# ROBUST: 221 Bugs in the Robot Operating System

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.03629 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03629/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 4 Apr 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [ECM Contracts: Contract-Aware, Versioned, and Governable Capability Interfaces for Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.13097/) (2026)
- [SPINE: Bridging the Cyber-Physical Gap with Agentic AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.13049/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

As robotic systems such as autonomous cars and delivery drones assume greater roles and responsibilities within society, the likelihood and impact of catastrophic software failure within those systems is increased.To aid researchers in the development of new methods to measure and assure the safety and quality of robotics software, we systematically curated a dataset of 221 bugs across 7 popular and diverse software systems implemented via the Robot Operating System (ROS). We produce historically accurate recreations of each of the 221 defective software versions in the form of Docker images, and use a grounded theory approach to examine and categorize their corresponding faults, failures, and fixes. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our findings and outline future research directions for the community.