROS 2

• Corrected rate of /stop_status publication (at least 1 Hz)
• Corrected rate of /battery_status publication (at least 0.1 Hz)

Core Robot

• Webserver / OS
  • Added beta feature: set wired subnet.

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release H.1.1

This release is running ROS 2 Humble with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 2.1.0
• cyclonedds - 0.9.0
• Fast-DDS - 2.6.4

Release Overview

For ROS 2¹ users, this release fixes a couple issues.
For iRobot® Education Bluetooth² users, there are no changes.
See below for details.

Changelog (from H.1.0)

ROS 2

• Fix for issue involving goal timeouts with Fast-DDS

• cmd_audio subscription is now reliable instead of best-effort (#356)

  !!!important
  A "best-effort" publisher will no longer be able to communicate with this subscription. See this compatibility matrix for details.

1. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

2. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.4.4

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, there are no changes.
For ROS 2² users, this release fixes an issue.
See below for details.

Changelog (from G.4.3)

ROS 2

• cmd_audio subscription is now reliable instead of best-effort (#356)

  !!!important
  A "best-effort" publisher will no longer be able to communicate with this subscription. See this compatibility matrix for details.

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release H.1.0

This release is running ROS 2 Humble with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 2.1.0
• cyclonedds - 0.9.0
• Fast-DDS - 2.6.4

Release Overview

This release has feature parity with G.4.3, except that ROS 2¹ has been upgraded to Humble.

ROS 2

As with the last release, this one provides the robot's sensors and controls via topics, actions, and services; for more, see ROS 2 API.

Between Galactic and Humble, the docking API (messages, actions, and topics) have slightly changed as follows:

• the DockServo action is now Dock to match the Undock action
• the /dock topic (and Dock message) is now /dock_status (and DockStatus message) to avoid confusion with the action

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol mode

iRobot® Education Bluetooth² protocol mode is supported; for best results, use Cyclone DDS.

1. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

2. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.4.3

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, there are no changes.
For ROS 2² users, this release is to add beta features to help with time sync.
See below for details.

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

There have been no changes to the ROS 2 API.
The robot's time can be set directly, or the ntp daemon can be asked to resync, through the webserver. (#324, #327)

Changelog (from G.4.1)

Core Robot

• Webserver

  • Added beta feature: set time.
  • Added beta feature: restart ntpd.
  • Corrected response text from /api/restart-app (#330)

• OS

  • Corrected direction of boot LED animation (bug introduced in G.4.1).

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.4.1

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, this is mostly a bugfix release.
For ROS 2² users, this is mostly a feature release.
See below for details.

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

There have been no changes to the ROS 2 API.
Support has been added for the robot to use a Fast-DDS Discovery Server.
Some bugs have been found and fixed in the iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol implementation.
The default route should be properly set when the robot is connected to Ethernet-over-USB (but not Wi-Fi).

Changelog (from G.3.1)

Core Robot

• Webserver

  • Added menu for beta features; hopefully more to come soon.
  • Exposed page for beta feature: serial device forwarding over a socket.
  • Added options for use of Fast-DDS Discovery server to Application Configuration page.
  • More consistent application of the style sheets across the UI.
  • Factory Reset option should now be available over Soft AP mode (bugfix).
  • Fix "easy" update (over the Internet) to be aware of different ROS versions, and to update properly.

• Connectivity

  • Fixed bug where robot would not always properly set a default route when a device is connected to Ethernet-over-USB but not connected to Wi-Fi. (#184)

• OS

  • Fixed a bug on boot which could cause the system to hang during an update, sometimes causing the robot not to properly update (often with a mysterious red light).

ROS 2

• Implement option to use a Fast-DDS discovery server when RMW is set to Fast-DDS.
• Add parameter to disable odom transformations (#144)
• IMU update rate is now 100 Hz

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol mode

• Fix incorrect cliff sensor message (#312)
• Fix incorrect accelerometer message (#309)

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release H.0.0

This release is considered a beta. Please report any issues as they are encountered.

⚠️ This beta release is not stable in BLE mode. Please be sure the USB/BLE toggle on the adapter board is switched to "USB" before using this firmware.

This release is running ROS 2 Humble with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 2.1.0
• cyclonedds - 0.9.0
• Fast-DDS - 2.6.2

Release Overview

This release has feature parity with G.3.1, except that ROS 2¹ has been upgraded to Humble.

ROS 2

As with the last release, this one provides the robot's sensors and controls via topics, actions, and services; for more, see ROS 2 API.

Between Galactic and Humble, the docking API (messages, actions, and topics) have slightly changed as follows:

• the DockServo action is now Dock to match the Undock action.
• the /dock topic (and Dock message) is now /dock_status (and DockStatus message) to avoid confusion with the action.

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol mode

iRobot® Education Bluetooth² protocol mode is not supported.

1. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩

2. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

iRobot® Create® 3 Release G.3.1

Note: A G.3.2 patch release is installed on some new robots from the factory.
There is no user-facing difference between these two firmware versions; the difference is related to the manufacturing process.

For iRobot® Education Bluetooth¹ users, this is mostly a feature release.
For ROS 2² users, this is mostly a bugfix release.
See below for details.

This release is running ROS 2 Galactic with the following interface library versions:

• irobot_create_msgs - 1.2.4
• cyclonedds - 0.8.1
• Fast-DDS - 2.3.3

Release Overview

As with the last release, this one provides the robot's sensors and controls via topics, actions, and services.
There have been no changes to the ROS 2 API.

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol functionality has been further improved in this release, adding the seventh IR proximity sensor, and some commands related to docking and the docking sensor.
We have changed the robot's policy to disable all reflexes while in this mode (instead of just the bump reflex).
The robot should also respond more rapidly to disconnection.

Changelog (from G.2.2)

Core Robot

• Webserver

  • Added ROS namespace form validation (#71)

• User Interface

  • Reduce log spam from audio synthesizer and BLE advertisements
  • Add more useful logging from mobility board to nav board

• Motion Control

  • Fix bug relating to robot erroneously hitting backup limit when backup safety is disabled (#175)
  • Bugfixes around e-stop logic
  • New turn angle controller

• Connectivity

  • Robot will not restart application on DHCP renewals if the address stays the same (#194)
  • Add beta serial port forwarding feature

ROS 2

• Add system monitor node to report CPU and RAM usage to the log, as well as checking for multiple robots on the same topic.
• Implement ResetPose Service (#193)
• Proximity slowdown reflex no longer ignores safety_override setting

iRobot® Education Bluetooth protocol mode

• Fully implement protocol v1.5
• Robot disables all reflexes by default upon connection (#173)
• Fix serial number reporting
• Fix battery event rate
• Robot responds more quickly upon disconnection

1. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by iRobot is under license. ↩

2. ROS 2 is governed by Open Robotics. ↩