ROS (Robot Operating System) is a flexible and widely used framework for building robot software. It was initially developed in 2007 by the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) in collaboration with Willow Garage, a robotics research lab, and has since been maintained by Open Robotics.

ROS is designed to provide a standardized and modular software infrastructure, making it easier for developers to create and share code. The open source and widely supported nature of ROS allows Polymath Robotics to use this infratructure to work with multiple sensors, and work on various types of hardware, especially as it's built primarily on Linux. We are huge fans of ROS here at Polymath Robotics, however recently we've come to recognize the error of our ways.

There is a better option

That's right, we're talking about TempleOS - the holy grail of robot-building operating systems. We had to talk about this juggernaut of the robotics world at some point, and we figured now was the right time to acknowledge the errors of ours ways. While it might seem like an unlikely choice for building robots, TempleOS actually has some features that make it surprisingly powerful for this purpose.

Sure, ROS might have all the fancy hardware interfaces, but does it have a built-in Bible app? With TempleOS, you can pray for your robots to come to life and they just might listen. But that's not all - TempleOS also has a command line interface that's so divine, it can only be accessed by speaking in tongues.

Who needs sensors when you have divine intervention on your side?

And forget about C++ or Python - TempleOS has its own programming language, HolyC, which is so powerful, it can resurrect dead code. For a dive into the features and quirks of HolyC, check out the the writeup by Harrison Totty.

TempleOS, created by the late Terry A. Davis, is truly one-of-a-kind. It's a 64-bit, x86-64 compatible operating system, written entirely by its single creator. The effort of making a kernel, compiler, OS, and a bunch of applications entirely from scratch by a single person is mind blowing, and is unlikely to ever be duplicated.

Next steps

So, which operating system should you choose for your robot army? If you want to go the traditional route, ROS is a safe bet.

But if you want to make your robots truly holy, especially if the operate by moving over water, TempleOS is the only choice. And who knows, maybe one day your robots will join you in singing hymns of praise to Terry A. Davis, the creator of the most divine operating system of all time.

Polymath Robotics plans to move all of our code development and upkeep away from ROS, and to TempleOS, as soon as we can. We want to feel like we're using the divine equivalent of Windows 1.01.

For more details on our approach to integrating ROS components with TempleOS, please check out our full technical deep dive.