REST API

What is a REST API?

REST: REpresentational State Transfer

API: Application Program Interface

An API defines how two parties can communicate with each other (e.g. a robot and a controller). A REST API is an API that uses the REST standard, which has a set of guidelines which dictate the API architecture.

Server

Implemented with:

• Node.js: open-source, cross-platform, back-end JavaScript runtime environment that runs on the V8 engine and executes JavaScript code outside a web browser.
• Express.js: back-end web application framework for building RESTful APIs with Node.js

These 2 existing environments and frameworks are standard and widely used for most web applications. They fit our perfect needs to communicate to our robot wirelessly over a network or the internet. Typescript is not necessary and offers no boost in performance, however it makes the development process significantly smoother with the use of typing.

ROS Integration

In order for the API server to perform robot actions, there needs to be a connection to ROS. It’s possible to communicate by sending messages over ROS nodes. There is an existing Node.js package called rclnodejs that eases this process.

API Documentation

Full documentation for using the API can be found here, or by exploring the API section in the tab on the side of the page. This serves as a way for others to utilize the power of the API without needing development experience.

---